Dance Magazine: Dance—expansive, ephemeral, distinctly alive—probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you picture a museum gallery’s austere, hushed vibe. “We’ve had a history since the Victorian era of going to museums and not being able to touch or engage with the artwork, walking through just as an observer, closed off from the consciousness of what you’re going to engage with,” says Dana Tai Soon Burgess, artistic director of his eponymous company and former choreographer in residence at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
2 comments:
I would love to see one of these dance pieces at the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. It’s one of the few museums in D.C. that I haven’t been to yet, and it’s still on my list. This addition of dance really breathes life into the artwork that surrounds the dancers. It has me thinking how this may affect the dance community and how these spontaneous and freeing dances happen. When reading this article I began to think about my Mom, who is currently the main development officer for the capital campaign for the first ever hands-on science center in Northern Virginia. While this has a more hands-on approach than most museums, I still wonder how invoking dance into the space would force the museum spaces to look inward, towards the guest experiences. I hope that this will add another layer of complexity to the dancing industry and that I get to experience professional dancing in a museum at some point.
I really like this idea. To me, personally, dance is just like a painting. It tells a story through calm and collected intricate strokes and has a deeper meaning which one has to spend time with to unlock the truth of it. There is a component, too, that I feel is missing in post museums. Most museums do not have a live competent in them that makes the viewer feel immersed. Themed museums and museums with interactive and cultural references tend to make for a better experience, because the visitors can feel immersed in the art. I think dance is a great way to do this. Most museums have a big open space which is usually just white and static before it splinters off into various galleries. Filling these atriums with dance introduces the aspect of living art and honestly makes the viewers appreciate all of the art in a deeper way.
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