The Frontier of Dance is the Reification of Magic Powers

The frontier of dance is the reification of magic powers such as teleportation, telekinesis, levitation, flight, metamorphosis and bilocation. These ancient magical powers — the stuff of legendary mystics, science fiction, holy yogis, werewolves and wizards — are the liminal spaces of human physicality.

Why is this a reification and not a simulation? Because we must understand that a dance of bodies, lights, projections, displays, props, scenery elements — whether digital or analog — is still a dance. The reality of the dance is in the verity of that which dances. This is true whether the dance is occurring on a stage or in a street or within the bounds of a video frame. The reification of magic in dance is manifesting across a hybridity of forms, from wearable technology, to projections, to drones, to postproduction special effects.

Magic knows no hierarchy of realness with regard to the medium in which it manifests when it concerns dance because in dance whatever dances is real.

If the frontier of dance is the reification of magical powers then the choreographer becomes a shaman. The choreographer is no longer the author of the movements of dancers alone, but rather a conductor of all that moves. The choreographer as shaman occupies a subtle and multidimensional creative space in which all means which permit movement become vectors for choreographic exploration.

If the frontier of dance is the reification of magical powers then the dancer becomes that which is enchanted. The dancer is no longer subject to the orthodoxies of movement as dictated by the laws of physics. The dancer embodies transcendent powers of expression. The dancer is no longer necessarily human but may also take the form of an object or a space.

If the frontier of dance is the reification of magical powers there is no hierarchy of choreographer/dancer but rather a magic circle inside of which there is a dance of shaman/enchanted/enchantment. The roles are exchangeable and dynamic. What was previously considered a choreographic act of direction — isolated from the dance by means of the dualism of that which is on- and off-stage — is revealed to be simply part of the dance. The choreographer is as enchanted as the dancer. The meta-dance is also part of the dance.