III. A Vulnerable Glance: Seeing Dance through Phenomenology

Abstract

When phenomenology is true to its intent, it never knows where it is going (1). This is because it is present-centered in its descriptive aims, accounts for temporal change, and does not have appropriate and inappropriate topics. It might move from Zen to dance to baseball to washing dishes, and even isolate a purity of attention that under certain circumstances connects them all. Phenomenology develops unpredictably, according to the contents of consciousness. This is its first level of method. Its second level develops philosophical perspectives from the seed of consciousness. It holds that "philosophy is not the reflection of a pre-existing truth but, like art, the act of bringing truth into being" (2). Here I will discuss phenomenology as a way of describing and defining dance, shifting between the experience of the dancer and that of the audience. Experiential Truth Phenomenology depends on immediate experience, but includes more. It hopes to arrive at meaning, perspectives on the phenomena of experience (dance in this case) which can be communicated. It is not devoid of past and future, since both are lived as part of the present. Present time takes its meaning in part from past and future. Heidegger described time as belonging to the totality of being, as "the horizon of being." He chose the vulnerable image of falling to describe the lived dimension of present time. Falling is both a movement and a symbol of our existential mode of being-in-the-world (3). Existence is not static. It moves always just beyond our grasp. It has no specific shape, no texture, no taste (because it is nowhere). Yet we assume it is something. We can't see it (because it is everywhere), and we feel its perpetual "dance" inside us. It is of the essence of vulnerability. It surfaces to attention through reflection in literature, history, and philosophy, with the urgency of word and gesture, formulations of concrete materials, the actions and passions of drama, and the infinite combinations of sound and bodily motion in the various arts. Here psychic life, visible form, and experiential truth merge; thought and feeling converge, and meaning arises. Art is an attempt to give substance to existence, that we may gain insight through distilling life's ongoing nature, repeating selected gestures, motions, and sounds, molding and maintaining certain shapes. Art in its various forms holds these before our senses. It allows us to absorb the textures, meanings, and motions of a perishable bodily existence. Art and existence are both within the context or "horizon" of time. Both are subject to the ways in which time is lived-compressed, elongated, endless, a long time, a short time, barely enough time, etc. Lived time does not refer to clock time, but to how time feels.

Balancing identity, motivation, and internal dialogue in the making of solos: conquering the high wire

“…A few expressed the importance of inviting others in, at various stages, to observe the process and give feedback. Going beyond what the participants stated or wrote explicitly, it is my assumption that the life of a dance work is contingent upon some relationship with an audience, some dialogue with an 'other' (Fraleigh 1987). That said, my understandings of this element of the making process are presently very convoluted and difficult to sort out.…”

“…Adopting a more phenomenological stance, Fraleigh (1987Fraleigh ( , 1991 wrote at length about the experience of performance. Hers is a theory grounded in, and arguing for, an emphasis on personal experience in performance (see also Durham 2003).…”

Local Wisdom Values in Kethek Ogleng Dance Tokawi Nawangan, Pacitan

“…That the dancers entangled with sensation and movement picture, qualities, shapes, and textures, struggling to capture some complexities in kinetic visual movement or in intuitive form [14]. Being a Kethek Ogleng dancer must be embedded with values: simplicity, independence, hardworking, cooperation, gratitude, religiosity, sincerity, and patience.…”

Sustaining M?ori indigenous performative knowledge: Engaging practices that foster ihi within a contemporary dance theatre context

“…Through our inclusion of this process, whānau and kaumātua members become aware that this research and choreography belong to our people, our ancestors Hinemoa and Tutanekai and others who have contributed throughout the process. (Bishop, 1998;Smith, 1999 (Barbour, 2005;Fraleigh, 1991;Rothfield, 2005).…”