Anarchic Dance

Reviewed by Lisa Haight for londondance.com

Have you heard of Divas Dance Theatre? Have you ever seen any of their shows?

Whether your answer to either of these questions is a 'yes' or 'no', run out and buy this book as you're bound to learn something from it that isn't found in other books about dance. Why? Well, Divas is not your average dance company and Anarchic Dance is not your average academic text book.

For starters, this book comes with an accompanying DVD so the reader can see the piece they are reading about and form their own opinion about it. Secondly, it is a series of essays about different aspects of Divas' work edited by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie (of Divas fame) with Ian Bramley. Articles come from Aggiss, Cowie, Carol Brown, Deborah Levy, Marion Kant, Valerie A. Briginshaw, Claudia Kappenberg, Ian Bramley, Sondra Fraleigh and Sherril Dodds.

One of the aspects I liked most about this book (aside from the accompanying DVD) was the varying authors' styles of writing. Although they all differed, they were similar in that I felt all their styles were accessible and not overly academic. The other plus point for me was that the essays don't follow on from one another, so the reader can read the chapters out of sequence and not be lost.

Being a fan of Divas, I enjoyed gaining new insights into their work through what I read. I especially got a lot out of Aggiss' essay Outsider performance: A raw vision: Dance and learning difficulties. This chapter focused on preconceptions about 'Outsider Performers', as Aggiss eloquently redefines people with learning difficulties in performance, and how society and the media like to label people. For example, instead of seeing an Outsider Performer as just another performer in a piece, it was suggested by the broadcaster that 'a warning preceded the television screening of Beethoven in Love to clarify that one of the performers had special needs' - a suggestion firmly vetoed by Aggiss/Cowie. Interestingly enough, when my husband and I watched Beethoven in Love on the accompanying DVD, I asked him what he noticed about the person who portrayed Beethoven. My husband replied 'he gave a good performance'. He didn' t pick up that Tommy Bayley was an Outsider Performer and why should he when that performance was just as good, if not better, than the others in the piece?

Sparking debate is what Divas' work has always done and Anarchic Dance will no doubt continue this legacy. If you are a dancer, student of dance, dance enthusiast or someone who is interested in artists who continually seek to push boundaries, I recommend reading this book. It gives a fresh perspective on many aspects of dance and the dance world and that alone is well worth the read.