Legacy Unboxed
Join us on May 3
Jacob’s Pillow is hosting the artists for a PillowTalk at 2pm Eastern. Join us for “Legacy Unboxed: Five Decades of Dancing, Scandals, and Passing It On.” Registration is required.
Liz Lerman, Joanna Haigood, Eiko Otake, Merián Soto, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar are exploring how we might reimagine the ways artists share their life’s work with the world.
Legacy Unboxed is supported by the Mellon Foundation. Within their research, conversations, and embodied exploration, the artists are grappling with the following:
- Big picture, “Nomenclature” — How can we change the way libraries and archives talk about and classify dance, so it’s readily accessible to those who are seeking it?
- On approach, “Archives” — What should be preserved and why? For whom and by whom? How do we actually take on the “doing” of archiving work, and what resources or processes can we share with one another?
- Living legacies, “Lab” — What does it mean for five choreographers who make very different work to approach this challenge of legacy and preservation together, when other dance makers tend to wrestle with these questions alone? What does each envision for the future? How do we actually take on the “doing” of archiving the work, and what resources or processes can we share with one another?
How can these five pioneering choreographers make their artistic knowledge, methods, and philosophies available and accessible to future generations in ways that honor the embodied, experiential nature of dance while resisting erasure and fostering continued evolution of their work?
Liz has shared some of her thoughts on legacy from a visit to the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Collection at University of Maryland Library in Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA).
Available online for public access and scholarly research, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Collection features digitized recordings of performances, rehearsals, workshops, and interviews from the Dance Exchange records at SCPA, totaling over 1,000 videos of archival footage. Spanning 1980 through 2004, the content of the videos represents the majority of Liz Lerman’s work as a performer, choreographer, and visionary company leader.
Inspiration
“Unboxing” is a rich, multifaceted concept. It points to opening closed systems, challenging conventional containment of dance to specific venues, timeframes, or audiences. It speaks to radical availability across generations and geographies, extending presence beyond performances or events. It connects to aging and insists that even at an older age one is still uncovering things. It speaks to crossing disciplinary boundaries, working with unexpected collaborators, and creating new contexts for dance and for documentation. And it points to resistance and liberation, connecting artistic practice to dismantling erasure, oppression, and forgetting.
“I’ve been talking to myself about the word ‘unboxing’ and that’s only partly true. I seem to be interested in ‘boxing’ as well.” – Liz Lerman
Legacy Unboxed offers a productive tension between organizing legacy materials and keeping them alive and evolving.
Several themes have begun to emerge
Redefining Legacy Beyond Preservation
The artists view legacy not as something static that happens after they’re gone, but as an active, living process. As Joanna puts it, “Legacy is not about death in my mind, it’s also about what’s happening now.” Eiko emphasizes being “radically available” in the present. Merián adds another dimension by focusing on how legacy confronts erasure, sharing that “it’s political to work on these archives and to maintain this work alive” as a way of challenging the “cultural amnesia” built into colonial structures.
Embodied Knowledge and Experiential Transfer
Each artist acknowledges the challenge of capturing embodied, experiential knowledge. Joanna emphasizes the irreplaceable value of “being present in place,” Liz speaks about the importance of teaching and tool-sharing, and Eiko advocates for “quality gossip” as a form of knowledge transfer that engages both emotional and intellectual understanding. Merián says “legacy is passed on through the bodies” and highlights the power of “moving together to remember together.”
Art as Civic Engagement and Resistance
There’s a strong current of seeing artistic practice as a form of civic engagement, reconnecting with nature, recognizing each other’s humanity, intersecting with justice and law, opposing violence and war, confronting erasure, and more.
Collaborative Ethos with Individual Voice
Each artist navigates the tension between individual contributions and collaborative processes. Liz calls this the “I/We problem,” Joanna emphasizes “reciprocity,” Eiko values “mutual invitation,” and Merián describes the essential contributions of dancers who embody the vision.
Creating Access Across Generations and Geographies
The artists all share a commitment to making their work accessible beyond traditional performance venues and timelines. They share concerns about how to reach across generational divides and geographic limitations, creating multiple entry points for diverse audiences to encounter their work.
Artists
Joanna Haigood
Since 1979 Joanna Haigood has been creating work that uses natural, architectural, and cultural environments as points of departure for movement exploration and narrative. Visit The Zaccho Dance Theatre Performance Archive.
Liz Lerman
Liz Lerman is a choreographer, performer, writer, teacher, and speaker. You’re already on her website. You can view an incomplete timeline of her work and accomplishments here.
Eiko Otake
Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement–based, interdisciplinary artist. Learn more about her work on her website.
Merián Soto
Dancer, choreographer, video, and improvisation artist Merián Soto, is the creator of aesthetic-somatic dance practices and methodologies, Branch Dancing and Modal Practice. Learn more about her work on her website.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Jawole founded Urban Bush Women (UBW) in 1984 as a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. In addition to creating over 34 works for Urban Bush Women, Zollar has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, and many universities across the United States. Read more about Jawole on the UBW website.
Conversations
Process
The Legacy Unboxed project began in 2022. Convenings and conversations include:
- May 2022 – retreat in Honolulu, HI
- Jan 2023 – retreat and public talk at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
- Mar 2023 – meetings and tour at the Library of Congress
Audiences are invited to join the artists for a public talk (in person or virtual) at Jacob’s Pillow on May 3 at 2pm Eastern. Register here
Legacy Unboxed is supported by funding from the Mellon Foundation. Additional support has been provided by Jacob’s Pillow as a lead partner and fiscal sponsor.
Support the Work
Our continued research and development for work like Legacy Unboxed is made possible with the support of individual donors like you. Your generous gift is tax deductible and provides for our collaborators, space, travel, tools, and the necessary luxury of time – time to process our ideas. Thank you for your donation.
