Challenging the Perception of Pole Dance at PS1 MoMA

Photo by Michel Leroy

One of the world’s most prestigious and innovative contemporary art museums, was significantly progressive in changing the perception of what pole dance can be. To the audience at PS1 on July 24^th, it is an impressively gymnastic form of aerial dance and performance art.

The architectural firm Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (SO-IL), was the winner of the eleventh annual MoMA/MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, an annual series of competitions that gives emerging architects the opportunity to design and build projects conceived for PS 1’s facility in Long Island City, Queens.  They titled their urban environment Pole Dance long before the idea of pole dance, as we know it, entered into the collaborative process.

Conceived as a participatory environment that reframes the conceptual relationship between humankind and structure, Pole Dance is an interconnected system of 25-foot elastic fiberglass poles that bend and sway. Eight of the poles in Pole Dance also include an audio device so as the audience begins to interact with elements of the structure by pushing, pulling, or shaking the poles, modulated tones are generated, which have been specifically composed to blend with the sonic environment and bring harmony to the soundscape in and around PS1. Sand, beach balls, hammocks, pools and mist machines add to the amusing and interactive summertime environment.

Now enter Kyra Johannesen to add actual dancers and pole choreography to SO-IL’s design, and you’ve got one of the most unique and innovative projects PS1 MoMA has presented.

Kyle McBeth the producer of the Body & Pole PS 1 Pole Dance series, made contact with SO-IL in April 2010 when he invited them to “Out Through Her” a contemporary dance performance that incorporated pole and aerial silk dancers, conceived by McBeth, Kyra Johannesen, and Jennifer James. SO-IL became interested in a having pole dancers perform on their installation after seeing the show. Pole dancers were the perfect missing element for a fully collaborative performance art piece.

Recalling revolutionary movements in art history such as Dada performances in the 1920s, Bauhaus performances in the 1930s and Happenings and Fluxus in the 1950s and 1960s, Pole Dance was multi-media, interdisciplinary, site specific, integrative of the audience and challenging to the enduring question “what is art,” and also in this case, “what is pole dance?”

Choreographed by Johannesen, the first performance of this three part series was a synchronized swimming piece. Johannesen said, “Pole Dance had a very playful, fun feel that reminded me of summer and the beach. It gave me the idea to do a Busby Berkley 1930s type of movement. The poles themselves made ambient aquatic sounds. These elements all came together into what became a synchronized swimming routine in the air.”

Barry Bergdoll, the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA adds, “This series of performances renews a vital connection between choreography and architectural design that marks some of the most innovative moments in the history of avant-garde architecture. Combined with the acoustical engineering of the poles created by sound engineers from Arup Associates, Johannesen’s performances mark this as one of the most collaborative and interdisciplinary of the Young Architects Program installations in the program’s 11-year history.”

Despite the 96 degree weather and sweltering sun, hundreds came out to see this visually stunning, fun and interactive performance. As this series continues, Johannesen and her company of New York City’s finest pole dancers continue to push the perception of pole dance into an exciting new direction of art and performance.

A Pole Spin Magazine exclusive, By Michelle Stanek

©2010 Pole Spin Magazine.

Links:

ps1.org

www.bodyandpole.com

poledance.so-il.org