For this program I began by interviewing
local and regional dancers and choreographers, while I knew that later during
the semester I would look into larger-scale environmental dance projects. As I shifted gears from local to more national and international projects, one artist I found was Jennifer Monson. Monson has been
working in the field of modern dance since graduating Sarah Lawrence College in
1983 and has presented her work across the US as well as in Latin America,
Europe, and Australia. Although I wasn’t able to personally interview Monson
for my project, I was able to find a significant amount of information on her
work, primarily through online sources. Like many of the other artists I have talked
about, Monson works in a modern/contemporary dance style with strong influences
from improvisation and contact improvisation and she frequently works
collaboratively with other artists such as Zeena Parkins, Kenta Nagai, and
Yvonne Meier. From my research I have found that two of Monson’s major projects
are directly related to environmental issues: Birdbrain Project and iLand:
Interdisciplinary laboratory for art, nature, and dance. I discuss both of
this projects in more detail below.
Jennifer Monson has won several awards for her working including a Gunningham Fellowship (2003), a
Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art Fellowship (1998), and the New York
Foundation for the Arts Artists Fellowship (1989, 1998).
Philosophy
and Values
Improvisation, nature, community involvement, music, and
collaboration with other artists are all central to Monson’s philosophy and
values regarding dance. Several of Monson’s works are based around
improvisation, sometimes including contact improvisation. Regarding the ideas
of nature and wilderness she states, “Wilderness as a concept seems central to
human evolution. Dancing is a powerful medium for addressing our ‘nature’ and
is one of the places I experience wildness.” Both Birdbrain Project and iLAND are
focused on the exploration of movement in the context of our “natural”
environment.
It is clear from Monson’s extensive work with community
and educational school programs that she highly values providing non-dancers of
all ages with an opportunity to creatively explore movement. Monson believes
that the experience of moving oneself is a useful tool for exploring the
interconnectivity between self and other; she states “I think of dance as a way
of reaching out and touching the world in a quite literal way.”
Monson’s
work in a historical context
Monson has explored environmental, political, and social
issues through her various projects. Monson states that her work is placed “in
the tradition of experimental dance artists starting with the early modern
dance pioneers and continuing through to the radical artists spawned in the
Judson Church era” (http://ilandsymposium.wordpress.com/). While Monson’s work
incorporates many elements of past modern and contemporary choreographers, her
work reflects current issues of global interest and concern; topics as broad as
our current disconnection from nature, and as specific as the depletion of
important aquifers.
iLAND:
Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance
Jennifer Monson founded iLand as a non-profit, cross disciplinary
“dance research organization that investigates the power of dance, in
collaboration with other fields, to illuminate our kinetic understanding of the
world.” iLand focuses on the relationships between environmental
sustainability, art, and urban landscapes and lifestyles. Through the
implementation of yearly “iLAB
residencies” involving researchers from different disciplines, iLand supports
the collaboration of scientists, environmentalists, and artists. Since 2009
iLand has hosted annual symposiums that provide opportunity for discussion and
research presentations. The most recent iLand residency took place only a week
ago and was entitled Moving Into the Out
There: Indeterminacy and Improvisation in Performance and Environmental
Practice.
To read more about iLAND and this year’s symposium visit
the website:
http://ilandsymposium.wordpress.com/symposium/
Birdbrain Dance: a navigational dance project
Birdbrain Dance was a unique movement project that
spanned ten years and investigated migration patterns of whales and birds to
create an interdisciplinary experience incorporating both art and science.
Monson states, “the project's melding of art with science illuminates the
linkages between the natural world's fragile, delicate strength and the
creative process” (http://www.birdbraindance.org/about.cfm?id=1).
There is a whole website dedicated to this project, which I highly encourage
you check out!
Birdbrain Project Website:
The project originated with Monson’s idea to follow the
migration pathways of different animal species while performing site-specific
works along the way. In total, Monson has completed four tours, each based off
a different species: Gray whales, Ospreys, Ducks and Geese, and Northern
Wheaters. The first tour began in 2001 and the last tour finished in 2010. Each
tour consisted of 30 free, site-specific performances incorporating
improvisation and community participation. Locations of these community
workshops and “site dance” presentations have spanned a huge array of states
and countries including Canada, Texas, Maine, California, Mexico, Europe, Cuba,
West Africa, and the Artic.
I found this project interesting and different from any
of the other environmental dance projects I have looked at this semester,
although certainly there are still many similar themes emerging such as
improvisation, community, and site-specific work. What I found unique about
Birdbrain Project was the fact that Monson carefully studied the migration
patterns of these animals, and then not only created her movement through an
abstraction of how the animals move, but also performed her dances on the same
pathway that the animals take to migrate across the globe. I imagine that when
a human is taking this path, and one can see how difficult of a path it is, it
gives people a true appreciation for animal migration and the intelligence and
endurance that it requires.
Because I haven’t seen any of Birdbrain Project live I
can’t speak from personal experience as an audience member or participant, but I
believe that the idea behind this project is a simple and beautiful way to
better understand and appreciate some of the other animals that we share the
Earth. By looking at the lives of these animals through movement, travel, and
dance, it provides a perspective that is more meaningful than simply learning
the same facts through a textbook.
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