Alan Boeding (sculpture design) a native of Chamberlain, SD, received his BFA in sculpture from the University of South Dakota in 1980 and his MFA from Indiana University in 1983. Boeding began dancing with the Windfall Modern Dance Company in 1981. Since then, he has performed with Ruby Shang and Dancers at the American Dance Festival; Dancers Unlimited in Dallas, Texas; and with Daniel Ezralow’s Conspiracies and Collaborations at Dance Theater Workshop in New York. A highlight in his career was a solo performance in the Rome Colosseum in The Night of Music in 1987. He has performed as a guest artist for the Amnesty International Gala at the Joyce Theater in New York 1988, and Serata di Gala at the Theatro Olympico in Rome in 1989. Also that year, he collaborated with Lincoln Nebraska’s 240-member marching band in the homecoming half-time performance at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. In July 1990, Boeding performed in the three-city International Etoiles Gala in Japan. He has recently formed his own sculpture/dance company and is creating new sculpture and choreography. Boeding received a “work space” grant from the 92nd Street Y in New York City to continue his work. He has been associated with MOMIX since 1984.

Learn more about Alan Boeding and his work.

Dances too can include movement that is machine-like and/or can integrate the use of machines in their composition. Such dances may contest or celebrate the presence of machines in human life and/or may extend or limit the body’s movement potential in various ways. Indeed, Michael Jackson’s 1973 song “Dancing Machine” is just one of many representations of the dancing body as a sleek and efficient machine. While there are many negative dimensions to this analogy, especially with regard to the social pressure to “control” our bodies (particularly our weight), there are some positive aspects as well. For instance, if we imagine lifting the leg in terms of a system of pulleys, where a weight drops down the back in order to raise the limb in front, we can physically realize a battement in which the pelvis stays even and the back of the leg lengthens through its natural extension. This is a classic image given to beginning dancers to keep them from lifting the hip in order to lift the leg. So too, imagining our limbs as pendulums can help us release into the full motion of a swinging arm or leg.

One of the crucial issues at the intersection of the human body and machines is the question of natural and artificial. While science fiction is filled with cyborg bodies that are literally half human/ half machine creatures who can do amazing things, we tend to see dancers as “naturally” graceful. This is, of course, a misnomer, as most dancers train their bodies for many, many years in order to appear as if pirouetting on their toes was completely “natural.” Indeed, for a long time, dancers tried to execute movements in a way that looked “effortless,” and a measure of their skill was how well they were able to hide the physical labor involved in dancing. Recently, however, dancers have become interested in revealing that muscular effort to the audience. For instance, Elizabeth Streb chooses to highlight the physical prowess of her dancers, emphasizing their strength, daring and stamina by asking them to repeatedly engage in extreme feats. Sometimes people see Streb’s work as an exhibition of gymnastics, rather than as a dance. Her use of technology — trampolines, or gymnastic equipment — on which to stage her works, as well as her use of video projections in the background resists traditional definitions of beautiful dancing. And yet, because of her use of machines of various kinds, Streb also presents her audience with the possibility of seeing the incredibly graceful arch in a flying back flip over and over again.

Classroom Activities

Write: Make a list of machines that extend or limit bodily possibilities.

Look: Examine the photos of Alan Boeding’s 1985 dance Circle Walker displayed on the Primary Sources page. Discuss the relationship between the human figure and the apparatus pictured. How would you characterize this relationship? Who seems to be leading the actions portrayed in these images, the man or the machine?

Watch: View the video of Circle Walker by Alan Boeding (performed by Jim Cappelletti in 1998). Read Circle Walker: Notes and Contexts for more information on this dance.

Write: Free-write responses to Circle Walker, paying particular attention to using descriptive verbs and adverbs.

Discuss: What is the nature of the relationship between the dancer and the machine in this film?

• Would you call this dance a duet?
• How does the movement of the dancer affect the sculpture and how does the sculpture affect the motion of the dancer?  Is this a machine?
• Is this choreography beautiful?
• Can you identify specific examples of ways in which the machine expands or limits the movement possibilities of the dancer?

Discuss Further

• What is a machine?
• How do bodies relate to machines?
• In what ways can bodies be served by machines?
• Can the body or specific body parts be replaced by machines?
• In what ways might bodies be considered subservient to machines?
• What are some ways in which the body’s possibilities can be extended by machines?
• What are some ways in which the body partners with machines?
• Do machines assist or constrain the body’s possibilities?
• Is the body itself a machine?
• List and describe a number of machines used by people for various purposes.
• What is the function of the machine in American society?
• Describe movement patterns found in different types of machine use (repetitive patterns, designs in space, pathways, rhythmic attributes, movement qualities, etc.).
• Does gender play a role in the types of machines people use? Explain.