“Reflection on the Influence of Physics on the Modernity of Contemporary Dance” – an article from the WM call
By: Elīna Bērtule
Translated by: Aija Uzulēna
It was once said by a dance teacher in a class of contemporary dance: ‘Don’t dance! Just move your hand!’ Wait, no dancing in a dance master class? It seems, sometimes, that the process of acquiring dance techniques can reveal more about movement than dance.
I consider the reference that contemporary dance concentrates on movement, on its nature and the conditions of its emergence, to be engrafted with aesthetic value later, the shortest explanation of contemporary dance. Contemporary dance has grown on the ‘soil’ of modern and postmodern dance and replenished its arsenal of expression by improvisation, contact improvisation, jazz techniques and other borrowings. Therefore, it stands in certain opposition to classical dance, while it also well-disposed to employ its technique occasionally.
Two the most widespread modes of understanding the ‘contemporary’ run along the lines of treating it as means of periodization in relation to arts, on the one hand, and in this understanding, contemporary dance is period following modernism and postmodernism. And the second meaning of ‘contemporary’ is ‘to be one with the time’ (contemporārius in Latin), which, in turn, is a non-historic term denoting situation in relation to one’s particular time rather than an artistic period.
‘Contemporary’ encompasses what is significant for and illustrative of its time, and contemporary dance is characterized by democratic principles in selection of dancers, pluralism of aesthetic values, rejection of hierarchy etc., observable not only in dance, but in modern society at large. At the same time, concerns are voiced that these principles are not factual property of and deriving from dance, but only find themselves attributed to it and projected onto it as those, which the viewer is trained to discern.
However, assuming that contemporary dance has characteristics illustrative of our era and, since the natural sciences are perceived to be the most reliably explanatory of reality and its causal relations, in modern societies, I am inclined to presume that perception of the presence of physics in contemporary dance is justified.
According to research of anthropologists G. G. Fraser, B. Malinowski and Claude Levi-Strauss, in human history, the period of religion to have followed the era of magic has ‘given stage’ to the era of science. If the religion was the authority, which over-saw the supernatural and its reality was transcendent, then, science explains natural order of the world, and its task is to overcome the unpredictability and intractability of nature in order to put it to the service of humans and to protect them from nature, perceived as dangerous. Although understanding of the order of things is dissimilar in magic, religion and science, all of them are systems attempting to explain the causal relations in force in the world. Moreover, some characteristics of these systems of beliefs mutually overlap – the aim of magic and science alike is to derive immediate value for human, while, at the same time, with, magic those are supernatural forces, which are elicited in helping the man. And, although the science relies on the sphere encompassed by human senses, there are practices characteristic of religion, such as belief in the reality outside of sense perception of humans (for example, belief in division of cells and structure of the molecule lays outside the range of everyday perception), which have been already integrated into modern natural sciences.
The task of physics is mastery of nature and its subjects of study are matter and energy; likewise, contemporary dance has built its techniques through exploration of matter and realization of energy within human body. Physicality, physical existence is inextricable for dance, and acquisition of dance techniques is mastery of physical human body, first of all. ‘Physical’ and ‘of physics’ both derive from ‘phusis’ denoting ‘nature’ in Greek. The physicist and dancer alike must employ nature in their interests, and, in order to fulfill this necessity, the laws of mechanical physics are observed. Since evolvement of science under the guarding eye of Christianity as a force to be employed in achievement of mastery over the nature, a shift in understanding of the concept of nature has been registered in modern era – nature is no longer perceived as unpredictable, as a chaos where no order is introduced. Today, the nature is seen as friendly to humans, and this attitude is reflected in contemporary dance as well. The search for ‘natural movement’ was engendered in modern dance already to counter-pose the reified positions of classical dance, but contemporary dance has preserved an interest in classical dance, nevertheless.
Physics mainly relates to technique of contemporary dance. The categories of physics have been assumed into terminology (for example, dynamics, gravity, weight defined in natural scientific terms) as well, and dancers are aware of physical laws and attempt to employ them in their interests, in order to execute movements with the minimum of energy consumed (and in awareness and control of the degree, in which the energy is or is not used). The gravity is taken into account, which is in force in free fall, and shifting and relinquishing of weight, perception of the direction of impulse and inter-action in the case of contact are also of great importance. For ballet dancer as well, it is essential to maintain balance and awareness of the centre of gravity, but contemporary dancer is apparently more open in his employment and identification of the laws of physics. The task of the dancer is to focus attention on cause-effect relation in the process of birth of movement by intense observation of her own body and, by way of sending it impulses, to come to understand beginning and progress of movement and register her kinesthetic experience. At the same time, contemporary dance is still a form of art and as such – in pursuit of aesthetic objectives.
In Enlightenment era in Europe, as the state gradually seceded from church and society was observed to secularize, art earned an independent, profane place in the society, which also entailed secularization of dance. However, it had existed in profane forms even before, for example, as folk dance, which had a role of social organization. But contemporary dance is nothing mandatory, a social duty, which applies to all, and, although a genre of art, it is not reserved to the gifted ones only. The laws of physics are equal for everyone, and physicality – embodiment – is the main condition to be able to dance. Moreover, the dancer is no longer engaged only in performance of movement, but participates in the process of choreography and exploration of movement. Dance has become a realm of knowledge rather than aesthetic parade of moving bodies.
The techniques of contemporary dance function as attributions of the fundamental assumptions of physics about movement, speed and force to human body, and examination of possibilities of these movements dominates over social, ritualized, spiritual or purely aesthetic character of dance. It concurs with the most widely accepted world view of present day, which explains and perceives world through the lens of natural sciences rather than God’s will, for example. Therefore, contemporary dance is very contemporary indeed.
Summary
The article traces emergence of natural science as a result of modernization of the society, with its secularization as one aspect of this process, which drew its strength, mainly, from Enlightenment ideas, and, by way of a certain parallel, it interprets contemporary dance as an outcome of modernization of dance as an art form, with classical ballet as established, dominant form of artistic expression in dance, through modern dance, to its contemporary forms, in line with the artistic logic of the XX century. Demonstrating reliance of contemporary dance on the laws of physics, the article illustrates its principal adherence to scientific, materialist, and, in part, even technological world view.