2nd Edition

Contemporary Choreography A Critical Reader

Edited By Jo Butterworth, Liesbeth Wildschut Copyright 2018
    572 Pages
    by Routledge

    572 Pages
    by Routledge

    Fully revised and updated, this second edition of Contemporary Choreography presents a range of articles covering choreographic enquiry, investigation into the creative process, and innovative challenges to traditional understandings of dance making.

    Contributions from a global range of practitioners and researchers address a spectrum of concerns in the field, organized into seven broad domains:

    • Conceptual and philosophical concerns
    • Processes of making
    • Dance dramaturgy: structures, relationships, contexts
    • Choreographic environments
    • Cultural and intercultural contexts
    • Challenging aesthetics
    • Choreographic relationships with technology.

    Including 23 new chapters and 10 updated ones, Contemporary Choreography captures the essence and progress of choreography in the twenty-first century, supporting and encouraging rigorous thinking and research for future generations of dance practitioners and scholars.

    Contents

     

    List of tables and illustrations

    Contributors

    Acknowledgements

     

    General introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

     

    SECTION 1

    Conceptual and philosophical concerns

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    1.1

    Knowing through dance-making

    Choreography, practical knowledge and practice-as-research

    Anna Pakes

    1.2

    Expert-intuitive and deliberate processes

    Struggles in (the wording of) creative decision-making in ‘dance’

    Susan Melrose

    1.3

    ‘Throwing like a girl’?

    Gender in a transnational world

    Susan Leigh Foster

    1.4

    Choreography that poses problems

    Bojana Cvejić

    1.5

    Choreography as research

    Iteration, object, context

    Ben Spatz

     

    SECTION 2

    Processes of making

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    2.6

    Too many cooks?

    A framework for dance making and devising

    Jo Butterworth

    2.7

    Facilitating choreographic process

    Larry Lavender

    2.8

    Velvet Petal: Getting Lost

    Fleur Darkin

    2.9

    Risk-taking and group dance improvisation

    João da Silva

    2.10

    Dancing strategies and moving identities

    The contributions independent contemporary dancers make to the choreographic process

    Jenny Roche

    2.11

    Jonathan Burrows’ Postdance Conference keynote address, Stockholm 2015

    Jonathan Burrows

     

    INTERVENTION

    Peggy Olislaegers

     

    SECTION 3

    Dance dramaturgy: structures, relationships, contexts

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    3.12

    Dance dramaturgical agency

    Pil Hansen

    3.13

    The catalytic function of dramaturgy

    Working on actions in choreographic processes

    Konstantina Georgelou, Efrosini Protopapa, and Danae Theodoridou

    3.14

    Decentred dramaturgy

    Non-structural contexts in contemporary choreography

    Anny Mokotow

     

    SECTION 4

    Choreographic environments

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    4.15

    Dancing around exclusion

    An examination of the issues of social inclusion within choreographic practice in the community

    Sara Houston

    4.16

    Choreographic approaches in the community context

    Diane Amans

    4.17

    Escola Livre de Dança da Maré in Rio de Janeiro

    A ground to share

    Silvia Soter and Adriana Pavlova

    4.18

    Experiencing space

    Some implications for site-specific dance performance

    Victoria Hunter

    4.19

    Whispering Birds

    Site-specific dance, affect and emotion

    Karen N Barbour

     

    SECTION 5

    Cultural and Intercultural Contexts

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    5.20

    Principles of African choreography

    Some perspectives from Ghana

    Francis Nii-Yarty

    5.21

    The body as a site of power

    An artistic case study on contemporary choreography in the Arab World

    Sandra Noeth and Samar Haddad King

    5.22

    Beyond the intercultural to the Accented Body

    An Australian perspective

    Cheryl Stock

    5.23

    Minority visibility and hip hop choreography: France 2015

    Felicia McCarren

    5.24

    Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Akram Khan

    Intertwined journeys in-between dance cultures

    Guy Cools

    5.25

    Akram Khan on the politics of choreographing touch

    Royona Mitra

     

    SECTION 6

    Challenging Aesthetics

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    6.26

    In search of Asian modernity

    Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s body aesthetics in the era of globalisation

    Ya-Ping Chen

    6.27

    The body as the stage of abstract space

    Sculpting of spectatorship in Meg Stuart’s choreography

    Jeroen Fabius

    6.28

    Hi, who are you?

    On choreography and the aged dancer

    Efva Lilja

    6.29

    Inclusive choreography

    Lucy Bennett and Stopgap Dance Company 

    Sho Shibata

     

    SECTION 7

    Choreographic Relationships with Technology

    Section introduction

    Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut

    7.30

    Choreographic performance systems

    Johannes Birringer

    7.31

    Virtually touching

    Embodied engagement in telematic and virtual reality performance

    Sita Popat

    7.32

    How does motion capture mediate dance?

    Laura Karreman

    7.33

    Social media and choreographic practice

    Creative tools for collaboration, co-creation and creative practice

    Sophy Smith

    Biography

    Jo Butterworth is Professor of Dance Studies at the University of Malta.

    Liesbeth Wildschut lectures in dance history, dance theory, and dance dramaturgy at the Department of Media and Cultural Studies, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

    "Significantly expands the field's knowledge base in theoretical and applied ways never heard quite so succinctly before in a large, wide-ranging volume."

    Doug Risner, Journal of Dance Education