Gender and art

What would it mean for choreography to perform as an exhibition? That is the question at the origin of Work/Travail/Arbeid, a newly commissioned project by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Straightforward as it may seem, the implications unsettle both how contemporary dance and the art exhibition are conventionally thought, constructed, and experienced.

20 March–17 May 2015

WIELS, Brussels

http://www.wiels.org/

LONDON.- Dancer, choreographer, filmmaker and writer Yvonne Rainer (born 1934, lives in New York) is widely acknowledged as having played a key role in revolutionising post-war dance, inspiring generations of performers. In the sixties and early seventies, initially as part of the Judson Theater in New York (alongside Simone Forti, Steve Paxton and Trisha Brown), Rainer made dance works that were concerned with social and political form. Her choreography incorporated 'ordinary' movement and ‘neutral’ performance, rethinking the performer-audience relationship.

This exhibition is the first to present live performances of Rainer’s dance works alongside other aspects of her practice: theoretical and lyrical writing, sketches and scores, photographs of performances, documentary and experimental films, and an audio recording of one of her early performative lectures. Together these convey a vivid picture of Rainer's production from 1961 to 1972, and its proximity to the visual arts of the time, notably to minimalist sculpture.

Yvonne Rainer: Dance Works
11 July to 10 August 2014

Raven Row, London

http://www.ravenrow.org/current/yvonne_rainer/

"Since Tamara Rojo's appointment as artistic director of English National Ballet, the former ballerina has proved a natural at working the media. From last year's collaboration with Vivienne Westwood, to this week's clever signing of former Royal Ballet star Alina Cojocaru, Rojo has kept ENB regularly in the news.

Then came her comments in Time Out, comparing the attitude of male choreographers with that of makers of pornography. Rojo's argument, if you read below the screech of headlines, is a serious one, directed at the differences between male and female choreographers and the reasons why so few of the latter are working in ballet. Yet with one effortless flick of a porn reference, she's spun this rather specialist issue right into the middle of the media's attention."

The exhibition Lives of Performers is a tribute to the legendary American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer. Born in 1934 and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theatre, Rainer has been a major influence on subsequent generations of artists. After applying to choreography the results of her research into everyday interplay between the private and the political, she then transposed them into her film work.

The Yvonne Rainer Project

25 October 2014–8 February 2015

La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel, France

http://www.lafermedubuisson.com/THE-YVONNE-RAINER-PROJECT-UK.html

In her heyday, Martha Graham’s name was internationally recognized within the modern dance world, and though trends in choreography continue to change, her status in dance still inspires regard. In this, the first extended feminist look at this modern dance pioneer, Victoria Thoms explores the cult of Graham and her dancing through a feminist lens that exposes the gendered meaning behind much of her work. Thoms synthesizes a diverse archive of material on Graham from films, photographs, memoir, and critique in order to uniquely highlight her contribution to the dance world and arts culture in general.