Split Intimacies: Corporeality in Contemporary Theater and Dance
Abstract
This chapter investigates the experience of being moved by a theater or dance performance. It explores the possibilities of an affective relationship with the audience that engages neither a direct psychological identification with the protagonist(s) onstage, nor a conventional notion of empathy, but rather prioritizes other kinds of exchanges, bringing attention to corporeality as encompassing both an emotional and a visceral responsiveness to the world. Being moved by a performance represents an intertwining of somatic feeling and political urgency that characterizes much of contemporary performance work. There is something vital in these works that transforms the audience from passive spectators into active witnesses, raising the stakes of the viewing experience. This sensibility departs significantly from two classic theories of audience reception: the Aristotelian notion of catharsis in the theater and the modernist concept of kinesthesia in dance most fully articulated by mid-twentieth century dance critic John Martin.
Repository Citation
Albright, Ann Cooper. "Split Intimacies: Corporeality in Contemporary Theater and Dance." In The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater, edited by Nadine George-Graves. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication Date
8-1-2015
Department
Dance
Document Type
Book Chapter
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199917495.013.53
Keywords
Reception, Spectator, Dance, Theater, Kinesthesia, Catharsis, Somatic, Corporeality
ISBN
9780199917495
Language
English
Format
text
