Theorizing Hybridity and Identity: The “Edge-Effect” and “Dynamic Nucleus” in Bharatanatyam-Inspired Contemporary Dances of Two Choreographers

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 90-96
Author(s):  
Cheryl LaFrance
Keyword(s):  
Edge Effect ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Interactive Spaces ◽  
Border Culture ◽  
Ecological Metaphor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Modern Experience ◽  
Cultural Force

Dancer-choreographer Nova Bhattacharya uses the ecological term “edge-effect” to describe her experience within the choreographic process where her bharatanatyam training and her contemporary dance creativity overlap to create a lingua franca. Hari Krishnan, dancer-choreographer and scholar, describes his work as “constantly ruptured” within his “post-post-modern experience.” This paper argues that the creative processes underlying the respective contemporary dance-making practices of Nova Bhattacharya and Hari Krishnan are cultural ecosystems demonstrating the rich dynamic of the edge-effect at the intersection of bharatanatyam and contemporary dance aesthetics and themes. Within the edge-effect, both reception and rupture occur as artistic identities evolve. Furthermore, reception and rupture occur within the performance venue as the performers' and audiences' worlds overlap—another negotiated edge-effect. While the ecological metaphor of the edge-effect helps to conceptualize these interactive spaces, the sociological metaphor of a “dynamic nucleus” (Lloyd Wong) helps us to theorize the nature and energy of the critically reflective exchanges occurring, between contemporary and bharatanatyam sensibilities, in both the studio and concert theater. The edge-effect and dynamic nucleus metaphors build on Homi Bhaha's concept of the “cultural interstices” within which individual and communal identities are initiated and culture is located. Additionally, these metaphors expand on Guillermo Gômez-Peña's theory of “multihybrid identities, in a constant process of metamorphosis” as today's “border-culture” becomes tomorrow's institutional art. This paper provides dance scholars with a way of conceptualizing the energy of dance as a cultural force influencing experiences of hybridity and identity for performers and audiences within intercultural contexts.

scholarly journals Re-Constructing the Choreographic Studio of João Fiadeiro Through Animated Infographic Films

1969 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Jürgens
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Interesting Point ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Artistic Process ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Interdisciplinary Arts

The starting point for this article is an artist-led practice developed by choreographer João Fiadeiro during the past two decades, which has been designated as "Composition in Real Time" (CTR). The interesting point about this methodology is that it has been applied in performance composition and in arts education by its author himself; but also in such diverse fields as anthropology, sociology, neurosciences, and economy by scientists and academics in collaboration with Fiadeiro. The authors of this article have conducted a long-lasting case study on the artistic process of Fiadeiro in the framework of an ERC-funded interdisciplinary arts and cognition project. We present our resulting novel approach to researching contemporary dance work through the creation and production of animated infographic films. Along with leading PaR theorists we argue that the utilization of adequate artistic techniques and methods in academic research can successfully reveal how unique creative ideas and conceptual structures come into being in the creative processes of today's contemporary artists. The article discusses specific excerpts of the provided animated infographic films to show how we digitally re-constructed Fiadeiro’s conceptual and imaginative universe, and how our findings can address both an academic and interested lay audience. SOLOS study: I am sitting in a different room you are in now from BlackBox Art&Cognition on Vimeo. SOLOS study: I was here from BlackBox Art&Cognition on Vimeo. Graphic models developed by João Fiadeiro from BlackBox Art&Cognition on Vimeo.

Exploring the Experience of Contemporary Dance Practices in the Context of Global Art Choreography in the Museum Space

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Tatiana V. Portnova
Keyword(s):  
Art Museum ◽  
Art Museums ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Complex Inclusion ◽  
Exhibition Space ◽  
Interior Spaces ◽  
Modern Experience ◽  
Global Art ◽  
Regular Classes ◽  
Communicative Space

The purpose of the article is to examine modern projects in the field of choreography, interconnected with art museums that open doors for choreographers and together embody creative ideas. It is this creative, largely subjective, controversial dialogue between the museum and dance, accompanied by comments of art historians, choreographers, and artists, that gets its meaning in the presented material. The novelty of the study lies in assessing the main directions of choreographic activity, which can be mutually transformed so that the museum and dance function successfully in modern conditions and build a new communicative space with the audience. Through a creative analysis of the modern experience of dance practices, it is possible to discover the principles and trends that are destined to breathe new life into the museum space. The considered examples of organising a museum space with theatrical and plastic direction interacting with it clearly demonstrate that modern visual strategies, associated primarily with its interactive substance, affect the communicative and exhibition space of the museum in different ways. A choreographic performance was analysed as part of a diverse event taking place on the territory of the cultural and historical museum complex; inclusion of dance in the dynamics of the halls of the interior spaces of the museum; entry of a choreographic performance, theatrical actions into the exhibition space of expositions; the museum itself inviting artists, choreographic schools and studios to conduct regular classes and masterclasses within the walls of the museum to popularise its collections, and other examples of forms of interaction between the art of dance and the art museum.

Musicians in the Making

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Music Teachers ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Creative Development ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Learning In Context ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Creative Learning ◽  
Musical Knowledge ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Performance Teachers

Musicians are continually ‘in the making’, tapping into their own creative resources while deriving inspiration from teachers, friends, family members and listeners. Amateur and professional performers alike tend not to follow fixed routes in developing a creative voice; instead, their artistic journeys are personal, often without foreseeable goals. The imperative to assess and reassess one’s musical knowledge, understanding and aspirations is nevertheless a central feature of life as a performer. Musicians in the Making explores the creative development of musicians in both formal and informal learning contexts. It promotes a novel view of creativity, emphasizing its location within creative processes rather than understanding it as an innate quality. It argues that such processes may be learned and refined, and furthermore that collaboration and interaction within group contexts carry significant potential to inform and catalyze creative experiences and outcomes. The book also traces and models the ways in which creative processes evolve over time. Performers, music teachers and researchers will find the rich body of material assembled here engaging and enlightening. The book’s three parts focus in turn on ‘Creative learning in context’, ‘Creative processes’ and ‘Creative dialogue and reflection’. In addition to sixteen extended chapters written by leading experts in the field, the volume includes ten ‘Insights’ by internationally prominent performers, performance teachers and others.

scholarly journals An Infographic Approach to Presenting Dance Data from the Choreographer's Studio

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Jürgens ◽  
Carla Fernandes ◽  
Vito Evola
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
Documentary Film ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Artistic Vision ◽  
3D Environments ◽  
Film Productions ◽  
2D And 3D

In this paper the authors introduce their infographic approach for the presentation of dance data from two extensive case studies on the creative processes of two very dissimilar contemporary choreographers. This approach has been developed in the framework of the BlackBox - Arts & Cognition Project and was implemented in both 2D and 3D environments, resulting in the creation of four short animated infographic films, a documentary film, and a multiple viewport platform for two 360-degree dance videos. Drawing on selected examples from these film productions, the authors discuss in two distinct case studies, which aspects of contemporary dance and choreographic thinking are computed and visualized in ways that allow to access each choreographer’s unique artistic vision and creative process. Based on this discussion, the authors suggest to consider a broader perspective on what might constitute ‘dance data’, and elaborate on how such data sets can be presented visually employing embodied filmmaking and infographic storytelling techniques.

Choreographers and Musicians in Collaboration, from the Twentieth to the Twenty-First Century

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
South Asian ◽  
First Century ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Uk ◽  
At Home

Traditionally, dance has always needed music, although over the last century, this relationship has frequently been questioned. This chapter charts key historical shifts in choreomusical thinking, followed by a series of contemporary case studies demonstrating a range of approaches to, as well as commonalities across time in, the theories and practices of collaboration. Evidence shows increasingly independent, multidimensional, even oppositional relations between music and dance and a new fluidity in the behavior of artists, enabled partly by the advent of super-fast technology. In dance, relatively little information is available on the nature of creative processes, especially on musical issues. For the case studies, this chapter incorporates new interview material with choreographers and musicians based in the UK: Wayne McGregor, at home in both contemporary dance and ballet; Shobana Jeyasingh, who draws from South Asian classical and Western dance practices; and the performance duo Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion.

Democracy's Body, Neoliberalism's Body: The Ambivalent Search for Egalitarianism Within the Contemporary Post/Modern Dance Tradition

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (01) ◽  
pp. 47-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose L. Reynoso
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Modern Dance ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Collaborative Practices ◽  
Cultural Forms ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
Capital Ownership

This article analyzes ways in which dance as labor and artist as a specific subjectivity relate to the material conditions of their production within contexts shaped by neoliberal notions of freedom, ideologies of liberal democracy, and the logic of global capitalism. The discussion focuses on contemporary dance practices that embody some of these values by striving to be more egalitarian, thus giving performers more agency in how they participate in creative processes that lead to a collectively created performance work. This analysis emphasizes the tension between these collaborative practices and modes of producing and distributing financial and symbolic, as well as cultural forms of capital in ways that resist and/or reproduce exploitative aspects of capitalism. Examining some works by Yvonne Rainer, Xavier Le Roy, and Tino Sehgal enables the theorization of the entrepreneurial artistic archive as well as practices of crediting creative labor in relation to notions of capital, ownership, collaboration, and consequently who dance-art makers and performers become as politically progressive artists.

The semiotics of symmetry, or Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic history lesson

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMON MORRISON
Keyword(s):  
Music History ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Cause And Effect ◽  
The Rich

Rimsky-Korsakov dwelled at length on his place in music history. His musings informed his creative processes, notably his handling of operatic time and space relationships. His stage works rely on structural and syntactic reflection rather than patterns of cause and effect for cohesion. This article examines the narrative contents of Sadko (1896), a setting of the merchant tale ‘‘Sadko the Rich Trader” that follows the contours of the Orpheus parable. The analysis, focusing on the mirror relationships between Russians and non-Russians, indicates that the composer conceived the score as a parody of nationalism and orientalism. In depicting self as other and other as self, Sadko also demonstrates the inherent universality, rather than the inherent Russianness, of Rimsky-Korsakov’s music.

scholarly journals Materiality, Memory and Imagination: Using Empathy to Research Creativity

Leonardo ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Treadaway
Keyword(s):  
Case Study Research ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Art Making ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Creative Practice ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Collaborative Art ◽  
The Rich

Our perception of the physical world is informed by our bodily sensory experiences. This rich source of information stimulates the brain and is remembered and remade in the creative processes that feed our imagination. How does experience of materiality shape our creative use of digital imaging tools, and how does the technology influence creative practice? This article contends that creative processes are heavily reliant on our memories of physical experience and that tools to support creative digital practice could be enhanced to utilize the rich multi-sensory stimulation it provides. This paper presents collaborative art-making that has been used to investigate issues arising from case study research, enabling the author to empathically experience the artist's creative processes and to provide insight into how digital tools can support creative practice.

scholarly journals Contemporary Dance Between Modern and Postmodern

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 307-315
Author(s):  
Beatrice Volbea
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Dramatic Play ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Xxth Century ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Xxist Century ◽  
Body Expression

Abstract As human beings and artists, what we produce, as well as our own selves, are visibly influenced by a complex ensemble of processes that take place around us and, in time, we can actually be regarded as their result. This evolutionary principle also applies to the role that body expression has in the wide specter of arts, including in dramatic dance and dramatic theatre. All along the XXth century and up until the first decade of the XXIst century, new performative genres have developed, for example, under the influence of political, social and cultural theories and philosophies. The result was the evolution of numerous alternative forms, supported by revolutionary theories in the dramatic field and by new approaches towards performance. Among these, we can find concepts like physical theatre, total theatre and dance theatre, all of them focusing on body expression. A notable aspect of these changes is the fact that they share the recurrent idea of a fusion between different artistic forms, incorporating dance, dramatic play and other theatrical elements in the creative processes and their outputs.

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