Spotlight: Lucienne Cole's DANCE TO MUSIC, 2012

Spotlight: Lucienne Cole's DANCE TO MUSIC, 2012 Lucienne Cole, DANCE TO MUSIC, 2012, performed at The Private View of The London Open, The Whitechapel Gallery, London, 3 July 2012, 3 mins 28 secs

To celebrate the launch of our new website, we invited curators to pick an artwork from our directory. Here, Jenny Brownrigg selects Lucienne Cole's, 'DANCE TO MUSIC', 2012.

Morrissey was not afraid in the 1980s to move his body, arms and legs to the music. Upping the confidence of others perceived as misfits, he spawned a generation of young male lone dancers happy to spiral away in their own world on the dance floor.

Morrissey gave a voice to the loner: ‘Two lovers entwined passed me by and heaven knows I’m miserable now’. In an argyle sweater and trousers suspiciously approaching slacks, Lucienne Cole’s tap dancer makes an entrance onto a lo-fi stage to tap dance away to this Smiths classic.

There is nothing tremendously ground-breaking in the movements, more a gentle pleasure to be gained in matching the tap to the beat. The music cuts before the dancer has finished allowing the viewer to focus solely on her moves.

Yet, the tap dancer’s moves stay amateur. This approach signifies the antithesis of achieving excellence in dance, the archetypal filmic crescendo of being amateur then working hard and making good. ‘Dance to the Music’ is less Johnny and Baby (1) , more Pat and Tiffany (2).

1. ‘Dirty Dancing’, (1987), Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle, Jennifer Grey as Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman

2. ‘Silver Linings Playbook’, (2012), Bradley Cooper as Pat Solitano, Jennifer Lawrence as Tiffany

View Lucienne Cole's profile >

 


About Jenny Brownrigg

Jenny Brownrigg is a curator and writer living in Glasgow, Scotland. She is Exhibitions Director at The Glasgow School of Art. From 2002-9 she was curator at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee.

Other previous posts have included; Project Officer at Grizedale Arts, Cumbria (2000-2); and Gallery Co-ordinator at Changing Room Gallery, Stirling, Scotland (1998-9).