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Gesture, Pop Culture, and Intertextuality in the Work of Lea Anderson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Sherril Dodds  and
Janet Adshead-Lansdale
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Abstract

Lea Anderson is one of the leading choreographers to have emerged over the past decade, her most characteristic work having been with the all-female group she co-founded, the Cholmondeleys, and its all-male counterpart, the Featherstonehaughs. This article explores the distinctively intertextual elements in Lea Anderson's work – elements which, the authors suggest, make it at once accessible, distinctive, and distinctively postmodern. Sherril Dodds addressed the relationships between postmodernism and popular culture in Anderson's work, with particular focus on the television image and the dance image, in her MA dissertation for the Department of Dance Studies at the University of Surrey, where she is currently a research student. Her co-author, Janet Adshead-Lansdale, is Head of Department at Surrey, and has also edited Dance Analysis: Theory and Practice (1988) and co-edited Dance History: an Introduction (1994).

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 50 , May 1997 , pp. 155 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

Notes and References

1. See Worton, Michael and Still, Judith, eds., Intertextuality: Theories and Practices (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990)Google Scholar; de Marinis, MarcoThe Semiotics of Performance (Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993)Google Scholar.

2. Macaulay, Alastair, ‘Dance Umbrella’, Financial Times, 21 11 1989Google Scholar. Mackrell, Judith, ‘Cholmondeleyism’, Dance Theatre Journal, IV, No. 2 (Summer 1986), p. 14–15Google Scholar. Newman, Barbara, ‘Lea Anderson of The Cholmondeleys’, Dancing Times, LXXVIII, No. 926 (11 1987), p. 130–2Google Scholar.

3. Adkins, Jackie, Lea Anderson, Lloyd Newson and Yolande Snaith – the British Rebirth: Content in 1980s Independent Dance, unpublished MA Dissertation, University of Surrey, 1990Google Scholar; Dodds, Sherril, ‘Perfect Moments, Immaculately Framed’: Postmodernism and Popular Culture in the Work of Lea Anderson, unpublished MA Dissertation, University of Surrey, 1993Google Scholar.

4. Sandy Powell is Anderson's long-term designer whose freelance credits include designing costumes for Derek Jarman's Edward II, Sally Potter's Orlando, and Neil Jordan's The Crying Game. In addition to cinema work she has also designed for the experimental artist Lindsay Kemp.

5. See Macaulay, Alastair, ‘Dance Umbrella’, Financial Times, 21 11 1989Google Scholar; Watson, Keith, ‘Tough Guys Do…’, GQ, 01 1992Google Scholar.

6. Mackrell, Judith, ‘Cholmondeleyism’, Dance Theatre Journal, IV, No. 2 (Summer 1986), p. 14–15Google Scholar.

7. See Banes, Sally, Terpsichore in Sneakers (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1987)Google Scholar.

8. Perfect Moment (originally entitled Birthday) was reworked as part of the ‘Tights, Camera, Action’ series (MJW Productions, Channel Four Television, 1992).

9. Cross Channel (1992), based on a ferry crossing from Dover to Calais, was made specifically for television.

10. Baby, Baby, Baby (1986) is set to the Nina Simone hit single ‘My Baby Don't Care for Me’. The work parodies the all-girl singing groups of the 'sixties era.

11. Flesh and Blood (1989) was inspired by medieval painting and focuses on imagery of women and religions.

12. Anderson's penchant for glamorous costuming is seen in the opulent evening wear of Flesh and Blood and Precious (1993), or in the silk pyjama suits and baby doll gowns of Walky Talky (1992). Examples of stillness and unison movement combined with complex gesture motifs may be seen in Baby, Baby, Baby and in the ‘fly swatting’ section from Cross Channel, while the use of tableaux imagery is evident in Flesh and Blood, Immaculate Conception (1993), and the ‘Gold’ section from Precious.

13. Newman, Barbara, ‘Lea Anderson of The Cholmondeleys’, Dancing Times, LXXVIII, No. 926 (11 1987), p. 131Google Scholar.

14. See Guiles, Fred Lawrence, Norma Jean: the Story of Marilyn Monroe (Herts: Mayflower, 1973)Google Scholar; Shaw, Sam and Rosten, Norman, Marilyn among Friends (Leicester: Magna, 1992)Google Scholar.

15. de Marinis, Marco, The Semiotics of Performance (Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993)Google Scholar.

16. This debate is encapsulated in an interesting series of discussions in Worton and Still, Intertextuality (1990).