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Freedom to Dance: the Story of Creative Dance Pioneer Bourke Van Zon

$40.00

Freedom to Dance: the Story of Creative Dance Pioneer Bourke Van Zon

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SKU: 9781927167274 Categories: ,

ISBN: 9781927167274
Title: Freedom to Dance: the Story of Creative Dance Pioneer Bourke Van Zon
Author: SIMON DAGMAR ET AL

Freedom to Dance is the story of a remarkable Dutch dance teacher, Boukje van Zon, whose influence is still felt throughout New Zealand more than 50 years after starting Van Zon School of Creative Dancing in West Auckland.

As a teenager in Friesland, the Netherlands, Boukje discovered that dance and movement could reach deep into a person’s being and bring about personal growth. She was part of a European movement where pre-conceived ways of thinking in arts and teaching were being overturned. Boukje brought these innovations with her when she migrated to New Zealand with husband Maurice in the 1950s.

From her new home in Titirangi, she established a dance school with a difference. Children did not begin with steps, rather they explored the freedom of movement. Soon their mothers asked for a class of their own so they could explore space, time and movement; then as her reputation spread, adult students established a performance group and produced avant garde works. And so the Van Zon School of Creative Dancing expanded exponentially across Auckland.

Boukje was ahead of her time. She embraced all realms of the dance voice and drew out and nurtured the creative impulses of each student. She was also part of her time and rode the crest of social change that was transforming New Zealand from a deeply conservative society to a liberal, open one.

Boukje’s story embraces the turbulence of 20th century political conflict, nationhood, cultural identity and creative endeavour. It offers snapshots of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, and New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s as seen through the lens of a Dutch migrant. Freedom to Dance explores a time and place through the creative lens of a woman of her time, whose voice transcends time.

Format: Paperback
Price: $40.00