Hi Danceletter readers,
I hope this finds you doing all right in whatever stage of the pandemic this is. As spring and vaccinations are upon us (at least in the U.S.), I’m feeling… confused about how I’m feeling, and I don’t think I’ll go into untangling that here today. Mostly I just wanted to pop in and share what I’ve been up to these past few months, for those who subscribe for the purposes of hearing what I’ve been up to. (A periodic reminder: Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer want to receive this newsletter. No hard feelings.)
In February, I wrote about the traditionally indoor ritual of ballet class adapting to the wintry outdoors. I spoke to Katy Pyle of Ballez, who teaches at Brower Park in Crown Heights; Dianna Warren, who teaches at Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side; Kat Wildish, who teaches in Central Park; and Phoebe Berglund, whose troupe rehearses on the Williamsburg waterfront (and has since been featured on the Today Show, as well as in German and Russian news outlets). As far as I know, theses classes are still happening, if you’re in New York and feeling a springtime urge to dance outdoors. Ballez is professional-level; Wildish and Warren teach all-levels classes; and Berglund hopes to offer open classes for non-company members starting in July (dancers can email phoebeberglund [at] gmail [dot] com for more information.) On the non-ballet front, there’s also a new season of Improv Club, Sundays in Prospect Park, and I’m sure more outdoor classes that I don’t know about (let me know what I’m missing).
In March, I spoke to choreographer, dancer, bodyworker, and registered nurse devynn emory about the intersections of their work in dance and nursing. Talking with emory, who cared for Covid patients through the height of the crisis in New York last spring, was incredibly moving; I hope you’ll check out our interview, and emory’s work, if you haven’t already. Their performance-turned-film, deadbird, and its companion project, a public grief altar titled can anybody help me hold this body, will next be presented by the Portland Museum of Contemporary Art, May 27–30. You can stream the film from anywhere and also create your own altar at home if you’re not in the Portland area.
For the April issue of Dance Magazine, I wrote a cover story on Pam Tanowitz, who was a joy to talk to. We spoke about dance as a respite from (academic) school, her “slow path” to choreographer stardom, getting past the creative blocks of the pandemic, and much more. Publishing this story was a nice full-circle moment, since Tanowitz is one of the first people whose work I reviewed for Dance Magazine (or anywhere), back in 2010, when her company was at Danspace. She shared with me this list — “What is making a dance?” — which we printed with her permission, and I can’t stop thinking about #10: “If I made the dance I carried inside me, that would be the last one.”
For the NYT’s “At Home” section, I recommended some dance routines to learn at home, from Fosse to TikTok trends, along with tips from online dance instructors. And more recently, I wrote about a live, indoor dance experience for the first time in over a year. I didn’t love it, which of course prompted strangers on Twitter to speculate that I’m a miserable person, a part of my job I also haven’t experienced in some time!
Much of my energy over the past few months has gone toward figuring out how to teach Dance Criticism online, which was challenging, for sure, but also went better than I expected. I’m excited to share a class project that we just finished up yesterday, a collection of students’ writing from throughout the semester: The Critic As: A Dance Criticism Zine. (For the best reading experience, view in full-screen mode on a tablet or desktop.) As I mention in the introduction, it was important to me, going into this semester, to approach the absence of live performance not as a limitation but as an opportunity to explore new possibilities for dance criticism. Seeing what students came up with, both individually and collectively, was a total inspiration and delight.
I have a few fun things planned for this space, if I can manage to get them together (I am definitely suffering from some of this), so stay tuned. I’ll sign off for now with the same video I shared with my class on the last day of Zoom school:
Have I sent this one before? Not sure, but it never gets old. If you feel inclined to share, I’d love to hear about what you’re thinking, reading, watching, dreaming in the realm of dance these days.
Siobhan