I had a very successful Photo Lucida with my contra dance project. The consensus after 4 days of reviews, with some of the top people in the photography fine-art field, is that the project has legs and great potential. Now I need to name it.
Alec Soth has a post today on book titles. He loves pondering them, feels they define and sum up the nature of a work, and that they can make or break the success of a book.
I am considerably less gifted in this realm, despite my usual felicity with words. I am struggling to come up with an all-encompassing, pithy and memorable title for my contra dance project.
“Contra Dance in America: A Photographic Journey” is accurate, but really boring. My other working title, “Unconfined Joy,” is from the over-quoted Lord Byron poem, which goes,
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
Any ideas out there? Here’s the link to my “yes-it-really-needs-updating” dance page. You can also look through the blog posts from Photo Lucida.
Doug,
“Unconfined Joy” is prety good. I love titles that come from quotes — here’s a couple suggestions: “Can We Fly” (from Maillot, a ballet choreographer); “Bodies Never Lie” (Agnes de Mille); “Half Tiger, Half Poet” ( Yehudi Menuhin on the violinist).
What are you going to do about text with your project? Are you writing it yourself? You might find it worthwhile to take up with an author (one whose ego is small and who’s writing is minimalist) for the most punch.
The Photo Lucida conference got rave reviews here in Portland. Sorry I missed you.
Congratulations!
I love your dance pictures. Thanks for the links. I prefer ‘flying feet’ to ‘unconfined joy’.
I know who’s doing a couple of the essays already, and I’m thinking about acquiring quotes or short pieces from others in the community–dancers, musicians, callers. I’m in that “work in progress” mode, and will be for some time.
I’m with Birgit. I like the “flying feet”
Can you incorporate it with Contra Dance in America title?
The problem with “Flying Feet” is that there are very few feet to be seen, at least in the images Doug linked to. I do like “Unconfined Joy” as a title, but it doesn’t say dance to me. The “over-quoting” is probably only true within a small community, and there the recognition might help — it would say dance to those folks.
So the key question is, who do you hope to sell to? Broad or narrow audience?
to me the Unconfined Joy and Flying Feet tell some of the story and catch immediate interest.
Swirling Skirts
Whirrrrl!
What about “On with the dance!”…
Steve’s question about what audience is really important. What would most appeal to them and catch their attention? I had a piece “untitled” that was shown here in Alb. and never mentioned….later with a title the same photo was ranked highly in a competition and sold.
I also have to say that after watching the news yesterday and today I turned to this photo to remember “Unconfined Joy” and get out of myself and grief.
Oh Ginger, your comment bring me to tears. Thank you.
Doug,
I would be tempted to look to contra dance figure names for inspiration for a title.
“The Other Way Back, Dancing With Dudley”, Millstone’s title for the Lauftman documentary we saw at the Ralph Page this winter, is about as good as it gets.
Start with something like “Circle Left-Photography in Motion” and go from there.
Then, of course, there is “Twirl Me”, written on the tee shirt worn by a great dancer in Maine.
Dave
‘Whirls and Twirls – Fleeting moments of Contra ‘
Wonder if they have a Painters_Lucida?