While Mr. Paxton was busy creating a world of contact improvisation, America was going through many changes with the government, art, technology and education. The most important changes, however, were transforming society. The Civil Rights movement forced riots to break out and eventually led to Malcolm X's assassination. John F Kennedy was president until 1963 when he was assassinated and our presence in the Vietnam War increased as Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded Kennedy.
As for Theater, musicals were booming. Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn were discovered and looked up to as young American idols. During this decade, My Fair Lady and Wait Until Dark were the musicals to see. However, because of our participation in the war, the producers were beginning to see the economic fall.
Beginning in 1969, President Nixon led the people of America but eventually was impeached. The Vietnam War still divided our country and we were still in an economic crises due to the baby boomers.
Dance in the 60's was viewed as 'too risky' for mainstream Americans, however, in the 70's, that view changed with new energy emerging from Broadway. Bob Fosse and John Travolta acclaimed the hearts of Americans. Later, by the end of the 70's, dance became known as the most popular art form throughout America.
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What do you mean when you say dance was "too risky". This is at the heart of Paxton's (and other choreographers in the 60's) early explorations. What did those "risky" dances look like? I don't understand your claim in your last sentence here. How can you back up this opinion with facts and details?
ReplyDeleteI read a New York Times article about dance in the 70's and it stated that dance had become one of the most popular art forms and its popularity quickly sky rocketed since the 60's. When a specific online site about 60's said that dance was too "risky" when it started I am assuming that choreographers were coming up with ideas that the public was not used to. For example, when Steve Paxton first introduced Contact Improv, he did not have a lot of followers because it was such a new idea and it involved making something up on the spot instead of set choreography.
ReplyDeleteIn the article that stated dance as the most popular art form in the 1970's, did it mention anything about contact improvisation and the type of audience that it attracted? More specifically,did it have an audience or was it something that the dancer's worked with only to benefit one another? Also I would be interested to find out if Paxton has any plans to work with group contact improvisation in the future
ReplyDeleteIt did not mention anything about contact improvisation, however Paxton wanted to explore the physical contact of the human body also around objects. I am assumming that this is more for the benefit of the dancer/individual rather than for an audience. I have not read any information of Paxton creating any improvisation works for the future.
ReplyDeletePaxton has worked extensively to develop a technique for the spine. I believe he has published a book and/or dvd about this. It would help if you could find contemporary video of contact improvisation to give perspective on what contact looks like now.
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