In Defense of “Under Rehearsed”
By Jeanne Pfeffer
Recently I attended a dance performance in the Bay Area that was critically reviewed in the local paper as “under rehearsed.” This is not the first, nor frankly, the last time we read such critique of dance performances in the Bay Area and otherwise. And it continues to be an odd point for me, to be made in critical contexts, because today, what could it even mean?
To be well rehearsed is to be well resourced. Let us be clear on that point. Excellence is directly tied to economics and when we talk about works being under rehearsed, what the reviewer implies is that it does not measure up to the oppressive standards of excellence the white/western/patriarchal artistic canon has prescribed for hundreds of years. Because when we discuss dance performance in terms of excellence and perfection, create an arbitrary, tyrannical standard of “well rehearsed” for the historically abused dancer class to have to follow, we continue the cycles of oppression and inequity that haunt our field. Of course, artists would prefer their work to look more polished, precise, practiced – if that is indeed the point of the work. But, when it already costs artists all the money they don’t have to create the work they want to make, in the “best” conditions we can create for them, speculating over how much “better” a work might have looked with 20 more hours of rehearsal is a moot point. It was never an option to begin with so perhaps we can accept the realities of the dance making economy and move on.
How might it serve our field to consider performance readiness separately from the economic strictures of “well rehearsed?” Because I can take out my phone and see excellence, perfection. It is so nauseatingly available to me at my fingertips. When anyone can edit, filter, cut, and paste our lives together, stylize our brands, present our best angles to the world at all times, the artist’s object perhaps becomes the imperfect. The forever quest of our human fallibility, our true shared humanity. Everybody fails and in doing so must learn to make choices and here is where it is interesting, at least for me, as an audience member and performer. What occurs in those beautiful fuck-up moments? How is the performer able to make choices and regroup? Where do their faces go? Their hands? These are the imprecise moments of the show that no one will ever see again and that is their exact, precious power.
Perfection is boring. It is a tool of oppression. Let’s be real about the situation and help foster a field of dancers who feel empowered in their bodies, minds, and spirits and able to take responsibility for their abilities and choices in performance separately from hitting the counts. I always believe those dancers on stage are doing the very best they can and there’s no reason to critically remark on the amount a rehearsal a work can afford in relationship to one’s ability to appreciate it in a time that is especially tough for many artists and institutions.
Sure, I like flawless routines too, but for me, that’s not where the art is. It’s not where the heart is.
Jeanne Pfeffer is a dancer and writer with a 15 year career as an arts administrator and producer in the SF Bay Area. Currently the Development Director of BANDALOOP and President of the Board for FACT/SF, she is a stalwart member of the local dance community. She is lucky to do what she loves.
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