Anne Collod, Moving alter-natives

Where is the line between cultural appropriation and celebration? How has the blurriness between these two concepts affected the legacy of American modern dance? In Moving alter-natives, Bessie Award–winning choreographer Anne Collod takes a look at the foundations of modern dance, including the gender roles and colonialist perspectives that inspired two of our most well-known dance icons.

At the heart of Moving alter-natives is the faithful reprise of solo and group pieces by choreographers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, founders of the Denishawn Dance Company, who were integral to the development of modern dance in the US. With a culturally and artistically diverse cast of six international performers—Sherwood Chen, Ghyslaine Gau, Nitsan Margaliot, Calixto Neto, Pol Pi, and Damini Gairola—Moving alter-natives scrutinizes these historic dances in restagings that explore their aesthetic impacts and political stakes. In doing so, the performers confront St. Denis and Shawn’s appropriation of South Asian, East Asian, and Native American cultures.

Re-creations in this work include three solo pieces by Ruth St. Denis, including Incense (1906), Lazy Nautch (1917), and Kashmiri Nautch (1919); and excerpts of group pieces by Ted Shawn, including Kinetic Molpai (1935) and The Dome (1910), with different interpretations led by the six performers.