
| Session 4 | Disrupting Female Body Politics: Reading Double Marginality in Dance History |
| Panelists: Brent Radeke, Molly Stoltz, Jessica Briggs | |
| Jessica Briggs | Conscientious Objection: The Female Body in Action |
| Can the female body be a site of artistic protest? Looking closely at female artists of color such as Coco Fusco, Regina Galindo, and Rebecca Belmore I examine the racialized, gendered body addressing head on marginalized/oppressed status of a minority voice. By examining the movement involved, I suggest how their marginalized bodies disrupt or at least make visible their marginal status. The argument addresses the body as a signifier of double marginality, disrupting public spaces in order to create awareness and change. These female artists use situational based movement to represent political action. The use of movement verses words creates a larger impact and plays a larger role in the outcome of visibility and change. | |
| Brent Radeke | Shifting Abject Intimacies: Reading Lesbian Body Politics |
| This paper does a close reading of two choreographies, Pat Graney's "Faith" and Ananya Chatterjea's "Daak". Using performance reviews to underscore previous interpretations of "Faith", I examine how the trope of the female model embedded in the piece specatularizes and makes hyper-visible the heterosexual gaze, while marginalizing the queer intimacy which manifests in the hyperphysical female-female partnering. I use a performance review on "Daak" to illuminate multiple interpretations of the piece, underlining the double marginalization of a lesbian reading of the piece; performances of different female intimacies are often overlooked in Chatterjea's work due to the complexities that race brings to readings on the concert dance stage. Both readings give space to a lens which disrupts the heteronormative discourse surrounding dance scholarship. | |
| Molly Stoltz | The Jazz Producer: Mura Dehn and the Staging of Natural Spontaneity |
| How is spontaneity staged? In my paper, I examine how jazz producer Mura Dehn staged/produced her Traditional Jazz Dance Company from 1932 to the 1970's. I am interested in how her multiple positionalities as immigrant, woman, and member of the African American dance community in which she was immersed affected her role as producer. I particularly examine the consequences of Mura Dehn's essentialist ideas about the black dancing body, and how her writings posit "black" jazz dance as the performance of natural spontaneity while also crediting dancers as artists. I investigate how her role allowed for the creation of both subversive and counter-subversive performances to occur simultaneously. I will also investigate how Dehn's positionality caused her erasure from the jazz dance genealogy, and state that while her writings and ideas are at times problematic, they are also critical to consider in discourse on dance. | |
| Jessica Briggs received her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Minnesota in May 2008. As a new choreographer to the Minneapolis/St. Paul community, Jessica investigates art as activism, using dance as a means of protest and social change. Jessica has recently joined Paula Mann's Time Track Productions and has joined Ananya Dance Theatre as their program manager. Jessica is honored to be a part of the CORD conference and will continue to deconstruct, question, and write about the body in a way that is both poetic and critical. | |
| Brent Radeke is working to complete his BFA in Dance, his BA in French Studies, and a minor in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota. As a dancer, choreographer, and writer, Brent is interested in investigating the intersections between queer sexuality and performance. Brent plans to pursue a Master's and Ph.D. in some discipline pertaining to Dance Studies and will, at the very least, continue to write about dance, always making sure to go back to the body. Brent is honored to present at CORD and is excited to take part in all the lectures and performances. | |
| Molly Stoltz is a senior Honors Dance BFA/History Minor at the University of Minnesota, and is looking forward to her first time at CORD. She is also a performer, teacher, and stage manager and has danced with numerous artists in the Twin Cities. She intends to pursue many paths, one being a Master's in Dance Studies, and wishes to focus on tap/jazz dance writing. | |
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