Body of a Dancer
The body of the dancer: a fetish object! Although comtemporary dance started to break that wrong notion/understanding of the dancer as ‘the thing to watch for joy’, there are still photos, texts, interviews seeing the dancer as the nymph. The body that glitters, capable of doing the unbelievable; jumps and pirouettes keep blowing our minds — unfortunately.
As a dance lover I was thrilled by the new issue of CR Fashion Book dedicated to dance. Besides enjoying the seductive bodies of dancers, photos that are taken by the names like Gus Van Sant or beautiful clothes as the ornaments in the pages, in general I felt discomfort. Dance is an expression. It is not about how high one can put h/er-is leg up; focusing even on a movement of a hand may create the entire work. Nijinsky’s movements, Graham’s choreographies, Judson Dance Theater performances, Paxton’s or Rainer’s works are based on everyday movements; even just walking may be the core of a choreography.
Although I did not like the perception of (the) dance(r) represented in the magazine, it is worth reading the interviews and turning the pages with the joy of looking at astonishing photos or enjoying the video with Marie-Agnès Gillot and Vincent Chaillet, celebrating the new issue.
