Don’t put your Daughter on the Stage features a chorus line-up of dancers and pays homage to early 20th century dance, infiltrating and injecting life into the past, and painting a loving portrait of a lost archive. Quoting research from forgotten grand dames of dance, (Fuller, Weisenthal, Akesson), this montage performance is glued in place by an all female troupe who vie to be seen and heard amongst the litter of their surprisingly contemporary history. In keeping with a personal dance genealogy, ‘Don’t put your Daughter on the Stage’, has emerged from a sustained period of practical research into predominantly female European Ausdruckstanz solo performances. This choreography of this live work ‘Don’t put Your Daughter on the Stage’ (2008 and reconstructed for 2009) was commissioned by University of Chichester for their in-house MapDance Company. Research methods include: revealing archaeology and uncovering history from photographic, text and critical evidence: taking new narratives from old forms: creating a momento of a performing self and placing it within a new context. ‘Don’t put your Daughter on the Stage’ makes a commentary on the female performer by juxtaposing spoken texts by Noel Coward and Otto A Harbach, and creating tableaux vivants.
2009 UK Tour including Winchester, Eastleigh, Chichester, Coventry, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, London, Croydon, Portsmouth, Hythe, Folkestone, Isle of Wight, Leeds, New Milton, Trowbridge. Roehampton, Bridport, Denmark, London.
Citations
Titles cannot be trusted. Liz Aggiss’s piece for Mapdance Don’t Put Your Daughter On The Stage, should have every teenage girl with a bit of nous rushing to join a dance company. It delivers the combined joys of distinctive movement with humour, eclectic music and fine performance. Whilst paying homage to early twentieth-century dance in its styling and aesthetic it is totally modern, allowing the eleven dancers to work to their own strengths whilst maintaining the syncopation of a classic showgirl line-up. Inches from its audience, the troupe radiated energy. A sharp and pithy showcase for women dancers; rare to find and thrilling to watch.
Lisa Wolfe Total Theatre Vol 21 Issue 03 Autumn 2009
It's a thoughtful homage to early 20th Century dance; superbly performed by these eleven girls, who flit from the harmony of synchronised movement and speech to each combatively seeking the limelight. The whole feel of the ensemble evoked the pioneering age of dance in the 20s and 30s, ably enhanced by Holly Murray's costumes and the excellent film noir lighting.
(Graham Watts, online)
