Ideas from Clare Parfitt
Explore below how Clare Parfitt connects Swan Lake to memory, nostalgia, and dance’s power to carry the past forward, as seen in projects like "For Those Left Behind," performed by Irie Dance Theatre.
Prosthetic Memory
Alison Landsburg's book titled "Prothetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture" examines how modern technologies of mass culture make it possible for anyone to share collective memories as if they were their own. Image courtesy: Columbia University Press
Museums allow people to see, hear, and feel what people of centuries past have. Memories are immortalized through each art piece. Image courtesy: mw_info via Dupe
The 2022 series, Severance, commodifies memory by stripping workers of their organic memory and replacing it with an artificial, corporate-engineered reality. As the series progresses, the characters struggle with the residual emotional weight that their original memories left. Image courtesy: Apple TV
In the Blade Runner universe, replicants are bioengineered humanoids who are used for slave labor, war, and companionship. They have artificial pasts implanted in their memory to stabilize their personality. Image courtesy: FilmGrab
In Total Recall (1990), customers pay to have thrilling, artificial vacation memories implanted directly into their brains. Douglas Quaid, a bored construction worker, seeks to buy an implanted memory of a vacation to Mars. Image courtesy: FilmGrab
Return to The Handmaid's Tale
Restorative & Reflective Nostalgia
In Dirty Dancing, restorative nostalgia is shown through the idealized return to the 1960s resort world, while reflective nostalgia emerges as Baby looks back on how class divisions and social restraints limited relationships like hers with Johnny, revealing both the appeal and injustice of the past. Image courtesy: IMDb
Moulin Rouge! (2001) romanticizes the bohemian ideals of 1899 Paris as a vibrant, lost golden age of pure love and art. Simultaneously, its frantic use of modern pop songs and self-aware theatricality constantly reminds the audience that they are watching a manufactured recreation of the past. Image courtesy: FilmGrab
In "The Future of Nostalgia," Svetlana Boym combines personal memoir, philosophical essay, and historical analysis to the spaces of collective nostalgia that connect national biography and personal self-fashioning in the twenty-first century. Image courtesy: Hachett Book Group
Irie Dance Theatre
Irie Dance Theatre is Britain's leading dance company specializing in African & Caribbean dance fusion. It was founded in 1985 on the premise of reflecting African Caribbean influence on the Black British cultural experience. Image courtesy: IRIE! Dance Theatre
Keha Seebii: For Those Left Behind is an exploration of the human spirit through slow, deliberate movement that is meant to honor the lives and legacies of those who came before us. Image courtesy: IRIE! Dance Theatre
Another show from Irie, Groundation, is a collection of traditional West African and Jamaican folk dances that represent religious, social, and ritual rites, each dance relaying a journey in African and Caribbean history. Image courtesy: IRIE! Dance Theatre