Abstract:
Post-modern dances of the 1960s and 1970s in the US are often associated with democracy: with democratic bodies, movements, and choreographic procedures. Yet some of their key aspects (such as the dehierarchization of creation processes, body parts and virtuosities, the investigation of new systems of collective decisions…) directly oppose and criticize representative liberal democracies. This article proposes that anarchism, as the theory and practice of rejecting and interrogating forms of domination, could be a richer term to describe their political intents. Through a case study of three collective choreographic adventures, as well as the testimony of dancer and choreographer Steve Paxton, it asks: What can we learn about post-modern dances through the lens of anarchy? And what can we learn about anarchy through the lens of those dances?
Keywords:
Post-Modern Dance; Judson Dance Theater; Grand Union; Contact Improvisation; Anarchism