Embodying multiplicity: the independent contemporary dancer’s moving identity

Abstract

In this article, I argue for an acknowledgement of the significance of the dancer's role in the creation of independent contemporary dance. I propose the term 'moving identity' to outline the independent contemporary dancer's 'way of moving' which could be perceived as the accumulation of various factors including training approaches, choreographic movement traces and anatomical structures. The concept of the moving identity allows us to appreciate the dancer's unique signature movement style as the collation of embodied experiences into a unique way of moving. However, the moving identity is also open to change when the dancer encounters new choreography and the choreographer. Professional dance training produces particular types of dancers, depending on the techniques with which they engage. I demonstrate how the independent contemporary dancer troubles this distinctiveness by engaging with a multitude of movement styles and approaches throughout a career. This leads me to a fresh description of the dancer's activity through the lens of Deleuzean concepts of multiplicity and de-stratification. Finally, I propose a definition of the dancer as a fluid and mutable body-in-flux with the creative potential to significantly influence the outcome of the choreographic process.

Creative and embodied methods to teach reflections and support students’ learning

“…keeps the debate relevant. Current discourses e phasise the i po ta e of the da e s age (Roche, 2011) offering a model for experiencing process in dance as a dynamic exchange of knowledge through embodiment. Jenifer Roche argues for the student dancer to be placed at the centre of the learning process by exercising agency, making choices and building selfreflexivity rather than being a passi e su fa e to e i s i ed (Roche, 2011, p.8).…”

“…In an industry that is increasingly demanding extreme versatility, the facets of self increase and so do the levels of awareness needed to understand and reflect on self. 'o he s otio of e od i g ultipli ities suggests that these notions are not only cognitive but reside in the (hi)story of the body itself and the accumulation of physical/movement experiences (Roche, 2011). Engaging in embodied reflective practices which put the body and its movement, as well as creativity and improvisation or play at the heart of the reflective process, can begin to let us discover a self-awareness borne from more internalised processes (Mason & Davies, 2009).…”

A Kinesthetic Mode of Attention in Contemporary Dance Practice

“…The new multitalented body …” (253). Contemporary dancers are often required to adapt quickly just by the nature of the huge variation of movement styles in the field (Roche 2011). If the dancer can be keenly, kinesthetically aware and attentive, the dancer is more likely to be able to navigate new choreography quickly in practice, because the sensitivity enables greater skill in navigating and mastering different ways of moving.…”

“…Then he used the material they generated to reconstruct the piece. The practice of using dancer-generated material is not unique to Forsythe, and Jiles's “crash to create.” Several of the dancers, such as Willow, also talked about their experience with this type of choreographic approach (see also Roche 2011).…”

The Irish Dancing: Cultural Politics and Identities, 1900–2000 by Barbara O'Connor. 2013. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. £35, $57.95 cloth.

“…This new wave of scholarship has been supported by several important infrastructural developments in the dance research landscape, such as the founding of Dance Research Forum Ireland in 2003; the advent of increasingly regular symposia dedicated to dance scholarship supported by festivals and organizations such as Galway Dance Days, Dance Limerick, and Dance Ireland; and the establishment of the National Dance Archive at the Glucksmann Library, University of Limerick, in 2011. Publications that are contributing to the growth of the field include work by dance scholars/practitioners looking at various aspects of historical and contemporary dance practices and performance in Ireland, such as questions of identity in contemporary dance education (Roche 2011), the autobiographical body and somatic practices in dance (Meehan 2011), and the intersection of dance and politics in Irish dance theater (McGrath 2013). Another strand of scholarship includes research conducted through sociological, anthropological, and ethnographic lenses that investigates the historical and current practice of traditional Irish step dance and social dance forms.…”