Building an aesthetic
'The better something is described the more defined it is, the more likely is it that it will find platforms for its exposure'. Choreographer
Claire Russ, through her work with Anjali Dance Company, talks about the process of defining their aesthetic
It seems to me that society is slowly changing its attitudes and tastes. Change however, rarely seems to happen quickly enough to accommodate our own forward thinking ambitions, and visions for the future. What we can sense as a potential, we want now! Thankfully we are all part of a trend that no longer favours a narrow band of aesthetics but is broadening in taste to embrace many kinds of dance. This article is about defining what the very nature of our different dance is in order to change tastes. I do not believe that policies of social inclusion are enough. We have to deepen the poetics and the language we use to describe our dance work.
Taste, trend and aesthetic have complex inter-relationships in our culture, and it is not always clear to me how one thing gains a platform over another. (A bit like the fact that most of the news broadcast about world events is bad news - tragedy wins over comedy in the news stakes). What I do know is the better something is described the more defined it is, the more likely it is that it will find platforms for its exposure: to become something tasteful rather than distasteful. Languages, marketing, taking control, are all part of this.
So how are Anjali dancing differently? Taste, or aesthetic range within dance is broadening really fast. Programmers and critics are taking Anjali seriously. I believe it is vitally important to find the words to be able to describe our aesthetic, not least because then we will be able to confidently write grant applications and publicity materials which do not have to mention disability, but describe the aesthetic which is driving our approach to the art form and the experience that audiences might have.
In recent debates and papers, myself, Anjali and others including some dance writers have started to try to describe what gives Anjali's dance a valid place in the highly skilled and competitive dance arena. We want to validate this dance beyond the charitable, and beyond the 'notion of equal opportunity' for all. We have started to try to describe our particular aesthetic. What do you think of as an aesthetic? Because aesthetic as a term has been connected with notions of visual beauty or non-beauty we tend to think of it as a visual activity. But it is not only about the tangible visible. It is about all the layers, which add up to an impression of art on the viewer. It is about the way that art communicates. Our aesthetic is not only about body shape or form and movement, not at all about conformity, but about achievement and connection with the audience.
What performers share is that we choose to make ourselves visible: our muscles, body form, our characters, personalities, vulnerabilities, simply the way we are expressed through our bodies. Ideals or ideal ways of being are formed thorough identification with other beings. We see something, like it, and it triggers recognition in ourselves, which we want to explore. Talents and desires merge extending pre-trodden paths, and the endeavour to achieve, against the odds contributes to Anjali's aesthetic impact.
The focus, concentration and pure commitment it takes to carry a performance backed up by a dedication to training means that Anjali's dancing vibrates with the essence of dancers working right up to their limits. It also contains the essence of pleasure and pride that a dancer feels in achieving the performance.
In terms of connection with audiences or could we call it 'aesthetic of connectivity', many people who experience Anjali talk about a particularly striking directness in delivering dance that also contributes to the aesthetic. I think this is due to an absence of a level of self-consciousness, which many other dancers have, which means that Anjali dancers do not seem to be, assessing or value judging their performance whilst they are doing it. This seems to put more focus on the movement itself, the moment itself, and the simple action of doing it.
Pleasure is also a part of the 'aesthetic of connectivity'. Anjali have an unadulterated ability to relish performing. There are no value judgements, which could crush this. This is because the dancers in the company do not take heed of that sort of commentary and also because the dancers are dancing without ego at the forefront so there is no ego to be crushed. When the ego is retiring in the background, then curiosity easily takes the foreground. This means that there is a fast rate of learning and absorption of new ideas. It also means that the mind is open to play sophisticated levels of humour, irony, and meaning without pretention.
For Anjali dancers, the ideal has been to become more physically articulate, to gain physical strength, to grow as performing artists, and to independently command their stage, to physically talk loudly and confidently about the company and to transcend the divisions and infinite categories of groups of dancers and audience members alike.
We are at the beginning of our process of defining our aesthetic, but we find the more we talk about what we do exactly, and how we do it, the less we need to talk in terms of categories, divisions, exclusions and inclusions. These seem to become less significant.
Anjali has made a conscious decision to engage in the development of the art form of dance. This is the vehicle, which enables the dance world to reap the benefits of Anjali's particular type of dance, and Anjali dancers to reap the benefits of group membership, support and personal growth that the company offers.
Our priorities remain: visibility, personal growth of the dancers, and contribution to the broadening of taste within the art form. We aim to change global thinking about who carries the dance and demonstrate what is possible.
Mark Barber, dancer and Nicole Thomson, artistic director, Anjali Dance Company. Email: info@anjali.co.uk
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Animated: Summer 2002