Dancing the Dream: an exhibition of American dance photography and film
(featuring Michael Jackson, Madonna & Beyonce)
Dancing the Dream opens 4 October at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery and showcases innovation in American dance as “America’s Culture in Motion”.
The exhibition portrays how the extraordinary opportunity of American life has been featured in Broadway shows and Hollywood films, as well as modern, classical and contemporary dance during the past 100 years, telling the stories of performers, choreographers and impresarios who harnessed America’s diversity into dance styles that defined the national experience.
From the era of live performance to today’s media age, the exhibition will primarily use the National Portrait Gallery’s remarkable collections to chronicle how dance conveyed the dynamism and innovation that fueled the personality of American culture.
In addition to photographs and posters of figures ranging from Isadora Duncan to Beyoncé, the exhibition aims to create the thrill of movement through video installations. Dance as live performance will also play an integral role, and for the first time at the Smithsonian, a dance company will be in residence, the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, rehearsing in the exhibition galleries, with performances later during the exhibition.
Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said, American culture fosters innovation and creativity, and these characteristics are well demonstrated in the constantly evolving styles of dance and those who have created this distinctive American form. Dance accompanied immigrants to the New World, but the sights and sounds of the American experience beat with the pulse of the new. Newness demanded innovation, and the fleeting nature of dance incorporated change effortlessly. Opportunity flowed freely, and American dance incorporated the hope and creative freedom of the American Dream.
Dancing the Dream explores dance in America in six categories: “Broadway and the American Dream”, “Lights! Camera! Action!”, “Choreographing Modern America”, “The Rise of American Ballet”, “Choreography Goes Pop” and “Dance in the Media Age”.
The exhibition includes nearly 70 images of iconic figures such as Fred Astaire, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Beyoncé, Agnes de Mille, Isadora Duncan, Lady Gaga, Savion Glover, Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly, Madonna and Rudolph wilson. Choreographers include Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Mark Morris, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp.
The rehearsals with the resident dance company will be open to the public and streamed live. Feedback from museum visitors and internet viewers will help shape two site-specific works, which will be based on the museum’s collection and focus on the changing face of America. The result will be two hour-long works that will be performed for the public in the museum’s courtyard.
