ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses re-staging as creative practice, exploring artistic and pedagogical issues in re-staging Curtis-Jones’ re-imagined work “Drumstick” for performances with dancers in training. Curtis-Jones’ contemporary choreological practice is discussed as a method for dance training and to re-imagine Rudolf Laban’s “lost” choreography “Dancing Drumstick” (1913). The chapter discusses issues around the relevance of re-staging past works for today’s dancers and focuses on two different performance environments, each providing a unique challenge. The chapter illustrates that when dancers learn to embody “Drumstick” for performance, the re-staging process allows the work to evolve. Through understanding the cultural context of the work, the choreographer, and the processes used to re-imagine “Drumstick,” dancers become living archives of the work itself.
