Of the presence of the body. Essays on dance and performance theory

196 Pages·2004·6.994 MB·English

by  André Lepecki (ed.)

Essays on Dance and PerformanceTheory
Edited by Andre Lepecki

OF THE PRESENCE OF THE BODY

OF THE PRESENCE
BODY
OF THE
Essays on Dance and
Performance Theory
Edited by Andre Lepecki
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown, Connecticut
Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459
© 2.004 by Wesleyan University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America 54321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Of the presence of the body : essays on dance and performance theory /
edited by Andre Lepecki.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
isbn 0-8195-6611-x (cloth : alk. paper)—isbn 0-8195-6612-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
I. Dance—Sociological aspects. 2. Body, Human—Symbolic aspects. 3. Movement,
Aesthetics of. 4. Human locomotion. I. Title: Essays on dance and performance theory.
II. Lepecki, Andre.
GV1588.6.04 2004
3o6-4'84—dc22 2003023913
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Presence and Body in Dance and Performance Theory i
ANDRE LEPECKI
I. Genealogies of Presence
1. Trisha Brown’s Orfeo: Two Takes on Double Endings 13
PEGGY PHELAN
2. Genealogy and Dance History: Foucault, Rainer, Bausch,
and de Keersmaeker 2.9
RAMSAY BURT
II. Dancing Othering
3. Dance and Its Others: Theory, State, Nation, and Socialism 47
RANDY MARTIN
4. The Black Beat Made Visible: Hip Hop Dance and Body Power 64
THOMAS F. DEFRANTZ
5. Danced Spirituals 82
SUSAN MANNING
6. Breast Milk Is Sweet and Salty (A Choreography of Healing) 97
BARBARA BROWNING
III. Ontology’s Events
7. Given Movement: Dance and the Event 113
MARK FRANKO
8. Inscribing Dance I24
ANDRE LEPECKI
9. Embodying Transgression I4°
KARMEN MACKENDRICK
Notes I57
Contributors 177
Index I79

Acknowledgments
This short volume has a long history. It originated around a panel on
“Moving Ideologies” I organized for the second Performance Studies
Conference at Northwestern University, in 1996. It was from the original
contributions for that panel (by Barbara Browning, Mark Franko, Richard
Green, and myself), as well as from the many comments and suggestions
made by the audience (in particular, those by Susan Manning, Joseph
Roach, and Tommy de Frantz) that the idea to compile a volume on new
critical dance theory and performance studies first emerged. Expanded to
its current format, this anthology would have never materialized were it
not for the continuous support, critical thinking, and enormous patience
of its dedicated contributors. To all of them I extend my sincerest and
warmest thanks.
Suzanna Tamminen, editor-in-chief at Wesleyan University Press was,
from the start, the most encouraging collaborator. I cannot thank her
enough for her guidance and her incredible dedication and professional¬
ism. I also extend my gratitude to the staff at Wesleyan University Press.
In addition, I thank Hyun Joo Lee, my graduate assistant, who helped me
in the final steps of the editing process, and Alice Reagan, who compiled
the book’s index.
I also must thank the intellectual and personal support that my col¬
leagues at the Department of Performance Studies at New York University
have given me in the past two years. Diana Taylor, Barbara Browning,
Richard Schechner, Barbara Kirshemblatt-Gimblett, Peggy Phelan, Fred
Moten, Allen Weiss, and Jose Munoz have not only been mentors, but
have taken to a higher level the meaning of academic colleagueship.
Thank you, finally, to Anna Bean for her support.
The history of this book was also entangled with many personal joys
and sadnesses. The sadness is for the heart to bear. But to the joy of hav¬
ing Elsa and Tobias joining this world I dedicate this book.
.
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