Constructing contemporary dance

A colloquium curated by Aisthesis, Research centre for the study of language and body, University of Antwerp

Saturday Octobre 9, 2004, Monty, Antwerp.

Objectives

Wat is hedendaagse dans? Intuïtief weten we welke lading deze term dekt. Maar bij nader inzien is het een vage term die door een bepaalde groep mensen – choreografen, dansers, critici, academici, commissieleden, programmatoren – keer op keer gebruikt wordt om dezelfde voorstellingen te benoemen. Door het benoemen zelf worden deze voorstellingen hedendaags. In dit colloquium willen we dieper ingaan op die performatieve constructie van begrippen als ‘hedendaagse dans’. We gaan na wat de verschillende functies ervan zijn, en hoe ze tegelijkertijd als barometer én als uitsluitende norm gebruikt worden.
In drie lezingen werd het thema vanuit telkens een andere invalshoek benaderd: sociologisch, door Rudi Laermans (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), historisch, in een vergelijking met de even performatieve termen ‘moderne dans’ en ‘postmoderne dans’, door Ramsay Burt (De Montfort University, Leicester, Groot-Brittanië) en kunstkritisch, met een link naar de beeldende kunst, door Pieter T'Jonck (De Tijd).
Na elke lezing volgde een debat waar de spreker in discussie ging met choreografen/theatermakers, critici en programmatoren.

What is contemporary dance? Intuitively, we know what the term stands for, but the meaning of ‘contemporary dance’ extends far beyond a description of what is going on in dance today. A well-defined group of productions is continually labeled as ‘contemporary’ by critics, academics, producers, and others. In doing so those performances become ‘contemporary’. The performative construction of such terms as ‘contemporary dance’ is the subject of this colloquium. We want to investigate what different purposes they serve, ranging from barometer to discriminating norm.
The keynote speakers approached the subject in three different ways. Rudi Laermans (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium) explored how the term is used from a sociological point of view. Ramsay Burt (De Montfort University, Leicester, UK) drew a historical comparison with the equally performative terms ‘modern dance’ and ‘postmodern dance’. Finally, Pieter T'Jonck treated the problem with a critical background and linked it to the use of terms like ‘conceptual art’ and ‘performance art’ in the context of visual arts.
After each lecture, the speaker engaged in debate with choreographers, critics, and producers.

The conference was Chaired By Luk Van den Dries and Katleen Van Langendonck

Programme

Introduction
Audio: high-medium-low.

Lecture Rudi Laermans
Audio: high- medium. (34 min)
Text: Rudi Laermans' text will be published in a forthcoming issue of Performance Research, and could not be made available at Sarma. He unfolded a similar argument (which served as inspiration for the whole colloquium) in this text.

Panel discussion with Rudi Laermans, Koen Kwanten (artistic director Dans in Kortrijk), Elke Van Campenhout (dance critic) and Etienne Guilloteau (choreographer)
Audio: high- medium- low. (57 min)

Note: Questions from the audience came from Myriam Van Imschoot, Bojana Cvejic, Ischa Tallieu, Justin Garrick and Thomas Hauert.

Lecture Ramsay Burt
Audio: high- medium- low. (38 min)
Text: click here.

Panel discussion with Ramsay Burt, Myriam Van Imschoot (dance dramaturg), Pieter T’Jonck (dance critic) and Alexander Baervoets (choreographer)
Audio: high- medium- low. (48 min)

Note: The first part of Myriam Van Imschoots reply was not recorded. The statement began with "...". Questions from the audience came from Bojana Cvejic, Jean-Luc Ducourt and Andros Zins-Browne.

Lecture Pieter T'Jonck
Audio: high- medium- low. ( 28 min)
Text: Nederlandse versie - English version.

Panel discussion with Pieter T'Jonck, Ischa Tallieu (art gallerist Gallery Fortlaan 17, Ghent), Christina Pizzo (member of Kinkaleri art and performance group) and Alexis Destoop (video artist)
Audio: high- medium- low. (46 min)

Note: questions from the audience came from Ramsay Burt, Rudi Laermans, Eleanor Bauer and Justin Garrick.

Note on the recording process

The colloquium was recorded on minidisk with a microphone. This may effect the quality of the recording, especially related to questions from the audience, and some background noise inevitably seeped in.