| Session 36 | Science Gender Body |
| Heather Roffe | Signifying Women – The Politics of Gesture in Modern Dance |
| This paper presentation is an analysis of the bodily politics and feminist discourses represented in the choreography of three prominent 20th century modern dancers. In looking at the choreography and lives of Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Yvonne Rainer, (and thus three different generations/iterations of modern dance), through a socio-historical lens, I investigate the unique feminist and political choices that were made in how they presented themselves publicly and through their dance works (though they may not have necessarily labeled themselves as feminists). I analyze how these three women negotiated and navigated the terrain of a male-dominated world and a marginalized form of art, and through their gesturing bodies, produced latitudinal changes in how dance and women were perceived. My initial research includes an exegesis of texts from the areas of dance history, feminist history, and social history, looking critically at the larger (or global) artistic, social and political climate of the environments and respective time periods that they were actively creating work/performing in. Then, by looking specifically at the corporeal presence in their choreography, I endeavor to locate how the gestures themselves activated a shift in perception of what was considered “female” in that time period, and what was considered “dance” - signifiers that traversed a fine line between radical polarity and acceptance. Rather than extracting these women from their context of existence to look microscopically at just their choreography from a current frame of reference, I have attempted to weave them into the fabric of American history, measuring and assessing their work/ideologies in reference to these findings. Much of this research investigates the notion of body politics, specifically of the dancing female body, how these representations have necessarily changed over time, the larger social repercussions, and the resulting aesthetic affect in regards to modern dance. | |
| Liesbeth Wildschut | A physical experience while watching dance |
Cognitive neuroscience is an area which helps us to enlarge our knowledge of how movement is perceived and how we can understand the process of kinaesthetic empathy. In my presentation, I will analyse the connections between the visual/auditive input while watching a dance performance; the stored knowledge on the sensation of movement; motor responses; and emotional experiences. Experiments done on monkeys by Rizzolatti et al. gave insight in the working of the brain, while watching movement. He discovered activity of neurons, which he called mirror neurons. Many experiments followed, by neuroscientists and psychologists like Keyzers, Bekkering, Decety and Glaser. In my presentation, I will use research results from neuroscience, as well as results from my own empirical studies. Those results give us more insight in the mechanisms active in the process of kinaesthetic empathy, which can be helpful for choreographers interested in involvement strategies on a movement level. |
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| Heather Roffe, MFA, is currently an adjunct lecturer at SUNY College at Brockport and an adjunct professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. In the past few years, Roffe has conducted multiple action research projects with Rochester, NY area K-12 schools in the areas of dance and multidisciplinary studies, in addition to performing during her summers at Jacob’s Pillow, the International Dance Festival, the New York State Dance Festival, and the American Dance Guild Festival with Assemblage Dance Company, Burnidge-Clark Dance and Geomantics Dance Theatre. She produces the annual Bill Evans Dance Teachers Workshops, and is also helping to plan a regional American College Dance Festival. Her choreography has been presented in Brockport, Rochester, Minneapolis, New York City, Richmond, VA and at Jacob’s Pillow. | |
| Dr. Liesbeth Wildschut graduated at the Fontys Dance Academy (1973). As a dancer and choreographer she was involved in performances for young children. In 1995, she graduated in Theatre Studies at Utrecht University (cum laude), where she is now senior lecturer in dance history, theory and dramaturgy at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies. Her main research interests include emotional and physical involvement strategies of people watching a dance performance. In collaboration with Jo Butterworth she edited The Routledge Reader in Contemporary Choreography (forthcoming). | |
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