My home town’s major art museum is hosting four separate exhibits on dance this summer. Art and Dance have many close connections, so I think it’s splendid to see dance featured so prominently in a major museum setting!
My favorite exhibit is “Why We Dance: American Indian Art in Motion.” This exhibit, assembled by in-house curators, draws upon paintings of traditional dances and displays of dance costumes, drums, and other artifacts. It also incorporates videotaped interviews with Native American dancers who participate in the yearly powwow held at the Denver Art Museum. These dancers speak about what dancing means to them as a way of maintaining their culture and linking their contemporary experiences with this culture. Anyone who has danced will appreciate these interviews and the way in which they touch upon the meaning of dance in people’s lives.
The major exhibit is “Rhythm & Roots; Dance in American Art.” Mounted by the Detroit Institute of the Arts, the exhibit includes paintings, photographs, sculptures, and costumes relating to American dance from 1830 to 1960. The collection addresses popular and theatrical dance across these eras, touching on issues of race, class, and historical events. It is accompanied by an appropriately handsome catalogue, with essays by both dance and art historians.
In addition to hosting this traveling exhibition, the Denver Art Museum mounted three additional exhibits, drawing on local talent. “Dance Lab” is a massive interactive instillation created by animators at Denver’s Legwork Studios and members of the local Wonderbound ballet company. “Performance on Paper” features posters by graphic designers Phil Risbeck and John Sorbie spanning a 30-year period of dance performances at Colorado State University.