Artistic Leacy
"I have had the honor of studying with and spending time with a great number of our tap maters before they passed away" says Michelle Dorrance at the 2012 Danspace Project. Dorrance has had the opportunity to train with tappers such as Clayton "Peg-Leg" Bates, Dr. James "Buster" Brown, Gregory Hines and the Nicholas Brothers. In the 2012 Danspace Project, Dorrance's goal was to
honor those tap masters, living and passed. A lot of the work that Michelle creates is inspired by those she has trained with. "I would also like to honor our living maters whom I am constantly influenced by" say Michelle.
In Michelle's 2013 show SOUNDspace, she talks about how she is exploring new ideas but are also "constantly mindful of our rich history". Dorrance's inspiration to do slide work in socks came from Dr. Jimmy Slyde. "In order to tap dance on the gorgeous wood floor you see here in the church, we had to turn away from aluminum taps towards using different surfaces on the soles of our feet" says Michelle about her performance SOUNDspace.
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This photo feature two dancers from the Dorrance Dance
company for the 2013 production of SOUNDspace. As you can see
they are wearing socks and doing Slide Work inspired by Dr. Jimmy Slyde.
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In the last few years Michelle's flowing has grown quite a bit. Jayme Thornton states in Dance Magazine "dance fans and critics were already swooning for her sophisticated musicality, thrilling ensemble arrangements and layered choreography that hits a wide range of emotional notes". Dorrance always makes sure to pay tribute in someone to those that she's inspired by. In the Dance Magazine article, she continually refers to those that inspire her. Tap history is a large part of her work. Michelle hopes to have more time in the near future to focus in on her own craft and find more time for herself. However, she is not feeling rushed. In Dance Magazine, she said lighthearted "What I love about tap dancers is that they die in their 90s with their shoes on. We're a breed of dancers that doesn't retire with age."
Here is Michelle Dorrance's performance SOUNDspace. In this clip you will see Michelle along with dancers from her company Dorrance Dance.
I find it intriguing that she is mindful about using her histories when she dances. Our bodies take in everything we see and move through and is provides us with a rich history of movement. However, some people, instead of embracing their movement histories, try to bury them. Dorrance also, acknowledges who she has acquired movement from and where in her line of training it came from. By paying tribute to who she has learned material from or who she has trained with, it allows her followers to pass traditions and movement styles on as well. Who would you say is Dorrance's biggest influence in creating dance? Does she pull from a specific topic that she works with often or is a performance just for the sake of movement?
ReplyDeleteHi Ariana, thanks for your response. I agree, learning about our dance history is very important in growing as a dancer as crafting your own style. Through my research, it seems like Michelle is inspired by many tappers such as Peg Leg Bates and Gregory Hines. However, more recently, in an article about her 2013 piece Soundspace (short clip linked in the blog post above), she makes a reference to Jimmy Slyde, and how she was inspired to use his "slyde" technique in that piece specifically.
ReplyDeleteHer topic depends on the performance. For example, her most recent piece, ETM:Double Down, that she did in 2016, she used electronic sound boards, that made different sound effects when they tapped on them. In that case, that performance was centered mainly around rhythms and different ways to put rhythms together. I have a clip of this dance in my third post if you are interested. Thanks for reading!