Is dance influenced by choreography?
I am not influenced by the choreographies but more by the techniques, concepts and artistic visions of choreographers. Cunningham is a mentor for me because he has continued to investigate and collaborate, not because I can recognize his signatures from the past. He continues to promote dancing in spite of the limits of his choreographyies. In music composition we are left with music. In dance choreography we are left with dance. If I am left with only the choreography or the composition it is history. A public does not need an education to engage with a dance or music performance if they are left with the dance or the music. They do if they are going to be left with a load of historical references. Dutch funded choreography today is a good example of being left with composition and choreography only. It has a similar effect on me as watching an old sci-fi film with its huge knobs and blinking lights; the time structures are forced and the technology is dated to the point of the absurd
