Radical connections: the Dartington Dance Festival/X6 Dance Space axis

Abstract

The article discusses the extraordinary time of ferment in British dance in the late 1970s and 1980s and the significant role played by the ‘axis’ between Dartington College of Arts and the London-based X6 Dance Space. This relationship centred upon members of the X6 collective and Mary O’Donnell Fulkerson, the dance leader in Dartington’s Theatre department, as well as other visiting US and European artists and teachers. The importance of X6 as a platform for radical and innovative dance and performance is discussed, as is its role in hosting the first London workshops in Release (Fulkerson) and Contact Improvisation (Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson). Critical connections are revealed between X6 and the Dartington Dance Festivals, together with the part played by X6’s quarterly magazine, New Dance. The article ultimately addresses the question of what was lastingly significant about this extraordinary M5–M4 trajectory, both artistically and politically, and therefore how much we owe to it today. Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early were both central as being among the founders of the X6 collective and regular performers and teachers at Dartington. They reference critical sources such as New Dance magazine, as well as excavating their own memories of that particular and seminal era.