Ungoverning dance : contemporary European theatre dance and the commons / Ramsay Burt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burt, Ramsay, 1953- author.

Series:

Oxford studies in dance theory

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dance--Europe.

Dance.

Dance--Social aspects--Europe.

Modern dance--Europe.

Modern dance.

Dance--Social aspects.

Europe.

Physical Description:

255 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]

Summary:

Ungoverning Dance examines the work of progressive contemporary dance artists in continental Europe from the mid 1990s to 2015. Placing this within the context of neoliberalism and austerity, the book argues that these artists have developed an ethico-aesthetic approach that uses dance practices as sites of resistance against dominant ideologies, and that their works attest to the persistence of alternative ways of thinking and living. In response to the way that the radical values informing their work are continually under attack from neoliberalism, these artists recognise that they in effect share common pool resources. Thus, while contemporary dance has been turned into a market, they nevertheless value the extent to which it functions as a commons. Work that does this, the book argues, ungoverns dance. Author Ramsay Burt offers close readings of works from the 1990s and 2000s by two generations of European-based dance artists: that of Jérôme Bel, Jonathan Burrows, La Ribot, and Xavier Le Roy who began showing work in the 1990s; and that of artists who emerged in the 2000s including Fabián Barba, Faustin Linyekula, Ivana Müller, and Nikolina Pristas. Topics examined include dance and precarious life, choreographing friendship, re-performance, the virtual in dance, and a dancer's experience of the Egyptian revolution. Ungoverning Dance proposes new ways of understanding recent contemporary European dance works by making connections with their social, political, and theoretical contexts. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Contemporary European Dance and the Commons 1

2 Transatlantic Comparisons 31

3 Rethinking Virtuosity 57

4 Dance and Post-Fordism 81

5 Laughter from the Surround 99

6 Alone to the World: The Solo Dancer 117

7 Performing Friendship 141

8 Dancing Relationality: Responsibility without Obligation 165

9 The Politics of History and Collective Memory in Contemporary Dance 187

10 Virtual Dance and the Politics of Imagining 211

11 Conclusion: Keywords 231.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199321926

0199321922

9780199321933

0199321930

OCLC:

964290106