Table Of ContentT R A N S M I S S I O N S I N D A N C E
C o n t e m p o r a r y S t a g i n g P r a c t i c e s
E d i t e d b y L e s l e y M a i n
Transmissions in Dance
Lesley Main
Editor
Transmissions in
Dance
Contemporary Staging Practices
Editor
Lesley Main
Department of Performing Arts
Middlesex University
London, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-64872-9 ISBN 978-3-319-64873-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64873-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949198
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Cover illustration: Forest (1976) by Robert Cohan. Dancers: Darja Guzikova and Harshil
Chauhan. Photograph by Andrew Lang
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F
oreword
In the professional world of the repertory company, ‘transmission’ or
teaching parts to either solo artists or individual dancers, or bringing
back an entire dance is really common practice. The work is usually done
by the rehearsal director, with of course help from dancers who originally
danced the parts, or from the choreographer if available. Every attempt is
used to repeat the same movement as was done in the original but some-
times there have to be major adjustments depending on the skill of the
replacement or the ability. The rehearsal director is usually an ex-dancer
but someone who retains movement pattern very skillfully. We depend
on the rehearsal director to do this work but there is no training as such–
so how do we train someone to do that? It may be someone who worked
with the choreographer, and this in a way is the best rehearsal director
because they know the choreographer’s pattern of movement and crea-
tion and if something has to be changed they can speak for the choreog-
rapher in the changing of the movement.
In my personal experience of teaching parts I have no hesitation in
changing the movement in order to keep the meaning of the dance
moment intact. But I know other choreographers insist that every move-
ment be exactly as it was. Of course now, that is very easy because of
the widespread use of video/film during the rehearsal period and of the
finished work. There are still several problems–the intention of the dance
and the intention of each little part that is performed–usually a chore-
ographer makes movement to further the meaning of the dance or the
v
vi FOREWORD
intention of the dance, and although not always narrative, it has a cer-
tain feeling and look for the choreographer that makes it appropriate. It
is important, for instance, that if changes are made to the movement,
people who ‘know the dance’ should not notice the changes because the
intention or the feeling, the atmosphere, the meaning of the dance is still
the same. Once a movement is performed, it loses its uniqueness and
becomes part of the dance language, therefore in a way, it loses its origi-
nal meaning and care must be taken to retain it.
There is obviously a lot to discuss about this topic and to delve into
it—which I don’t recall it being done before. I don’t know of any other
writing that exists like this, that talks about the individual tasked with
bringing back a dance and also the role of the dancers who contribute to
that process, so I welcome this book.
L ondon, UK Robert Cohan CBE
April 2017
A
cknowledgements
Any artistic endeavor is reliant on collaboration and support. This pro-
ject is no different and I would like to express the collective gratitude of
the contributors to those individuals and organisations who supported
the creation of this volume. I would especially like to acknowledge the
generosity of the group of photographers whose artistry helps bring our
dances to life within these pages: Henry Chan, Jeff Cravotta, Camilla
Greenwell, Dieter Hartwig, Guy L’Heureux, Christophe Jeannot, Scott
Klinger, Andrew Lang, Julie Lemberger, Jennifer W. Lester Pari Naderi,
Rocco Redondo, Vitali Wagner, Sam Williams. Thanks also to Gail
Corbin, Ann Dils, Anne Donnelly, Susan Melrose, Kim Shigo, Yolande
Yorke-Edgell; to the National Resource Centre for Dance, the Martha
Graham Center for Contemporary Dance and to Middlesex University
for financial support and, most importantly, for fostering an environment
where performance practice as research is highly valued.
Thanks to Victoria Peters and Victoria Bates at Palgrave whose sup-
port made this volume possible.
An ongoing thank you to the many dancers who appreciate the signif-
icance of these dances and others like them, and bring themselves whole-
heartedly into the process of discovery and performance.
The last word of gratitude goes to Robert Cohan, who continues to
inspire us all to do better work.
vii
c
ontents
1 Introductions 1
Lesley Main
2 Transmission: From Archive to Production Re-imagining
Laban—Contemporizing the Past, Envisioning the Future 11
Alison Curtis-Jones
3 Impure Transmissions: Traditions of Modern Dance Across
Historical and Geographical Boundaries 37
Fabián Barba
4 Performing History: Wind Tossed (1936), Natural
Movement and the Hyper-Historian 61
Maria Salgado Llopis
5 The Transmission–Translation–Transformation of Doris
Humphrey’s Two Ecstatic Themes (1931) 85
Lesley Main
6 Transmission as Process and Power in Graham’s
Chronicle (1936) 109
Kim Jones
ix
x CONTENTS
7 Transmitting Trio A (1966): The Relations and Sociality of
an Unspectacular Dance 143
Sara Wookey
8 Silent Transformations in Choreography—Making Over
Time: Rosemary Butcher’s Practice of ‘Looking Back and
Ahead’ 163
Stefanie Sachsenmaier
9 The Living Cultural Heritage of Robert Cohan 189
Paul R. W. Jackson
Index 227
n c
otes on ontributors
Fabián Barba was born in Quito in 1982, where he studied dance,
theater, and literature. In 2004 he moved to Brussels where he com-
pleted the training and research cycles at P.A.R.T.S. Since graduation
he has worked as an independent dancer, choreographer and researcher.
His articles have been published in Dance Research Journal, NDD
l’actualité en danse, Documenta and The Oxford Handbook of Dance and
Reenactment (Oxford University Press, 2017).
Robert Cohan CBE joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in
1946 and was invited to become the founder/Artistic Director of The
Place, London Contemporary Dance School and London Contemporary
Dance Theatre in 1967. He is widely regarded as the founder and main-
stay of contemporary dance in the UK. Cohan has choreographed over
fifty works for contemporary and ballet companies around the world,
with his most recent dances choreographed for Yorke Dance Project and
the Richard Alston Dance Company.
Alison Curtis-Jones is artistic director of Summit Dance Theatre, a
contemporary dance company re-envisioning works choreographed by
dance innovator, theorist and founder of German Expressionist dance,
Rudolf Laban, (1879–1958). The company is currently funded by the
Swiss Government to stage and tour Drumstick (1913) and Journey into
Hades, (1913) which have not been re-created before. Summit Dance
Theatre are also recent winners of the ‘Dance as Cultural Heritage’
award. Alison is on the teaching faculty at Trinity Laban.
xi
