Ann Carlson

Ann Carlson (Born October 21, 1954 ) is an American dancer, choreographer and performance artist whose work explores contemporary social issues. Her work often places audiences and performers in new and unusual relationships to one another. She has performed through the United States an internationally and has won a number of awards.

Beginnings in Dance

Calson was born in Park Ridge, Illinois [Benbow-Pfalzgraf, Taryn. "International Dictionary of Modern Dance." (Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998), 106.] . She graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in modern dance from the University of Utah in 1976. In 1983 she became one of the first students of the University of Arizona to earn a graduate degree in dance [Harris, William. “DANCE; On a Tour of Tableaus, You Move, They Don't.” "The New York Times." 14 May 2000. Section 2; Page 46. University of Texas Lib., Austin, TX. 24 March 2008. [http://www.LexisNexis.com> LexisNexis] ] . Even though Carlson received extensive dance training as a child, she defined dance as “any conscious movement in time and space” [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 107] . Carlson came to this conclusion when she was 12 years old after attending a lecture and demonstration by Murray Louis at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 107] . Because of her broad view of dance, Carlson often tackles important issues in her performance work and believes that whatever methods are needed to convey a message are the methods that need to be utilized [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 108] . As a result Carlson takes her work far beyond the confines of traditional “dance” into a realm that could be called performance art.

Career

Carlson spent the late 1970’s to the early ‘90s of her dance career performing. During this time Carlson performed with Territory Dance Theater in Tucson, Arizona and Meredith Monk [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 106] . She performed her first solo concert in 1986 and performed to music composed by Stewart Wallace and Phillip Glass [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 106] . As a choreographer Carlson’s work has been performed throughout the United States; some notable places her choreography has been featured have been Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 106] . Internationally her work has been performed in West Germany, Prague and Mexico City. Carlson’s choreography has earned her a New York Dance and Performance Award in 1988, American Dance Festival Award in 1988, and the CalArts Alpert Award in Dance in 1995 [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 106] . These awards are just a portion of the many recognitions Carlson has received.

tyle of Work

Some critics refer to Carlson’s work as dance-theater and some refer to it as talking dancing [Tobias, Tobi. “Dance Review: Ann Carlson Is Her Own Kind of Down-to-earth.” "New York Magazine". (28 Feb 2000). 24 March 2008 http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/dance/reviews/2246/] . Whatever it may be called, her work often incorporates different movement components, speaking or acting components, and props or sometimes animals. In addition, her work often challenges stereotypes and assumptions generally made in American culture [Keefe, Maura. "Talking Dancing: The Choreography of Space and Character in Contemporary U.S. Dance." (Ann Arbor, MI.: ProQuest Information and Learning Company, 2002), 127] . A piece entitled "The Dog Inside the Man Inside" represents all these areas of Carlson’s work and is from a series of work called "Animals". The setup of this piece includes a straight chair, a television set, a white picket fence, and, most notably, a real live dog [Keefe, "Talking Dancing", 122] . Other animals are later featured, including a goldfish, a cat and a goat [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 108] . The use of live animals requires much skill from Carlson as a choreographer as well as a willingness to be flexible despite the fact that, by nature, choreography is a set structure and not often very flexible. That precise challenge is exactly why Carlson took the project on saying she wanted “to make works that could respond to a living being, that I couldn’t choreograph in the way that I’d been taught to choreograph” [Benbow, "International Dictionary of Modern Dance", 108] .

Tackling Issues

Carlson’s work often challenges stereotypes and assumptions held in modern-day America. Most notably, Carlson tackles gender role issues through different costuming and speech. In one installment of "Animals" entitled "The Dog Inside the Man Inside" Carlson appears on stage in suit and tie writing letters to different people in her life. The set design includes a white picket fence encompassing the perimeter of the stage. As Carlson walks its perimeter she breaks into fits of thrashing anger [Keefe, "Talking Dancing", 123] . One would assume that, despite the fact that she is a woman, Carlson is portraying a male character because of her costuming and aggressive behavior. However, in narrating one of the letters, Carlson agrees to be the maid of honor in her friend’s upcoming wedding [Keefe, "Talking Dancing", 126] . The ambiguity of the main character’s gender can often confuse the audience and make them actually fumble for the intended meaning. The elements of Carlson’s performance are so precisely calculated and that this reaction is probably exactly what Carlson wants because it forces the audience to analyze their own understanding of what gender roles are.

External links

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7D91F3DF934A35751C0A96E948260] The Dance: Ann Carlson's 'Animals'

References