Friday, August 5 – “How To Do Things With Dance” by Rebekah Kowal
On Friday I started off by getting lunch at Mariano’s with the lovely Cami, and then I headed to Stan’s Donuts (in Labriola Chicago) on Michigan Avenue (amazing donuts; maybe not the best spot for doing actual work). Then I headed to Julius Meinl (not a huge one, but still a lovely place).
This book is my favorite that I’ve read thus far. It was a really awesome intersection between dance and social change, which, pertinent to my quarter-life crisis, is right up my alley. I emailed my professor after finishing it to ask for similar books, and I’m meeting with her on Monday to get a whole other bibliography of books and articles in this vein, so I’m really excited about that.
There were a lot of really exciting and intriguing things about this book. Each chapter focused on a different choreographer and the social movement to which their work contributed (with the overarching thesis being that movement and dance are a catalyst for social and cultural change).
One thing that Kowal discussed at length when she was considering Katherine Dunham was the separation between race and the self. That is to say: when a white dancer is creating, it is assumed and understood that the work is representative of or comes out of their own individual self and being, and we relate it to them as a person. A white body can create without racial implications. When a person of color creates work, however, there’s a tension between the racial implications–since a colored body can’t create without racial implications–and the artist being themself.
Another tension that Kowal touches on is the difference between originality and authenticity, with relation to culturally-based works (again, Dunham)–what constitutes an original work that is still authentic/can this be created? To be “authentic” does it have to be a direct reproduction of the movement coming out of the culture it claims to represent? Or is there room for authenticity?
Kowal also talks about dance, especially modern dance, as being a universal language that permeates national borders and is able to create social and cultural change because of this. I’m not sure that I’m completely convinced by this; I’ve read plenty of accounts of people being shocked by modern dance or people not being interested in modern dance. But it’s definitely worth considering.
Essentially, I loved this book so much because it had to do with the real-world effects of these choreographers’ works in the time periods in which they were living. Which, obviously, isn’t a totally untouched topic, but is something that I don’t get to read about when I’m just reading the choreographers’ accounts of their lives.