Embodying the Rite[s] : Performing Bodies and Somatic Praxis in Vaslav Nijinsky, Pina Bausch, Marie Chouinard, and Hilary Bryan
出版項
2018
說明
1 online resource (391 pages)
文字
text
無媒介
computer
成冊
online resource
附註
Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 79-12, Section: A
Publisher info.: Dissertation/Thesis
Advisor: Hunter, Lynette
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Davis, 2018
Includes bibliographical references
This project articulates embodied processes of knowing by moving. Through and alongside this comparative analysis of the iconic Rite of Spring (which premiered in Paris in 1913 under its French title, Le Sacre du printemps), and its continued reinterpretations over a century later, the project interrogates the limiting language we use to describe movement, wrestling out of movement itself new language for relationship, selfhood and subjectivity. As an award-winning performer, choreographer and educator, writing my dissertation in dance history, critical dance studies, critical theory, and practice as research, I theorize through the body: human body, collective body, bodies of words. I conduct research on kinesthetic empathy in the studio, in/on my own body, and in community with collaborators. My dissertation interrogates the work of choreographer/theorists Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Laban, Pina Bausch, and Marie Chouinard, and mobilizes their methods and research for community performance and theoretical discourse. In the seminal work of these great artists, I see fertile ground for lessons in human(e) community, the ultimate goal of all my work. This dissertation looks at the Ballets Russes' initial Rite of Spring and then three subsequent versions, Pina Bausch, Marie Chouinard, and my own, considering both the particular contexts for human sacrifice in each, and the way that each uses distinct choreographic/somatic techniques to work toward the 'unknowability' of this extreme act. Chapter One introduces this project, its significance, methodology, and fields of relevance. Chapter Two considers Nijinsky's choreography (1910s Russia and Western Europe) and its colonial-ethnic context as a baseline for the Ballets Russes' exploration of sacrifice, and the 'what is not said' being addressed in this radical choreography. Chapter Three considers Pina Bausch and the concepts of self (1970s Germany) that pervade the dancers' understanding of her project and theirs, plus the ideas of movement precision, movement repetition and their utility in integrating new ways of moving: 'Pina's eye'. Research for this chapter included extensive interviews with past and current members of Tanztheater Wuppertal, as well as observation of Tanztheater Wuppertal rehearsals for The Rite of Spring in 2013. Chapter Four considers Marie Chouinard and concepts of consciousness (1990s Quebec), plus the experience of breathing and the variety of somatic practices which support her 'expanded dance'. This chapter was developed from interviews with past and current members of Compagnie Marie Chouinard and the opportunity I had to observe company rehearsals for The Rite of Spring in 2012. Chapter Five considers my choreographic work and concepts of self-sacrifice within the context of bomb-vests and profound cultural rifts; plus the cultural and interpersonal sensitivity made possible when using Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals to expand one's movement potential. Chapter Six revisits key themes and concerns, Red Threads, that have inspired my research and propelled it forward through embodied praxis and conversation with artists whose lives have been shaped by these choreographies as somatic inquiry. This dissertation is an experiment in embodied research. The appendices provide detailed transcription and translation of interviews and conversations about works considered, as well as photographs and additional supporting material
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2020
