Meet the Writers: Lynn Matluck Brooks

What are you most excited to cover through TD?
I am most excited to explore (not sure that “covers”) ideas about dance that spring from the experience of dance itself – its doing, its history, its observation, itself.

Which part is challenging, scary, difficult?
It is challenging to figure out what tone to take for TD, who we are, and what our goals are for us as participants, for the Philadelphia dance community, for the dance field at large.

What is the TD project really about, in your experience?
For me, so far, it has been about releasing, more and more, the joy of thinking and writing about dance. I just want to do more of it!

Finish this sentence "Good writing..."
Good writing has some significant combination of these elements; it is:
-       clear (you can understand it, but you might occasionally find yourself on the edge of an unfamiliar or little-familiar word),
-       evocative (it takes you some place visually, aurally, emotionally),
-       provocative (you want to think about it some more, it challenges you intellectually),
-       elegant (it does not shy away from rich use of language, of poetry and metaphor), and
-       enjoyable (you want to read it again, and to read more).

What is your "desert-island" publication?
Just one is so hard to pick! I might have to go with Lincoln Kirstein’s Movement and Metaphor, Four Centuries of Ballet (1970) because it includes history, analysis, context, opinion, and images – a truly rich meal.

How has TD affected your other dance-related work?
It has reinforced the importance of
-       clear, informed writing in all fields, and
-       of pursuing your life’s passion (such a cliché!) because it IS your life’s passion.

What would your parents say about your work in the arts?
My parents are no longer alive, but they were great arts supporters and, after the initial shock of my choice, were proud of my work. And sometimes honest about it!

If I were to write a dance love-letter, it would be to__________.
I wrote my dance love-letter to Nadine Revene, my ballet teacher, at Wendy Perron’s TD workshop when we were assigned to write a dance appreciation note. But that’s not my only dance love letter. I have dedicated several of my publications to Genevieve Oswald, my great mentor and friend, who is now Curator Emerita of the Dance Collection at the New York Public Library (Lincoln Center). She’s my dance-research mama and I love her deeply.

By Lynn Matluck Brooks
January 18, 2012