DANCE
Martha Graham 86, 1931 © 2013 Imogen Cunningham Trust www.imogencunningham.com
"In this body, in this town of Spirit, there is a little house shaped like a lotus, and in that house there is a little space. One should know what is there." 9th Upanishad, 8:1
“Why it was different and why I could afford to do that is because it was 1965 and my apartment cost $35.10. I could have a part-time job, earn $40/week and spend the rest of my time dancing. ”
“I wonder whose labor has been forgotten in the commodification of these movement vocabularies. Who chose the level of physical exertion? of performance? So many physical labors that have not been codified (like the movement of the house cleaner) have the potential for technical virtuosity, and I question what makes any sustained physical endeavor more valuable to our society than another. I am interested, even if impatient, in processes that take time. I love the challenge of mastery, but am concerned that the desire for virtuosity leads to limited and oppressive representations of beauty. I keep in mind all these concerns, and they shape my vision as I make dances and sometimes poems. In short, I honor some tradition, and seek liberation and fermentation.”
“That was that, and I thought, I’m never doing this again. But then she [Anne Carson] brought NOX to me. It’s so beautiful. I couldn’t say no. And I’d already been thinking about using a clothesline and a fan. Even when I’m not making something in the world, I’m making things in my head. Now it’s completely different. We’re not doing clotheslines at all.”
“But where did arabesque come from? It came out of a mind/body. It came out of an agreement, maybe one person, maybe among people. There was individual contribution, codification and then there was passing things on. Teaching is passing things on, but what are you going to pass on?”
Jennnifer Nugent & Asli Bulbul
“Remember also that not even the greatest teacher can speed the process of change or do it for you. What someone says or writes or shows you can draw your attention to aspects of your movement which can be improved and can spark your imagination with appropriate imagery. But it is your sustained concentration on your own balance of energy usage, visible and invisible, that will move you to achievement of your full movement potential. There is no ‘right image’ or ‘right posture’ or even ‘right movement.’ There is only a way of functioning that is both unifying and expansive for you at the moment. Furthermore, this way of functioning will change continuously throughout your life. Plasticity of mind is what makes movement possible at all. If you can conceive of the human body doing a particular movement, then you can learn to do it. The miracle is that you don’t fall down in shock when you find yourself doing it, every cell moving in perfect harmony, no room for a tiny knot that says, ‘I can’t.’”