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Collective Memory
Excerpt from memoirs.

What A Relief: The memoirs of Philomena Bakingspree.

[…] When I tried to explain to my students what I wanted, however, I kept having to repeat the phrase “Try not to try; Try not to try.” After saying this so many times, I wasn’t even realizing I was speaking it anymore. So my dancers were frustrated, and were all just trying to look like they’re stretching gracefully, which is making me frustrated because I want to see them actually stretch. So I’m yelling this, “try not to try,” and one of my students, Tybert Halckinbroque, yells out “try not to be such a shitty teacher!” And, at first I was offended, but then I realized that he was right. If they weren’t understanding the concept, then the failure point was with me. […]

Teaching Dancers Not To Dance

She found that they couldn’t “try to not try.” She stated, “Their flourishes, and turns, and their movements all looked very… ‘dancerly,’ which is exactly what I was trying to avoid.” Her instructions were clear, she believes, stating, “I told them ‘move toward your body’s current point of greatest discomfort, and then pull on that point until it is relieved. Then, move toward your new point of most discomfort. If you don’t feel better by the end of this dance, you will never understand this work, no matter how hard you try.”

Soon, dance companies began to emulate her work, advertising performances of “Relief Dance” (a term Philomena had never used for her style, but which inevitably came to describe the genre). These shows were something altogether different from Bakingspree’s shows, however, as most appeared to be several performers stretching gracefully in time with music and rehearsed with thoughtful choreography. After attending one of these shows, Bakingspree reportedly stated, “I don’t know what that was, but it’s wasn’t anything like what I do. By the end of it, they were all out of breath! What kind of ‘relief’ is that?” […]

Philomena found that the performers who had more dance training were more performative than those with less, and so she began hiring dancers with no history in dance. As the movement gained popularity, dancers with no skill became a commodity for these companies performing “in the style of Philomena Bakingspree.” These companies boasted a “genuine” experience, in that their dancers had no formal training in dance. As a result, dance schools adapted their courses to offer “Relief Dance Certificate,” which guaranteed that the school taught its students nothing at all, signed by the Dean of Admissions.

Bermipsy Dance School in Velmont Hills, MR began offering majors in Unlearning, where students could take classes that primarily taught how not to learn, and then forget it. Students were awarded certificates, signed by the school’s Dean of Admissions, stating, “This certificate hereby acknowledges that this pupil learned nothing from any of our courses,” and it showed. When asked about these students, Bakingspree remarked, “Yes, I had several audition for my company. They all brought in their certificates to prove that they knew absolutely nothing about dance. It looked like these poor kids had just been born into their bodies that morning, and then were forced to use them in front of me.

Ms. Corckenmire still teaches in Bemington after 48 years. When asked about Philomena, Ms. Corckenmire stated, “We are extremely proud of the work that she started here and brought to the world.”

Philomena Bakingspree & Karoll Tutlett Sp.