{"id":52507,"date":"2024-02-28T21:19:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T17:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magpie.ae\/staging4\/?p=52507"},"modified":"2024-02-28T21:19:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T17:19:26","slug":"reflecting-on-dance-dance-as-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magpie.ae\/staging4\/reflecting-on-dance-dance-as-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on dance: dance as reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It can be difficult to pin down the unique value of contemporary dance. Yes, there\u2019s the departure from traditional dance forms, breaking away from the constraints of strict choreographic rules and embracing the possibilities of experimentation and individual expression. But it\u2019s still about movement, about making shapes in novel ways, using negative space as well as the lines and shapes the dancer makes, exploring the possibilities for the human body as a tool for expressing emotions or drawing lines. And that can come across as abstract and theoretical, when dance is actually immediate and physical. Which is why the best way to attempt an understanding of contemporary dance is just to experience it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That requires dancers, dance companies, and choreographers; something for them to perform; somewhere<\/em> for them to perform, and an audience to perform to; and ways of promoting and funding the exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no shortage of ideas and people keen to put them into practice. Performance spaces are available, and dance often doesn\u2019t need the full technical infrastructure of a conventional theatre \u2013 which is just as well for the UAE, since we don\u2019t have too many dance-friendly audience-capable stages. It\u2019s the last issue which is often been the most problematic, as it is for any performance art. It can be expensive to fund the development of a performance, to look for venues, to market to an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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So sponsors are to be welcomed, particularly those that have a long-term commitment which also includes contributing more than the money. The luxury jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels has long had a connection to dance; co-founder Louis Arpels regularly took his nephew Claude to the Op\u00e9ra Garnier, just steps from the maison\u2019s Place Vend\u00f4me boutique, in the 1920s. Two decades later, the \u2018ballerina clip\u2019 became a signature piece for Van Cleef & Arpels \u2013 dancers in tutus, wearing elaborate head ornaments or clutching vivid props, cut from gold or silver and inlaid with rows of diamonds or precious stones. And in the 1950s, Claude Arpels became friendly with George Balanchine, co-founder of the New York City Ballet; a visit by Balanchine to Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris famously inspired his three-part ballet Jewels<\/em>, a triptych performance of emeralds, rubies, and diamonds that is still in the repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2000s the company further established bonds with institutions such as London\u2019s Royal Opera House and the Australian Ballet; and in 2012 it began a collaboration with Benjamin Millepied and his L.A. Dance Project that among other things resulted in another trilogy, Gems<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maison is also one of the corporate supporters of the FEDORA Prize, a biennial award in Europe intended to help \u201cthe next generation of talent bring the unexpected to the stage\u201d \u2013 one of the four prizes is for dance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There\u2019s a logic to the relationship between dance and jewellery. Van Cleef & Arpels\u2019 president and CEO Nicolas Bos has said \u201cFrom the beginning of the house there was an idea that dance is a universal language; a universal artistic category that you could translate into jewels\u201d. That\u2019s a principal that lead in 2019 to the appointment of Serge Laurent (right) as head of the Dance and Culture Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurent studied art history but an internship at the Fondation Cartier pour l\u2019Art Contemporain in Paris led to a stint on the curatorial team there \u2013 including the development of a performing arts programme, Les Soir\u00e9es Nomades<\/em>: \u201cwe invited dancers, actors, musicians, fashion and design creators to present their work in the exhibition galleries. It was while preparing this that I discovered dance, an immense field of expression and creativity which can incorporate all the other arts: music, light, visual arts, fashion …\u201d Then he joined the Centre Pompidou, \u201ca place of all the arts\u201d, with a job as curator of the Spectacles Vivants<\/em>, again a multidisciplinary programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now his principal project is Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, a programme that he describes as \u201cour way of continuing to write this story of passion between a High Jewellery Maison and the world of dance … Our wish today is to support contemporary creation in dance and to give back to an art that inspires us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why dance? Laurent calls it \u201can immense field of expression and creativity which can exist just as movement and space, but which also brings together all the other arts \u2013 music, light, visual arts, fashion). This discovery fascinated me. I found that being involved with dance was a way to combine all the other disciplines \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dance Reflections is based on three core values that Van Cleef & Arpels believes it shares with theart of dance \u2013 creation, transmission, and education. In practice this means support for dance companies to create works, and support for institutions and venues to present them alongside more established works from the contemporary heritage. There are also Dance Reflections festivals, the first in London in March 2022; that was followed by Los Angeles, Hong Kong and New York, with a Japanese edition currently in preparation. The Dance Reflections initiative also includes an educational element, to facilitate access to choreographic works and to encourage an appreciation of the possibities of dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese projects are carried out in collaboration with today a network of 50 partners,\u201d says Laurent. \u201cIt\u2019s our way of both supporting creation and sharing our commitment with as many people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The support in question involves sponsorship, but it\u2019s also curatorial. \u201cWe only collaborate with institutions with which we share the same artistic choices and vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy role is to support creation. The artists with whom we collaborate have one thing in common: they create a language, new ways of writing dance thanks to their knowledge of history and repertoire and their desire to create. It is essential to support dance in its evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, I interact with the artists, I attend rehearsals, I can give an opinion \u2013 but in no case do I direct the work in one way or another. You must establish a relationship of mutual trust for things to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Bragin of The Arts Center at NYUAD, the local partner for Dance Reflections, finds the hybrid relationship particularly effective for both parties. \u201cWe knew about Van Cleef & Arpels\u2019 long history of support for dance as an art form, and we met when they were just rolling out plans for the international Dance Reflections platform. We discussed their core ideas of Creation, Transmission, and Education, three values that are also central to The Arts Center’s activities. And in their initial presentation, the images included Lucinda Childs Dance Company and Trisha Brown Dance Company, both of whom we’ve presented. We knew there was a very natural alignment of values and artistic interests. So unlike many sponsorship programmes, this one came with a strong point of view that complemented our own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice there are two levels of collaboration. Dance Reflections supports The Arts Center’s curatorial selections, and while these are independence choices \u201cwe want Dance Reflections to embrace them, which they do\u201d. And the Dance Reflections team also bring other projects to the table \u201cas curators and presenters\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes some projects that The Arts Center couldn’t consider without them, like last year’s Corps Extremes by Rachid Ouramdane’s Corps Extr\u00eames<\/a><\/em> last Mayb and this year’s twin programmes of Bombyx Mori<\/em> <\/a>by Ola Maciejewska and Passages<\/a><\/em> by No\u00e9 Soulier. And \u201cas their programme rolls out internationally, there is a family of artists and projects that they are championing which are shared with our interests\u201d. The 2022 presentation of CanDoCo’s Set & Reset\/Reset<\/a><\/em> is an example; it had been programmed for the inaugural Dance Reflections Festival in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike all curators, we share our passions and exchange ideas, links, and videos,\u201d says Bragin. \u201cWe trust their deep knowledge of the field, and they trust our deep knowledge of what kinds of projects are most relevant for UAE audiences and for our own artistic and educational missions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serge Laurent is proud of the Dance Reflections Festivals, which started in 2022 and seem to be held twice a year \u2013 for 2023 New York has already happened, Japan is coming soon, and London is set for March 2025. Says Laurent: \u201cAll respond to the core three values \u2013 creation, transmission, education. This is why the programming offers recent works accompanied by existing works which have marked the recent history of dance; it is a way of supporting creation while referring to the history of contemporary dance. We support each festival with dance workshops that we offer to professional dancers but also to the amateur public to meet our educational value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn each country we also try to adapt to the local context, by connecting to the local scene thanks to our partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor each festival, the Dance Reflections team is responsible for producing the event with our partners to ensure the best organization to present the artists. This very collaborative work is done with the sole aim of organizing the public’s encounter with choreographic culture and thus sharing our passion with as many people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response to the Festivals has been uniformly positive from critics, dance companies and audiences \u2013 especially for last Autumn\u2019s New York edition, the largest yet, which effectively revived a tradition of festivals routinely bringing contemporary dance to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is there any chance of a Dance Reflections Festival for the Middle East? It seems a distinct possibility. \u201cWe are thinking about it with our partners,\u201d says Laurent, though he added \u201cyou must take the time and find the best way to collaborate with local actors who are already very committed.\u201d He points to the a collaboration with The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi \u2013 \u201ca fantastic partner\u201d \u2013 and says he\u2019s looking to develop collaborations in Dubai and Sharjah too, as well as Saudi Arabia: \u201cI recently had the opportunity to go to AlUla and there too the interest in the arts is growing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Bragin has a more nuanced view. Yes, there have been \u201cconversations about how to grow the audiences\u201d and \u201cthe idea of concentrated festival models vs more of a periodic series, like we have\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he points out, developing a dance audience here is still a work in progress. \u201cBefore The Arts Center started presenting contemporary dance regularly at NYU Abu Dhabi, there was very little happening in the country. Still, we’ve been thrilled to watch our audiences grow, to the point where we sell out our largest venue with the historic work of Merce Cunningham or contemporary work of Herv\u00e9 Koubi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe share the commitment to continue to grow audiences and deepen their appreciation and understanding of the art form \u2013 and to nurture local companies, like Sima Dance Company from Dubai.\u201d So that\u2019s not a flat rejection of the idea, but clearly a Dance Reflections Festival in the region won\u2019t be happening any time soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we will get is support for more significant dance performances in Abu Dhabi, typically with associated masterclasses and other off-stage initiatives. Coming up in the current season are three productions supported by Dance Reflections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No\u00e9 Soulier Passages<\/a> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NYUAD East Plaza
7 March <\/strong>@ 7pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 40-minute site-specific project that adapts to each location in which it\u2019s performed \u2013 the movement sequences by the four dancers are predetermined, and it uses a bodily vocabulary that No\u00e9 Soulier has been developing over the last 10 years; but the choreography is constructed within and for each specific place (which for Abu Dhabi is NYUAD\u2019s East Plaza). Performers trigger resonances activating the physical memories of the audience, starting with their relationship to the spaces they inhabit. Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels has been supporting the presentation of Passages<\/em> since 2022, and in April it will be performed in Kyoto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soulier is director of the Cndc\u2013Angers (Centre national de danse contemporaine), a unique institution that combines a creative choreography centre, a school of contemporary dance, and a performance programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets are free, but all spaces are currently taken \u2013 returns may become available.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ola Maciejewska Bombyx Mori <\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NYUAD Arts Center Red Theater
7 March <\/strong>@ 8pm
Tickets AED 105 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this 55-minute this work for three dancers that follows Passages<\/em>, Ola Maciejewska draws inspiration from the innovative early 20th century work of modern dance pioneer Lo\u00efe Fuller<\/a>. Bombyx Mori<\/em> explores movement as a result of the interactions between the body and other things (lights, materials, sound), as opposed to movement from within the body. The title Bombyx Mori refers to the silkworm, which has become entirely dependent on humans for its survival; dance, archives and artifice are interwoven in this performance, providing a metaphor for the hybrid nature of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, Maciejewska is currently working on a larger body of work focused on convergences between dance and visual art and transmission.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Deepak Unnikrishnan
PETTEE: storybox<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NYUAD Arts Center Red Theater
18 and 19 April <\/strong>@ 7.30pm
Tickets AED 105 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Pettee’ is a word with multiple meanings in the languages of millions of people (Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi) but one is instantly recognised: container, and by extension box, briefcase, casket, coffin \u2026 It is a word with weight for the rootless or the displaced. In this show, dancers and fabricated landscape lead the audience into an immersive world of movement and music and flight, where bodies unbend, lunge and soar, to unseal and unpack years of youth, where multiple futures, each magical, seemed possible. Plotting to make that dream of weightlessness real are writers Deepak Unnikrishnan and Karthika Na\u00efr, composer Sarathy Korwar and his musicians, set and lighting designer Willy Cessa, illustrator Appupen (George Mathen), rigger Simon Nyiringabo, and three choreographers\/performers \u2013 Wanjiru Kamuyuyu, Saju Hari, Ali Ben Lotfi Thabet. The performance on 18 April is followed by a Q&A with the artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deepak Unnikrishnan is a writer from Abu Dhabi. His book Temporary People<\/em>, a novel about Gulf narratives steeped in Malayalee and South Asian lingo, has won several awards.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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