"Dancer and the Dance" - essay by Susan Sontag

[dirac]

From 1987:

Quote

The relation of dancer to choreographer is not just that of executant or performer to auteur – which, however creative, however inspired the performer, is still a subservient relation. Though a performer in this sense, too, the dancer is also more than a performer. There is a mystery of incarnation in dance that has no analogue in the other performing arts.

Quote

In my experience, no species of performing artist is as self-critical as a dancer. I have gone backstage many times to congratulate a friend or acquaintance who is an actor or a pianist or a singer on his or her superlative performance; invariably my praise is received without much demurral, with evident pleasure (my purpose, of course, is to give pleasure), and sometimes with relief. But each time I’ve congratulated a friend or acquaintance who is a dancer on a superb performance – and I include Baryshnikov – I’ve heard first a disconsolate litany of mistakes that were made: a beat was missed, a foot not pointed in the right way, there was a near-slippage in some intricate partnering manoeuvre. Never mind that perhaps not only I but everyone else failed to observe these mistakes. They were made. The dancer knew. Therefore the performance was not really good. Not good enough.

 

[Olga]

Great essay. Not so much about Barishnikov, but more generally about dancers. Thanks.

[Drew]

Thank you for posting....

[vipa]

Thank you for posting dirac. Worth reading several times and thinking about. 

[sandik]

First read this in grad school, and then a couple more times, but hadn't looked at it recently -- many thanks for the nudge.  "Against Interpretation" was another big one for me.