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Not About Race Dance by Gerald Casel (review)
Theatre Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-24
Kate Mattingly

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

  • Not About Race Dance by Gerald Casel
  • Kate Mattingly
NOT ABOUT RACE DANCE. By Gerald Casel. CounterPulse, San Francisco. December 15, 2021.

Gerald Casel’s investigations into racial dynamics take many forms. Since 2018, Casel has organized Dancing Around Race gatherings, and, in 2021, Not About Race Dance had its premiere at CounterPulse. I watched a recording of Not About Race Dance made available for free in December, the day that bell hooks passed, and sensed hooks’s description of the politics of white-supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal exclusion in the performance. I, as a white, cisgender woman, am aware of the access and advantages my whiteness has provided and that Casel’s multifaceted performance illuminate. Not About Race Dance, choreographed with movement collaborators Styles Alexander, Audrey Johnson, Karla Quintero, and Cauveri Suresh, vivified the racial politics of postmodern dance.

The recording began with a camera situating the viewer within the white walls of CounterPulse while the sound of TLC’s “Waterfalls” filled the space. Casel walked onto the white stage carrying a speaker, accompanied by shouts of joy from the audience. Standing center stage, he faced us. His hips rocked to the rhythm.

Words appeared on the back wall: “I am performing an accumulated sequence”; “It’s an adaptation of Trisha Brown’s choreographic device”; “She made a dance entitled ‘Accumulation’ in 1971.” Brown’s gestures, visible in Casel’s actions, were also transmuted. Casel’s dancing signaled Cholly Atkins’s work with the Temptations and the Pips in the 1960s and ’70s: understated cool with exquisite attention to detail and smooth transitions. The moment provoked thoughts about artists of color who are consistently written out of definitions of post-modernism. Brilliantly clear in this initial moment, Casel’s work brings into physical form the theories of Brenda Dixon Gottschild and Cornel West, who have written about the multiple influences, borrowings, and erasures of white postmodernism.

Casel remained in one place. His dancing was lush and fluid. Words on the back wall connected this event to Neil Greenberg’s Not About AIDS Dance from 1994, the same year that TLC released “Waterfalls” (as celebrity artists, TLC also raised awareness for HIV/AIDS). More words appeared: “Seeing this piece made HIV more visible . . . more real.” By associating his work with Greenberg’s performance, Casel highlights how both of these events are performances that intervene in hegemonic systems of erasure. As dance performances these events operate kinesthetically, communicating through our [End Page 378] senses, and offer an intimate sense of connection and vulnerability.


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Audrey Johnson, Gerald Casel, Cauveri Suresh, Styles Alexander, and Karla Quintero in Not About Race Dance. (Photo: Robbie Sweeny.)

Born in the Philippines, Casel immigrated to the Bay Area when he was 8 years old. More words appeared: “I am a brown body performing an accumulated sequence in a big white cube to TLC’s ‘Waterfalls.’” About five minutes into this hour-long event, Casel’s solo ended. Duets, trios, and group sections followed. There is a gorgeous intricacy in Casel’s choreography: craft and compositional structure highlight the subtle interactions of dancers’ joints and bodies. Shoulders swivel, elbows elongate, and hips shift to generate a refined and luscious dynamic.

Elements of stillness and nuance underscore this physical virtuosity. Aron Altmark’s lighting design projected shadows of dancers on the white walls, transforming a duet into a dance of ten figures. A zig-zagging walking pattern by Casel ended as he descended to the floor, mirroring his duet partner in a reclining pose, their gazes lifted upwards, suggesting odalisques. This moment emphasized my role as a spectator, witness, or perhaps voyeur, highlighting the power dynamics between watchers and the watched. I appreciate the ways that complex questions emerge from Casel’s kinetic and kinesthetic propositions.

James Frazier considers Not About Race Dance particularly resonant for its ability to foreground the physical and emotional impact of “accumulation,” and I am indebted to our conversations after watching the recording. (Frazier had seen the performance at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography in November.) In postmodern dance, accumulation is a choreographic process that uses a sequence of relatively simple gestures to build...



中文翻译:

杰拉尔德·卡塞尔(Gerald Casel)的不是关于种族舞蹈(评论)

代替摘要,这里是内容的简短摘录:

审核人:

  • 杰拉德·卡塞尔(Gerald Casel)与种族舞蹈无关
  • 凯特·马丁利
不是关于种族舞蹈。杰拉德·卡塞尔。反脉冲,旧金山。2021 年 12 月 15 日。

杰拉尔德·卡塞尔对种族动态的调查有多种形式。自 2018 年以来,Casel 组织了Dancing Around Race聚会,2021 年,Not About Race Dance在 CounterPulse 首映。我观看了 12 月免费提供的Not About Race Dance的录音,也就是 bell hooks 过去的那一天,我感受到了 hooks 在表演中对白人至上主义、资本主义、父权排斥政治的描述。我,作为一个白人,顺性别的女人,我意识到我的白人所提供的访问和优势,以及卡塞尔多方面的表现。不是关于种族舞蹈,与运动合作者 Styles Alexander、Audrey Johnson、Karla Quintero 和 Cauveri Suresh 共同编排,使后现代舞蹈的种族政治活跃起来。

录制开始时,一台摄像机将观众置于 CounterPulse 的白墙内,同时 TLC 的“瀑布”的声音充满了整个空间。卡塞尔提着音箱走上白色舞台,伴随着观众的欢呼声。他站在舞台中央,面对我们。他的臀部随着节奏摆动。

后墙上出现字样:“我正在表演一个累积序列”;“这是对 Trisha Brown 编舞装置的改编”;“她在1971年做了一个名为‘积累’的舞蹈。” 布朗的手势,在卡塞尔的动作中可见,也被转化了。Casel 的舞蹈标志着 Cholly Atkins 在 1960 年代和 70 年代与 Temptations 和 Pips 的合作:低调酷炫,注重细节和流畅过渡。这一刻激起了人们对有色人种艺术家的思考,他们一直在写出后现代主义的定义。在最初的那一刻,Casel 的作品非常清晰,将 Brenda Dixon Gottschild 和 Cornel West 的理论带入了物理形式,他们撰写了关于白人后现代主义的多重影响、借用和擦除的文章。

卡塞尔呆在一个地方。他的舞蹈华丽而流畅。后墙上的文字将这次活动与 1994 年 Neil Greenberg 的Not About AIDS Dance联系起来,同年 TLC 发行了“Waterfalls”(作为名人艺术家,TLC 也提高了人们对 HIV/AIDS 的认识)。更多的文字出现了:“看到这篇文章让艾滋病毒更加明显。. . 更真实。” 通过将他的作品与格林伯格的表演联系起来,卡塞尔强调了这两件事是如何干预霸权擦除系统的表演。作为舞蹈表演,这些事件以动觉方式运作,通过我们的[End Page 378]感官进行交流,并提供一种亲密的联系感和脆弱感。


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奥黛丽·约翰逊、杰拉尔德·卡塞尔、考韦里·苏雷什、亚历山大·斯泰尔斯和卡拉·昆特罗在《不是关于种族舞蹈》中。(照片:罗比·斯威尼。)

卡塞尔出生于菲律宾,8岁时移民到湾区。更多的词出现了:“我是一个棕色的身体,在一个白色的大立方体中为 TLC 的'瀑布'表演一个累积的序列。” 这个长达一小时的活动大约五分钟后,Casel 的独奏结束了。二重奏、三重奏和小组部分紧随其后。卡塞尔的舞蹈有着华丽的复杂性:工艺和构图结构突出了舞者关节和身体的微妙相互作用。肩部旋转,肘部拉长,臀部移动以产生精致和甜美的动态。

静止和细微差别的元素强调了这种身体技巧。Aron Altmark 的灯光设计将舞者的影子投射在白色的墙壁上,将二重唱变成了十人的舞蹈。卡塞尔曲折的行走模式在他下降到地板时结束,反映了他的二重唱搭档斜倚的姿势,他们的目光向上抬起,暗示着宫女。这一刻强调了我作为旁观者、目击者或偷窥者的角色,突出了观察者和被观察者之间的权力动态。我很欣赏从卡塞尔的动力学和动觉命题中出现复杂问题的方式。

James Frazier 认为Not About Race Dance特别能引起共鸣,因为它能够突出“积累”对身体和情感的影响,我在观看录音后感谢我们的谈话。(弗雷泽去年 11 月在 Maggie Allesee 国家编舞中心看过表演。)在后现代舞蹈中,积累是一个编舞过程,它使用一系列相对简单的手势来构建......

更新日期:2022-09-24
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