AMERICAN DANCE GUILD HONORS CELIA IPIOTIS, JOAN MILLER, RONALD K. BROWN WIT/H LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Feb 28, 2024JELLY’S LAST JAM JAZZES IT UP
Mar 2, 2024
Article by Sally Sommer
Who Defines What
Sally Sommer
A cliché you often hear today is “Don’t worry, you are not defined by your work.” In the arts,
however, you are defined by your work and a good way to find out about a person is to look at
what they created. Eye On Dance displays a breathtaking range of dance styles, dancers, and
dance topics that reflect the wide scope of Celia Ipiotis’ interests in dance. Eye On Dance TV
programs, which span three decades, are framed as informal conversations among a group of
experts. Taken as a whole, Eye On Dance’s collection of 1,400 archival films plus the 400
televised broadcasts constitute a running commentary about dance and life, delivered in lively
conversations—certainly the most human and personal of terms.
Eye On Dance also reveals a great deal about Celia: Celia is a dance polyglot and nothing
escapes her voracious curiosity. She loves all forms of dancing from the stage to the street to a
family picnic or a community center and, she wants us, her audience, to know about them— and
maybe fall in love like her. Only someone love could have created such an enormous body of
work on a shoestring budget. And, because Celia is as determined as she is imaginative, she
found ways to raise the money to keep the archives growing and the cameras rolling.
Although Celia is famous for being knowledgeable and bluntly straightforward, as a TV host, she
is not afraid to tuck away her ego and ask the obvious simple questions that allowed the artists to
speak openly from their unique perspectives. People discuss dance, dancemaking, and
performances person-to-person and body-to-body. This is precious primary source material,
unmediated by the printed word or interpretation.
Without question, Eye on Dance is one of the great dance treasures of the late 20 th and early 21 st
centuries. But it would not exist without the tenacity and imagination of its creator. The great
pleasure of Eye On Dance is how it delivers the everyday details and large history lessons of
dance in lively conversations. Certainly this epitomizes Celia, the person, and demonstrates how
work can define the person. And, when it is interwoven well, as it is in this case, it is perfect.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Sally Sommer
EYE ON DANCE is copyrighted and distributed by EYE ON DANCE to educational institutions and libraries. Contact: [email protected]
