The Problem of Lost Works
Chapter 11 considers what it means for a dance work to be lost and under what conditions loss occurs. It argues that (1) lack of performance, (2) lack of documentation, and (3) disintegration of the background practice in whose context the work was initiated all contribute to loss, but that (3) is the most significant. The chapter also examines how dance work loss can and should be understood ontologically, exploring how various ontological positions account for it. The question is addressed of whether, and when, loss implies that a work has ceased to exist or been destroyed. Issues raised in Chapter 6 about the putative eternality of abstracta are taken up again, along with the question of how the norms of action constituting choreographic works are grounded. The discussion is framed by consideration of Katherine Dunham’s (1951) work Southland, discussed at the end of the chapter as vividly illustrating the negative consequences of dance work loss, in contrast to dance discourse that celebrates ephemerality.