美国国家公共电台 NPR Dancer Preserves The Work Of Black Choreographers, In One Video At A Time

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to spend some time now talking about art and artists. In a few minutes, we're going to give some thought to how we should react when we discover that an artist we love has done something we think is wrong. But first - preserving important works of art. Classical music, of course, is preserved in scores, theater in scripts. But things get more complicated when it comes to preserving dance.

Colorado Public Radio's Stephanie Wolf introduces us to a dancer working to make sure the legacies¹ of nearly a dozen black choreographers are not forgotten.

STEPHANIE WOLF, BYLINE³: Dancer Gesel Mason was in her 20s when she began emailing black choreographers she admired asking them to create a solo for her. To her surprise, many of them said yes.

GESEL MASON: I did not know that I was making my life's work when I (laughter) started it. I was just really interested in dancing with some choreographers.

WOLF: For 15 years, she's performed dances like Bebe Miller's "Rain."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Vocalizing).

WOLF: She's called the combined effort "No Boundaries: Dancing The Visions Of Contemporary Black Choreographers." She's performed these solos around the country - sometimes as many as seven in a single show.

MASON: Now, in my 40s, I can't keep doing this.

WOLF: As Mason gets older, so do the choreographers. Broadway and modern dance choreographer² Donald McKayle died in April at 87. He taught Mason a dance he created in 1948 called "Saturday's Child." It's danced to a poem about poverty.

(SOUNDBITE ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MASON: Some are teethed on a silver spoon.

WOLF: That gives urgency to Mason's new focus - a digital archive of these dances. It highlights 10 black choreographers relatively⁴ unknown to the general public. Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia. She's helping⁵ Mason.

AMMA GHARTEY-TAGOE KOOTIN: Folks, when they think of black choreographers of the 20th century or contemporary black choreographers - for mainstream⁶ folks, it's Alvin Ailey. Am I missing somebody? Debbie Allen if they're coming from, like, the "Fame" generation.

WOLF: In dance, choreography is typically passed down generation to generation through personal contact. There's also a written notation⁷ called Labanotation, but it requires special training to read and write it. Video is another way to preserve choreography. Gesel Mason has collected hours of performance and rehearsal⁸ footage. Mason also wants to film these dances from multiple angles and zoom⁹ in to catch the tiniest of details. That's less common.

MASON: You can get close, and you can see the fingertips, and you can see the sweat.

WOLF: She's also recorded interviews with each choreographer. They talked about their lives and what motivates them to create dances. Here's a clip from contemporary choreographer Kyle Abraham.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KYLE ABRAHAM: Sometimes, I do want to make something that's just pretty. But, more times than not, I'm really interested in work that can kind of spark questions, passion, love, empathy, anger - just get people charged in some capacity.

WOLF: Eventually, Mason would like to add even more artists.

MASON: Because we know that this is just a small snapshot of what's going on in regards to black choreographers.

WOLF: Tina Curran is an expert in dance documentation at the University of Texas at Austin. She says Mason's archive is a great example of what she calls living legacy¹⁰ of dance. The totality of the project's research, video and interviews makes it invaluable¹¹.

TINA CURRAN: The fact that she's digging down in creating such a rich and diverse archive - it's critical. It's so important to our field.

WOLF: Mason will actually move from Boulder¹², Colo., to Austin this summer to take a job at UT. The university has offered her money to build the archive of black choreographers. She hopes to get at least part of this archive online within the next year.

For NPR News, I'm Stephanie Wolf.

1 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

2 choreographer   

n.编舞者

参考例句：

• She is a leading professional belly dancer, choreographer, and teacher. 她既是杰出的专业肚皮舞演员，也是舞蹈设计者和老师。 来自辞典例句
• It'stands aside, my choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe. 它站在一旁，我优雅的舞蹈指导，并祝福每个指尖与脚尖。 来自互联网

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 notation   

n.记号法，表示法，注释；[计算机]记法

参考例句：

• Music has a special system of notation.音乐有一套特殊的标记法。
• We shall find it convenient to adopt the following notation.采用下面的记号是方便的。

8 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

9 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

10 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

11 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

12 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。