Never too old to dance

When choreographer Bill T. Jones featured sick and dying dancers in his work, Still Life, he aroused deep-rooted prejudices in critics and audiences alike. Arlene Croce, in a vituperative essay for The New Yorker, stated that she didn't want to see "overweight dancers . . . old dancers . . . or dancers with physical deformities". Although Still Life involves the wider issue of "victim art", Croce was probably stating a typical viewpoint. When we go to the theatre we expect our dancers to be young, lithe and able-bodied.

In 1994 Candoco, an exciting dance company of able-bodied and disabled dancers, visited the Dublin Theatre Festival and not only destroyed our preconceptions of how a dancer should look, but also lead to the upsurge in interest in integrated dance performance and workshops. Similarly, NDT3 swept aside notions of ageism when they performed at the Cork Opera House two weeks ago.

NDT3 is one of three companies that make up Netherlands Dance Theatre, and is unique in that it only employs dancers who are over 40. Since the career-span of a dancer is presumed to last barely past the age of 40, NDT3 raised a few eyebrows when it was formed in 1991.

But why should we expect dancers to retire at such a young age? In Old Age, Simone de Beauvoir suggests that the so-called inescapable factors of old age are a result of social expectation, not necessity. It is usually the audience (or in Croce's case the critic) that is dismissive of older dancers. Dancers themselves tend to listen to their own bodies rather than the prejudices of others. Martha Graham was still performing lead roles when she was 65; indeed most of the major figures in dance this century danced well past perform-by dates.

The success of the NDT3 suggests that we should ignore these perform-by dates. Their programme in Cork featured three works by the highly-rated Jiri Kylian, all highly visual and accessible. His belief is that "the company is living proof that dance is not only an art reserved for the young, but that it is an art in which all ages can express and manifest themselves".

This could be the catch-cry of Firkin Crane's Older People In Dance programme, which is responsible for the company's visit. Initiated last October OPID is a broad-ranging community dance programme aimed at not only older dancers, but all dance workers, community leaders, carers and anyone working with older people. Training workshops are conducted with Green Candle Dance Company, with support from the Southern Health Board, and it is expected that the evaluation of this work will help formulate future policy.

"We had hoped to have NDT3 performing as part of a symposium addressing the whole issue of dance and older people," explains Firkin Crane's Artistic Director, Mary Brady, "but we felt that we needed more time on the evaluation of the first part of the programme." The importance placed on this evaluation work is reassuring, and the symposium will now be held in September. Entitled Moving Age, and featuring a diverse range of speakers and workshops, it will look at broader issues including "the older professional dancer".

This should generate some interesting debate. At what age does a dancer become older? Mary Nunan, director of Daghdha Dance Company, is amused by the label. "I'm 44 and am therefore an `older dancer', but what's the yardstick? There are so many aspects to performing, so what exactly does middle age inhibit? Of course when you leave college as a dancer, or indeed as a musician, you are probably at your technical peak. Thereafter your technique might not be as sharp, but through performing you develop awareness in all sorts of areas that are as vital.

Maybe the yardstick is the more general partiality to youth. Recently Medb Ruane described in this paper how Ireland is being marketed as Europe's Tir na nOg, a place where everybody is young and beautiful. If you can't match that image, then you won't fit the bill.

Those dancers who do decide to retire are faced with fairly limited career choices - another issue that should arise at the Moving Age symposium. "As things stand right now dancers can branch off into teaching, choreography or administration," Mary Brady says. "My generation would have gained experience in all of these areas while we worked as dancers. None of us, I think, could have survived without teaching. We all choreographed, and in order to do that we had to set up companies. You therefore had a skills base for when you stopped dancing, and could make a smooth transition into these other areas.

"The present generation are not acquiring these skills to the same extent because there are more performing opportunities and they can move from one company to the other. This, of course, is as it should be, but the problems will start when they begin to retire. They also need more career options and we have to address that now so that structures are in place in good time."

What will help is a change from the existing company-biased funding structure, to one that has the fluidity to address the needs of individuals. Choreographers, at present, have to form companies in order to mount large-scale work, and this may indeed answer their immediate needs. In the long term they might find the company structure unable to adjust to their creative needs. They might spend 10 years establishing a well-respected brand name but might have developed little as an artist.

In the meantime companies such as NDT3 prove that performing remains an option long after the age of 40. Its very existence and support in the Netherlands is the sign of a rounded and mature dance culture, something that we in Ireland should strive for rather than chasing our dreams of Tir na nOg.

The Moving Age symposium will be held on Septemper 3rd, 4th and 5th at the Firkin Crane. Further information and application forms from Caroline Farnan, Moving Age, Firkin Crane, Shandon, Cork. Phone 021 501124