Choreographing Empathy: Kinesthesia in Performance

ISBN-13: 9780415596565 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 286 str.

Susan Foster

Opis

"This is an urgently needed book - as the question of choreographing behavior enters into realms outside of the aesthetic domains of theatrical dance, Susan Foster writes a thoroughly compelling argument." - Andre Lepecki, New York University "May well prove to be one of Susan Foster's most important works." - Ramsay Burt, De Montford University, UK What do we feel when we watch dancing? Do we "dance along" inwardly? Do we sense what the dancer's body is feeling? Do we imagine what it might feel like to perform those same moves? If we do, how do these responses influence how we experience dancing and how we derive significance from it? Choreographing Empathy challenges the idea of a direct psychophysical connection between the body of a dancer and that of their observer. In this groundbreaking investigation, Susan Foster argues that the connection is in fact highly mediated and influenced by ever-changing sociocultural mores. Foster examines the relationships between three central components in the experience of watching a dance - the choreography, the kinesthetic sensations it puts forward, and the empathetic connection that it proposes to viewers. Tracing the changing definitions of choreography, kinesthesia, and empathy from the 1700s to the present day, she shows how the observation, study, and discussion of dance have changed over time. Understanding this development is key to understanding corporeality and its involvement in the body politic.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements  Introducing Choreographing Empathy  Chapter 1 – Choreography  Inventories and Taxonomies  Traveling and Disseminating  Authorship, Narrative, and Technique  Revealing and Testifying  Making and Collaborating  Chapter 2 - Kinesthesia  Chorographies and Anatomies  Trembling and Orienting  Hardening and Picturing  Encompassing and Expressing  Synthesizing and Simulating  Chapter 3 – Empathy  Taken Unawares by Surprising Magnetisms  Surveying the Scene, Nervously  Domesticating and Othering  Identifying and Emoting  Resonating and Predicting  Chapter 4 – Choreographing Empathy  Grounding and Remembering  Locating and Surveilling  Engendering and Evaluating  Downloading and Accessorizing  Choreographing Empathy

O autorze

Susan Leigh Foster is professor of choreography, history and theories of the body at UCLA. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, the National Endowment of Humanities, and the Rockefeller and Jerome Foundations. Ph.D., History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A., Dance, University of California, Los Angeles; B.A. Anthropology, Swarthmore College. She has created several solo concerts which have toured the United States, Canada and Europe.