Dancing as Connection: An Arting Conversation

Welcome to Ruth and Shari’s discussion about dancing, stimulated by the paintings Tanz im Variete’ by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Jane Avril Dansant by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,

The Kirchner painting, which we did not know at the time of our conversation, just recently resurfaced after being lost for almost a century. The painting, dated 1911, shows a black man dancing with a white woman, dancing something called the cakewalk. Nazi Germany put Kirchner on their degenerate art list. Much of his work was destroyed, and it was thought this piece was as well, until this year.

We compared this with a painting of one of Lautrec’s friends, Jane Avril, who was in fact a professional dancer, performing at the Moulin Rouge and the Les Folies-Bergère among others. While the painting shows her energy and sense of movement, she is dancing alone. The comparison of this with the more social engagement made for a lively conversation, complimented by the poem Love and Love by Derek Walcott, which celebrates the beauty of self-love.

Join us for a dance.

Join in on the conversation.

How can and do we use dance as a form of connection? Are we losing that ability in modern day?

Does art sufficiently capture the energy and impact of dance? Why or why not?