Full Description
The concept of this book is 'dance and ageing' and is driven by the possibility that everybody in the Western dance community, in particular young dance students, but also readers beyond the parameters of dance, will profit if the voices of senior professional practitioners are heard.
It features dancers from USA, Canada, UK, Europe and Australia, all interviewees are practitioners of stature and prominence who continue to contribute, despite ageism, to the dance industry. They are inspiring role models for younger dancers but also for an ageing demographic in society; it is a celebration of the body and the indomitable urge to create and express.
Conversations with twenty senior professional dancers explore how they sustain performing despite the inground ageism that exists through society and is mirrored within the dance world. This cohort of older dancers, aged between 41 and 107, illuminate inspiring life stories that convey their passion to continue performing, while overcoming the prejudices in an artform that champions youth.
Dance practitioners remaining active and relevant throughout the life stages is an area of growing interest, particularly in community dance, health and wellbeing. This would inspire all dancers to follow in their footsteps, to believe that diversity and inclusion would widen the boundaries within Western dance culture and eradicate bias. Further interest from an older demographic who enjoy watching dance or dance themselves, who would appreciate their representation in a book that reveals the positive attributes ageing can bring. It also has the potential to reach an anti-ageing reader as well as a dance reader. The book has a broad appeal not just within Western dance culture but also where ageing/ageism is a prominent concern within Western society.
Contents
Foreword: Jiří Kylián
Acknowledgments
List of Plates
List of abbreviations
Epigraph
Introduction: Sonia York-Pryce.
Chapter 1: Defying Gravity: Louise Lecavalier, Charlotta Öfverholm.
Chapter 2: Nederlands Dans Theater 3 (NDT3): Sabine Kupferberg, Gérard Lemaître.
Chapter 3: The Australian Dance Artists. Anca Frankenhaeuser, Patrick Harding-Irmer, Susan Barling, Ross Philip.
Chapter 4: Pat Catterson, Siv Anders.
Chapter 5: Tomo Sone, Susan Sentler.
Chapter 6: The Mavericks, Wendy Houstoun, Liz Aggiss.
Chapter 7: Mark Edward, Brian Lucas.
Chapter 8: The Tully Collective: Jennifer Jackson, Susie Crow, Ann Dickie, Nicholas Minns.
Chapter 9: Rakini Devi, Vicki Van Hout.
Chapter 10: Dance Elders Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, Eileen Kramer.
Chapter 11: Dance On Ensemble: Madeline Ritter, Ty Boomershine, Amancio Gonzalez.
Conclusion: Where we are now, Sonia York-Pryce.
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
