Dying Swans & Dragged Up Dames.

Abstract: Dying Swans and Dragged Up Dames consists of an exhibition of 20 to 30 large photographs interrogating imagery and authenticity of dance photography as represented in expressions of agility, ability, age and gender. The photographs which are parodies of iconic dance images, where the abilities and aesthetic pleasures of youthfulness on display are displaced by those of Mark Edward, overweight and in drag. Athleticism is replaced and displaced by age, with a body beyond its prime and therein lies the ruse: the tragic image of corporeal decline which highlight the temporality of the performing body. The parodic images were produced with a sense of queer play and campness, but the intention is not to subvert or disrupt the originals, the camp parody itself is a homage to the tenets of modern dance. Photography contains the memories of the originals, yet it also serves to document the evolution of bodies beyond their dancing age. The photographs represent iconic images of dance from modern dance and traditional ballet, which are reinterpreted and ‘queered’. The academic enterprise of queering is one which disrupts traditional thinking, and in terms of dance, this project disrupts representations of the pioneers of modern dance. Therefore, the images include dancers such as Moira Shearer, Martha Graham, Rudolf Nureyev, Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova.