Dear Readers,
I’ve been thinking about the role of iconoclasm in dance and its inevitable relationship to reverence. Perhaps an iconoclast is inherently hypocritical — got yo celebrate something is also to destroy it and to destroy something is also to celebrate it.
Under what conditions do the immaterial circumstances of a dance become absent from the material manifestation of it?
The various articles in this issue touch upon the material and immaterial conditions informing the production and reception of dance and performance. How are we citizens inside and outside of the theater? Why and you do we show ourselves and others on stage? Who has the agency to represent oneself and who possesses the agency to represent others? How does time change how we see what we see, onstage or otherwise?
Another instance to consider iconoclasm is the portfolio on Jennifer Miller. Miller reminds me of the importance of play, accident, politics and persistence — a very different relationship to reverence.
Thank you to all the artists, writers, photographers, and editors who contributed to this issue. Buck, Rebecca, Elena, Conor and David — thank you — this could not exist without you.
Yours,
Moriah
