To Dance is to command time and space. To Dance is to defy gravity. To Dance is to know quantum physics where there is no beginning, no middle, and no end. To Dance is to be expressionistic, In the moment.
When I sat down to write this article, I had a grand idea of developing an essay about the science of dance – an essay that would liken dance to science as a body of gathered, measurable, perceived, and ever-progressing knowledge of the order within the art itself and the causes of that order. Science gathers knowledge about the world and condenses and organizes it into testable laws and theories. Imagine the discovery of the patterns in nature, the rotation of the stars, the seasons, the weather. Physics is the study of the universal rules that show how beautifully connected everything is in nature. I’m sure you are asking, what the hell does this have to do with dance? What is choreography but patterns of movement and stillness that connect together and express how we experience the world? Physics deals with the laws of motion, force, energy, sound, light, and the inner workings of atoms. Dance is revealed through motion, force, energy, sound, light, and, like atoms, comes from deep within. I found it fascinating to revisit the history of physics with its intellectual rebels who were often persecuted and even condemned before later being anointed and regarded as essential to the progress of mankind. Aristotle theorized about natural and violent motion and had the Earth standing still, circled by the sun. Copernicus was persecuted for formulating a theory of the moving Earth which was in direct conflict with the church. Galileo defined inertia as the property of an object to stay in motion unless acted on by a push or pull force. Newton showed that the universe ran according to natural laws that were neither capricious nor malevolent. This was the type of knowledge that ushered in the Age of Reason and gave tremendous promise and inspiration to writers, artists, philosophers, and people all over the world. So it has been for dance - the most original art form with its beginnings in the antiquity of every culture on the planet. Dance defines ritual, culture, and the state of man, and has also gone through centuries of celebration, persecution, discovery, and change. As a natural expression for life, death, war, rain, and harvest, dance allowed the human spirit to freely commune with the Earth – jumping, leaping, spinning, and standing still. The encroachment of “civilization,” like the industrial world’s effect on the rainforests, sought to contain, control, cut down, and cover dance’s disciples. Note the Christian missionaries’ presence throughout history with their prayer books, holy water, and restrictive clothing trying to convert the millions of African captives as they were hoarded onto slave ships bound for the New World – a forced separation from their dance, their drums, their religions, and their ties to the metaphysical world. It all resurfaced, or shall we say evolved, into America’s most original dance forms: Gospel, Jazz, Swing, Breakdancing, Hip ever come out of America. The U.S. State Department prohibited her from performing outside of the States after her Southland ballet premiered in Europe depicting a lynching on stage to protest the racial terrorism tearing our country apart. Jerome Robbins was crucified by the critics for portraying gang violence in song and dance with West Side Story, which went on to become one of the most quintessential Broadway musicals of all time. Then there was Merce Cunningham who often played to empty houses because he was so abstract. Alvin Ailey, informed by the Lester Horton Technique, created a classic American Mural, reaching deep into his gospel roots with Revelations. Boris Eifman, who grew up in Siberia, was influenced by Pink Floyd and AlvinAiley. His work, originally banned in Russia and called pornographic, is now the crowned glory of the Russian dance world.
bydebbieallen Hop, and now Krumping. Like the rebels of science, dance survived and progressed, and the genius masters furthered the concepts and theories, often facing harsh critics. Michael Fokine dared to create a ballet with no story. Isadora Duncan, who was very popular in Germany, ushered in a new form of expression – modern dance – in an atmosphere of neo-romanticism, paving the way for Mary Wigman and Martha Graham.
All of this is to say that the physics of dance and choreography, like the laws of the sciences themselves, is still revealing itself to those who have the courage to create what they see and feel. To those who dare to try things a different way, I say, “Praise be your name!” The world is built on the wings of change. It is the nature of our art, our dance, and our science to explore and find new meaning, new techniques, new rules…
Katherine Dunham, one of the true giants of dance, created one of the most successful internationally recognized dance companies to
The only real rule in dance is discovery, discovery, discovery!
