Dance [and] Theory

»Der Band sensibilisiert für den Preis der ›Übersichtlichkeit‹, wie sie typischerweise durch makrosoziologische Perspektiven erzeugt wird und präsentiert eine Vielzahl an bemerkenswerten Thesen und Beobachtungen.« Andrea Glauser, Soziologische Revue, 36 (2013) Reviewed in: etcetera, 135 (2013)

Both the identity of dance and that of theory are at risk as soon as the two intertwine. This anthology collects observations by choreographers and scholars, dancers, dramaturges and dance theorists in an effort to trace the multiple ways in which dance and theory correlate and redefine each other: What is the nature of their relationship? How can we outline a theory of dance from our particular historical perspective which will cover dance both as a practice and as an academic concept? The contributions examine which concepts, interdependencies and discontinuities of dance and theory are relevant today and promise to engage us in the future. They address crucial topics of the current debate in dance and performance studies such as artistic research, aesthetics, politics, visuality, archives, and the »next generation«.

1 Contents 5 Dance [and] Theory. Introduction 11 Dancing and Theorizing and Theorizing Dancing 19 Artistic Research: Between Experiment and Presentation 35 A Few Remarks about Research in Dance and Performance or - The Production of Problems 45 Knowledge and Collective Praxis 51 It does not matter or The Artist Out (of the Picture) 63 Artistic Research between Dance and Theory - A Response in Six Questions 69 References 75 Aesthetic Experience 81 The Question of the Aesthetic 89 The Resistance to Dance Theory. Being-With, the Aesthetic Event 97 Beautiful Affects in Choreography 103 Intertwinings: The Dis/Positions of Dance Aesthetics 107 Unexpected Horizons of Meaning 115 Parallel Universes and Aesthetic Dis/Balance: Theory Interrupted, Dance Distracted 119 References 129 Dance Theory as a Practice of Critique 137 Dance and Politics 153 Pitfalls of 'the Political.' Politization as an Alternative Tool for Dance Analysis? 159 The Politics of Time 167 Contemporary Dance and the Critical Ontology of Actuality 173 Geo-Politics, Dissensus, and Dance Citizenship: The Case of South Asian Dance in Britain 177 Resilient Bodies, Stirred. Political Anecdotes from the Field of Contemporary Choreography 183 Remarks Concerning the Ontology of Dance 187 References 191 Dis/Balances. Dance and Theory 197 Steps and Gaps: Curatorial Perspectives on Dance and Archives 213 Body, Archive 219 The Constructive Compromise 223 Dance/Archive/Exhibition? Moving between Worlds 227 The Archive in Motion 231 "Mal d'Archive" - in a Different Sense than Jacques Derrida's 235 Leaving and Pursuing Traces 'Archive' and 'Archiving' in a Dance Context 241 References 247 Thoughts on the Now in the Future 253 A Relational Perspective on Dance and Theory - Implications for the Teaching of Dance Studies 265 dé-position. Or How to Move in(to) the Future? 271 Embryology as Choreography 277 Hypothesis Number Nine: The Image Is an Organ 283 What's 'next'? 287 In the Making. On the Generation of Movement between Dance and Theory 291 An Institution Is only as Good as the People who Work there Can be. No? 297 References 309 Notes on Contributors 313