The Modern Dance: Seven Statements of Belief

THE REBEL AND THE BOURGEOIS

Anna Sokolow THE REBEL AND THE BOURGEOIS I I hate academies. I hate fixed ideas of what a thing should be, of how it should be done. I don't like imposing rules, because the person, the artist, must do what he feels is right, what he — as an individual — feels he must do. If we establish an academy, there can be no future for the modern dance. An art should be constantly changing; it cannot have fixed rules. The trouble with the modern dance now is that it is trying to be respectable. The founders of the modern dance were rebels; their followers are bourgeois. The younger generation is too anxious to please, too eager to be accepted. For art, this is death. To young dancers, I want to say: "Do what you feel you are, not what you think you ought to be. Go ahead and be a bastard. Then you can be an artist." The modem dance should be non-conformist. We should not try to create a tradition. The ballet has done that, and that's fine — for the ballet. But not for us. Our strength lies in our lack of tradition. Some say that the big change came in the late 1920's, and now is the time for the modern dance to assimilate and solidify. That's all wrong, because it is like building on still another tradition. Without change there can be no growth, and not enough change is going on today. My quarrel with this generation is that they copy their teachers, and it's their own fault. They don't want freedom; they want to be told what to do. Why don't they realize they don't have to believe everything teacher says? They ought to disagree; they ought to argue. 29 Of course it's not all the fault of the student. Too often, teachers are merely polite when they should be provocative. They ought to shock. Look at Louis Horst. At eighty, he was still fresh and bold. The good teacher does not teach rules; he stimulates. He shows the students what he knows and inspires them — to go and do something else. Learning rules cannot produce an artist. What is an artist? What is the nature of the creative process? These are things we can't know; they can't be explained. The creative teacher opens doors for his students to see what life is, what they are. They have to take it from there. It is easier and quicker to teach by rule, but in the end it's no good. To learn to choreograph, you just have to mess through it for a while. Most people feel they have to "fix" a dance, they have to make it "neat." No — it's better to have disordered life, but to have life. The modern dance is an individual quest for an individual expression of life. The new generation have not really faced themselves; they don't know what it is they want to say. Most of their choreography is vague. It doesn't come organically from the person. It can't, because the choreographer doesn't know who he is or how he feels. So he tries to cover up his confusion by giving his dances fancy titles, by being intellectual . Dance is not intellectual. It deals with deep emotion. Choreography always reflects the character of the creator. We see in the person's work what he asks from life and from art. Some want only to be entertained, so they offer us only entertainment. Others see life as a tremendous, mysterious force, and this is reflected in their work. Of course there are times when we want to be entertained . Life is not all deep emotion. Art should recognize all ov. needs. I don't believe in ivory towers. The artist should belong to his society, yet without feeling that he has to conform to it. He must feel that there is a place for him in society, a place for what he is. He must see life fully, and then say what he feels about it. Then, although The Question:choreography, Anna Sokolow: American Dance Theatre (photo: Herbert Migdoll) 30 he belongs to his society, he can change it, presenting it with fresh feelings, fresh ideas. The important thing is...