Pedagogy of the Possessed: re-thinking the Dancer-Researcher-Performer (BPI) method in dance curricula in Brazil

Abstract

-Pedagogy of the Possessed: re-thinking the Dancer-Researcher-Performer (BPI) method in dance curricula in Brazil -This paper calls into question the central tenets of the Dancer-Researcher-Performer (BPI) method taught at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil. The analysis problematizes the underlying assumption that students lack an awareness of their own Brazilianness, which they must find through BPI, and questions a choreographic methodology where students are coached to be possessed by the dance. The paper draws attention to the power imbalances inherent in BPI's co-habitation experience, where students research marginal others who are understood as the source of authentic Brazilian culture. The paper invites BPI students and teachers to reconsider the ethics of this research methodology, and to consider the possibility of choreographic research that engages both mind and body critically and consciously. Keywords: BPI. Alterity. Dance. Choreography. Research. RÉSUMÉ -Pédagogie des Possédés: revoir la méthode Danseur-Chercheur-Interprète (BPI) dans l'enseignement de la danse au Brésil -Cet article remet en question les principes fondamentaux de la méthode Danseur-Chercheur-Interprète (BPI), enseignée a l'Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), au Brésil. L'analyse questionne la supposition d'un manque de prise de conscience des élèves par rapport à leur propre brésilité, laquelle ils doivent chercher à travers la BPI. Elle remet en question également une méthodologie chorégraphique où les étudiants sont entraînés à être possédés par la danse. L'article attire l'attention sur les déséquilibres de pouvoir inhérents à l'expérience de cohabitation proposée par la BPI, où les étudiants mènent une recherche sur l'autre, ceux aux marges de la société, compris comme la source d'une culture brésilienne authentique. L'article invite étudiants et enseignants de la BPI à reconsidérer l'éthique de cette méthodologie de recherche, et à envisager la possibilité d'une recherche chorégraphique qui engage à la fois l'esprit et le corps, de manière critique et consciente. Mots-clés: BPI. Altérité. Danse. Chorégraphie. Recherche. RESUMO -Pedagogia dos Possuídos 1: repensando o método Bailarino-PesquisadorIntérprete (BPI) no ensino da dança no Brasil -Este trabalho propõe um questionamento dos princípios fundamentais do método Bailarino-Pesquisador-Intérprete (BPI) ensinado na Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), no Brasil. A análise problematiza a suposição de que os alunos não têm consciência da sua própria brasilidade, a qual eles devem buscar através do BPI, e questiona uma metodologia coreográfica na qual alunos são ensinados a serem possuídos pela dança. O trabalho chama a atenção ao desequilíbrio de poder inerente na experiência de co-habitar do BPI, em que alunos pesquisam outros às margens da sociedade, que são entendidos como fonte de uma autêntica cultura brasileira. O trabalho convida alunos e professores de BPI a reconsiderar a ética dessa metodologia de pesquisa e a consid...

Dancing Mestiçagem, Embodying Whiteness: Eros Volúsia'sBailado Brasileiro

“…16.Volúsia's focus on poor “others” as legitimizing research subjects is echoed in the choreographic research methodology taught at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil, the “dancer-researcher-performer” method, known by its acronym BPI. See Höfling (2016) for an analysis of the BPI method as a way of constructing a white middle-class self through the dances of Brazil's “others.”…”