Abstract:
Located across the fields of dance, performance and philosophy this research examines modes of engagement in choreography. Utilizing a choreographic practice-led methodology I draw inspiration from affect theory to reimagine the ‘performer-audience relationship’ in a dance theatre context. This study aims to interrupt the dominant spectatorial mode of watching through kinesthetic modes of engagement. Somatic, improvisational and site-oriented methods are employed to explore ways to activate affective and sensorial exchange in performance. Drawing on a Deleuzian theoretical framework this project seeks to possibilize the folding of relation into choreographic experience. I test the potential of stilling, slowing, attuning, receptivity and waiting-with to attune with other bodies and sites as collaborators in the choreographic event. I locate this study in relation to ‘conceptual’ and ‘minimalist’ dance where previous choreographic research has utilized ‘stillness’ and other critical methods to resist the notion that dance’s substance is tied to movement (Lepecki, 2004b, p. 121). In contextualizing this study I draw on key theoretical markers including Andre Lepecki’s discussions of reductive choreography (2007, 2006, 2004a, 2004b, 2001, 1999) and notions of affect (Deleuze & Guattari, 1989, 1987; Manning, 2013, 2009a,b; Massumi, 2010, 2002c; Massumi & McKim, 2009; Seigworth & Gregg, 2010), as well as posthumanist and ecological thinking (Manning, 2013; Bennett, 2010; Kramer, 2012; Heddon & Mackey, 2012). I also refer to the conceptual choreographic work of Jerome Bel, Xavier Le Roy and La Ribot, the minimalist choreographic approaches of Yvonne Rainer and Simone Forti, and to the participatory, immersive and site- oriented approaches to performance of local and international artists from various fields. The outcomes of the research are the choreographic body of work Circle in Box, which offers an immersive method of participation in choreography, and this exegesis. The research reveals a micro-symphony of relation occurring within a performance environment.