Modern dance is has a small audience, though participatory and ritual dance is as old as we are human. Perhaps, like other contemporary art, it is voided by a potential audience that believes they cannot "get it". In actuality, it is as fascinating as the performance of Olympic athletes. It can be experienced by pure intuition - a resonance of subconscious points, a personal narrative can be impressed upon it, the dynamics between performers can be the focus, or the viewer can put themselves inside the movement.
Modern dance also incorporates its own tragedy. While some discover performative dance through ballet from young childhood, others discover it through gymnastics or come to it later, in college. Their peak physical capability is in late teen years to early 20's, like an athlete, from whence it declines. But their expressive emotional capability is meanwhile on the rise, for a lifetime. Where do those petterns intersect?
Today a show opens at a visual art space which reprises dance video over almost 40 years in Portland. It's accompanied by performances by performers active throughout that period. The show continues to mid-May. This afternoon, Linda K. Johnson, Linda Austin and Tahni Holt, representing the 1990s, the 1980's to now and the millennium to now perform at 3:15PM, 4 and 4:45, all respectively. More performances follow April 30 and May 14, with a discussion April 28.
At the Marylhurst Art Gym at the Marylhurst University www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/ Map 3PM-6 Free
