From the moment one walks onto the Martin Plaza outside the Denver Art Museum's Hamilton Building, the feet pick up a rhythm. "In Motion: An Outdoor Installation" in bright color invites the visitor to dance in and around it before entering the museum door. It will provide a backdrop for visitors to dance, as well as for appearances by many professional troupes through the summer, when the campus-wide theme is "Dance!" (A young child carrying a stick with flowing ribbons and a little white terrier were dancing with the terrace fountains on a recent morning.)
Inside, one first looks up at mural-sized paintings of American Indian dancers on the high white walls.
On the ground floor, walk back to the Gallagher Gallery to enjoy "Why We Dance: American Indian Art in Dance and Motion" which includes a wide range of colorful Indian dance regalia: headdresses, jingle dresses, men's and women's Fancy Dance costumes, masks, jewelry and musical instruments, including drums.
Paintings depict native dances that were meant to cure disease, protect or defend from animals and more. This multi-sensory exhibit includes 86 works, 78 drawn from the Denver Art Museum's extensive American Indian Art collection.
A large painting of ballroom dancers by Arthur Bowes Davies called "Dances," 1914/15, at the exhibit's entrance on the second floor, introduces "Rhythm & Roots: Dance in American Art," organized by the Detroit Institute of Art. It includes about 90 paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures and costumes (including the tutu Anna Pavlova wore in her famous Dying Swan performances in the ballet "Swan Lake").
Art covers 1830 to 1960, with paintings of famous dancers including Americans Isadora Duncan, Katherine Dunham, Fred Astaire and Josephine Baker, Spanish dancer Carmencita Dauset Moreno and Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Curator Angelica Daneo commented that "no one pictured suffered from low self-esteem!"
Stylized paintings of jitterbugs add another facet to this lively exhibit.
Daneo spoke about John Singer Sargent's process in painting an elegant portrait of the famous La Carmencita. He had trouble getting her to pay attention, to maintain her pose --; and entertained her by painting a rose, eating his cigar, etc. ...
A Spider Dress was designed for contemporary American dancer Martha Graham by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who also designed stage sets. He was inspired by the story of Medea.
An impressive "Contemporary Collaboration" video by the Yo Yo Ma trio and young black dancer Charles "Little Buck" Riley was a contemporary interpretation of Pavlova's" Dying Swan." He included a bit of moon walking and ended in a knot.
While on the second floor, be sure to step inside "#dancelab" in the Fuse Box, where Wonderbound ballet dancers have choreographed small jazzy pieces to an ongoing music tape. Watchers are encouraged to step behind a screen and imitate the moves, then come out and see themselves pictured --; dancing on the wall. Children who were present on the morning I was were absolutely enchanted --; as were several millennials!
If you go
The entrance to the Denver Art Museum is from 13th Avenue, between Broadway and Bannock. Related programming: Drop in Drawing: Drawing in Motion --; bring a sketch book or use the museum's paper; Drop in Writing: Rhythm in Word --; explore poetic form, in your notebook or DAM's. On July 29, Untitled: In-Sync will encourage creative collaborations, including a special 7 p.m. plaza performance by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company. Children under 18 are admitted free. "Untitled" offers two-for-one admission to college students with ID. Denverartmuseum.org.
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Denver-Art-Museum-has-all-the-right-moves,228593
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