Dance and Bonsai

PatArizona

G'day All...

Since "musings on art" was getting long...I thought I'd start a spin-off.

In “Musings on Art”, post 37, Pootsie said: “…How about dance…” and “…After all, bonsai is just another very slow form of dance…”.

Here’s a treatment on the “artistic relationship” between Dance and Bonsai…I kind of like it:

“…To begin with, I would like to mention a modern dancer whose remarkable approach to his work was, to a large degree, the inspiration for my experiment in bonsai. This dancer was Merce Cunningham, who stretched the boundaries of dance very early in his career. With a subtle shift in orientation, he began dancing with the unique assumption that whichever direction he faced was the front, ignoring the direction of the audience. He would often dance on a round stage, surrounded by seats. The dance then took place with infinite ‘fronts’. The audience, no longer the front of polarity, watched Cunningham as if he were a spinning top, self-generated and unaware of being observed.

“A tree growing in a field does not have a front…”.

This is from Mike Hagedorn’s paper: BONSAI IN THE ROUND.

I happen to have one of the bonsai he used in his “…experiment in bonsai…”. It is a group of three Thuja orientalis. I will post a picture of it…one day. I promise.

Pat

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BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain.
THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life.

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