Chasing the Tale of Contemporary Dance – Part 1

By Carol Anderson
As we crossed into the new millennium, Anderson looked intensely at Canada’s contemporary dance artists and the work they were creating … what they were thinking about … what they were doing … what movement vocabularies were being used. What was the state of the art?

A week long visit to the 1998 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa provided a cross section of new dance works for Anderson’s eye. She records what she saw and what she didn’t see, giving high praise for the skill of the dancers. Her musings on the choreographic works provide insights into the directions and subjects – reflections on the society’s mindset at the time.

Anderson also wonders about the trends – competition, industrial influences, changing infrastructures and dwindling resources, dance and cultural diversity, as well as what presenters and dance community members were thinking and talking about.

All this, rounded off with a concise history of the Canadian dance festival as a cultural phenomenon.

About the Author
Carol Anderson, assistant professor in the dance program at York University, has pursued a diverse career as a dancer, choreographer, educator and writer. She performed with Toronto-based dance artist Judy Jarvis’s first company, and was also a founding member, artistic director and resident choreographer of Dancemakers. She is the author and contributing editor of five dance books; a contributing editor of Reflections in a Dancing Eye (Banff Centre Press, 2006) and the author of Lunch with Lady Eaton (ECW Press, 2004). Anderson writes articles and encyclopedia entries, as well as Carol’s Dance Notes, which enlighten audiences about contemporary choreography.