From the Streets to the Stage: Disability and the Performing Arts

PMLA ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 620-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Sandahl
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Theater Studies ◽  
Suitable Site ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University

Despite its newness, disability-theater studies is an incredibly rich area of inquiry that is exploding in artistic practice and scholarship. The university is a particularly suitable site for a meeting of disability and the theater; after all, we theater scholars think of our classrooms and productions as laboratories not only for showcasing knowledge but for producing, rehearsing, and revising it. As the theater scholar Jill Dolan points out, live performance, especially in the liberal arts setting, has the unique power to test, on bodies willing to try them, academic theories that are otherwise purely theoretical. The feedback loop that oscillates between theory and practice in theater studies is necessarily changed by the inclusion of disability perspectives in the classroom, research programs, and performance offerings. Interestingly, an underlying theme of disability perspectives is that the lived experience of disability is always already performative; indeed, many of us with disabilities understand our disabilities as performance, not exclusively in an aesthetic or theoretical sense, but as an actual mode of living in the world. Consider what the playwright and wheelchair user John Belluso told me in a recent interview: “Any time I get on a public bus, I feel like it's a moment of theater. I'm lifted, the stage is moving up, and I enter, and people are along the lines, and they're turning and looking, and I make my entrance. It's theater, and I have to perform. And I feel like we as disabled people are constantly onstage and we're constantly performing.” The perspective of disability as performance undergirds and permeates disability art and scholarship. Thus, my own development as a disability-theater scholar and artist frames my perception of how disability challenges both the practical and the theoretical aspects of theater studies and points to the role universities play in fostering further development of the field.

Distance and Reflexivity: Creating the Stage World of Pantoland

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-339
Author(s):  
Millie Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Extended Version ◽  
Senior Lecturer ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
Forthcoming Book ◽  
The World ◽  
Commercial Theatre ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University

In pantomime the Dame and comics, and to a lesser extent the immortals, are positioned between the world of the audience and the world of the story, interacting with both, forming a link between the two, and constantly altering the distance thus created between audience and performance. This position allows these characters to exist both within and without the story, to comment on the story, and reflexively to draw attention to the theatricality of the pantomime event. In this article, Millie Taylor concludes that reflexivity and framing allow the pantomime to represent itself as unique, original, anarchic, and fun, and that these devices are significant in the identification of British pantomime as distinct from other types of performance. Millie Taylor worked for many years as a freelance musical director in repertory and commercial theatre and in pantomime. She is now Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts and Music Theatre at the University of Winchester. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Conference on Arts and Humanities in Hawaii (2005), and an extended version will appear in her forthcoming book on British pantomime. Her research has received financial support from the British Academy.

Mitterer, Wolfgang (1958--)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Cassidy
Keyword(s):  
Chamber Music ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Live Electronics ◽  
Performance Events ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Orchestra Music ◽  
And Function ◽  
Granular Layers ◽  
The University

Wolfgang Mitterer (1958--) is an Austrian composer and organist noted for his work with live electronics and improvisation. Born on 6 June, 1958 in Lienz, East Tyrol, Mitterer studied organ and composition at the University of Music and the Performing Arts Vienna, followed by a year-long residency at the studio for electroacoustic music (EMS) in Stockholm. An exceptionally prolific composer, Mitterer’s output spans a staggeringly broad range of approaches to music making, including works for tape, chamber music of various formations, experimental pop songs (Sopop), works for large orchestra, music for theatre and opera, music for film, and sprawling site-specific installations and performance events (turmbau zu babel, for example, is scored for 4,200 singers, 22 drums, 48 brass players, and 8-channel tape). His works list includes over 200 entries and demonstrates a particularly catholic, pluralistic, non-dogmatic approach to instrumentation, duration, venue, scale, and function. Despite this diversity, Mitterer’s work maintains several important central tendencies: stylistically, the music is often characterized by layers of crackles, twitches, clicks, and pops (both electronic and acoustic), with a rustling, flickering, chirping, gestural energy. These more fragmented, granular layers are quite often combined with gradual, elongated, atmospheric, and lyrical material, though generally a sense of instability and unpredictability remains.

Making Knowledge/Playing Culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Antje Budde ◽  
Sebastian Samur
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University

(A project of the Digital Dramaturgy Lab at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto) This article discusses the 2017 festival-based undergraduate course, “Theatre Criticism and Festival Dramaturgy in the Digital Age in the Context of Globalization—A Cultural-Comparative Approach” as a platform for experiential learning. The course, hosted by the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, and based on principles of our Digital Dramaturgy Lab, invited a small group of undergraduate students to critically investigate two festivals—the Toronto Fringe Festival and the Festival d’Avignon—in order to engage as festival observers in criticism and analysis of both individual performances and festival programming/event dramaturgy. We argue that site-specific modes of experiential learning employed in such a project can contribute in meaningful ways to, and expand, current discourses on festivalising/festivalization and eventification through undergraduate research. We focus on three modes of experiential learning: nomadic learning (learning on the move, digital mobility), embodied knowledge (learning through participation, experience, and feeling), and critical making (learning through a combination of critical thinking and physical making). The article begins with a brief practical and theoretical background to the course. It then examines historical conceptions of experiential learning in the performing arts, including theoriesadvanced by Burnet Hobgood, David Kolb and Ronald Fry, and Nancy Kindelan. The importance of the festival site is then discussed, followed by an examination of how the festivals supported thethree modes of experiential learning. Samples of student works are used to support this analysis.

scholarly journals Dancing dress: Experiencing and perceiving dress in movement

Scene ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
Jessica Bugg
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Clothing Design ◽  
Physical Response ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Global Conference

Clothing design for dance is an area that has been little documented, particularly in relation to the experience and perception of the dancer. Contemporary dance and clothing can both be understood as fundamentally phenomenological and as such there is further potential to investigate the lived experience of wearing clothing in dance. This article approaches dress in the context of the moving and dancing body, and it aims to develop an understanding of the role of dress in dance by focusing on the sensory, embodied experience and perception of the performer. It addresses questions of how clothing is perceived in movement by the performer, how and if clothing’s design intention, materiality and form motivate physical response, and what conscious or unconscious cognitive processes may be at play in this interaction between the active body and clothing. The intention is to propose developed methods for designers across clothing disciplines to contribute in a meaningful way to the overall dance work. The article draws on an analysis of my practice-led research that employs embodied experience of dress to inform the design and development of clothing as communication and performance. The research has involved close collaboration with a dancer, analysis of recorded interviews, and visual documentation of design and movement. The research has produced data on the dancer’s experience and perception of garments in performance and this is discussed here in relation to writings on perception, performance, the body and cognition. The research is approached through theory and practice and draws on interviews, observation and lived experience. This article is developed from an earlier conference paper that investigated the role and developed potential of clothing in contemporary dance that was presented at the 4th Global Conference: Performance: Visual Aspects of Performance Practice, Inter-Disciplinary.Net, held in Oxford on 17–19 September 2013.

scholarly journals Composing with quantum information: Aspects of quantum music in theory and practice

Muzikologija ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Kim Helweg
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Musical Composition ◽  
Sound Design ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Innovative Work ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Further Development

Quantum Music is the title of a research project that opened up an opportunity to investigate the relationship between art and science - to be precise, between music and quantum physics. The idea was to create a platform for innovative work with musical composition and musical instruments inspired by the theories of quantum mechanics. The further development was carefully put into the hands of the different members of the project with such different competences as sound design, physics, musical live performance, composition, light design and musicology. In this connection, I fulfilled the role and interest of the composer as well as representing the performing arts (dance and acting). The aim of my participation was to show how collaboration between music and science could result in a development of different functional approaches to compositional strategies in general and give a new perspective for the artistic thinking in music as well as in the performing arts in general. This article is written as a part of an artistic research and the ideas, statements and conclusions presented in it are to be understood as being directly linked to creative work. But indeed, I also hope this text will provide inspiration to approach music in a new way, both for listeners, musicologists, musicians and other performing artists.

scholarly journals Pressurizing the Politics of The Crucible: a Brechtian Production of Arthur Miller’s Modern Classic

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (04) ◽  
pp. 325-340
Author(s):  
David Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Arthur Miller ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Production History ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Theatre Theory ◽  
The University ◽  
Witch Hunts

In this article David Barnett documents a practice-as-research project that employed Brechtian approaches to stage dramatic material. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a realist text in which the protagonist, John Proctor, redeems himself for the sin of adultery by taking a heroic stand against the Salem witch-hunts. Existing scholarship has revealed a series of gendered biases in the form and content of the play, yet these findings have never been systematically realized in performance. While appearing to defend democratic values, the play’s dramaturgical strategies coerce agreement, and this represents a fundamental contradiction. Brecht offers a method that preserves the written dialogue, but interprets it critically onstage, deploying a range of devices derived from a materialist and dialectical interpretation. The aim of the production was to re-present a play with a familiar production history and problematize the political bases on which it conventionally rested. The article discusses the rationale for the theory and practice of contemporary Brechtian theatre and offers the production as a model for future critical realizations of other realist plays. David Barnett is Professor of Theatre at the University of York. His publications include A History of the Berliner Ensemble (CUP, 2015), Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014), amd Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the German Theatre (CUP, 2005).

Three Minute Theatre

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Copeman
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Randomised Control Trial ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Dramatic Monologue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Research Narrative

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to help higher degree by research (HDR) students understand the intrinsic nature of a Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation as a pitch and how this differs from normal academic discourse, and to present a suite of principles and practices with which they can develop the quality and impact of their presentations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a three-year University of Canberra (UC) research project involving three phases: distillation and analysis, with reference to theories and practice of dramatic narrative and performance, of key components of successful past 3MT presentations; establishment from this analysis of a suite of principles and practices to help students develop the quality and impact of their 3MT pitches; and trial, evaluation and refinement of these principles and practices via workshops with around 40 UC competitors. Findings – Presentations are framed firstly as an exercise in pitching and consequently as a type of dramatic monologue performance. Preparing such a presentation requires scripting a research narrative as a story with emotional as well as intellectual impact, developing a vocal and physical performance presence to connect with an audience and planning the use of the presentation space and constraints for best effect. Evaluations by workshop participants, reinforced by their success in the UC tournaments relative to non-participants, suggest that advantages of this approach to research pitching by these students apply not only for 3MT contests but also for clarifying and crystallising their research ideas, and for enhancing the quality of their presentation skills more generally. Research limitations/implications – The research methodology is a qualitative participant-observer action research study over three years. Although in part a kind of intervention study because it makes some comparison of 3MT success rates of study participants with non-participants, it is not a randomised control trial, as this would be inequitable by arbitrarily excluding subjects who might wish to take part. The primary value of the research is its adaptation to the research communications sphere of well-established modes of dramatic and business communication, and the value placed on these by participants. Practical implications – The principles and practices presented here make explicit for 3MT contestants knowledge that they are likely to possess already implicitly, and provide practical, achievable methods for developing and honing their presentations so as to maximise their impact on their audiences. Social implications – The paper makes a case for the legitimacy of emotionally connected storytelling within the array of acceptable academic discourse. Originality/value – The paper draws on theory and practice from the literary and performing arts to synthesise emotionally connected storytelling with traditional academic thinking and writing conventions of detached, dispassionate, reasoned argument based on quantifiable evidence.

scholarly journals The Jazz Institutes in Graz

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
Michael Kahr
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Jazz Education ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Current State ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
The University ◽  
The City ◽  
City Identity

In 1965, the Institute for Jazz at the University of Music and Performing Arts (then the Academy of Music) in Graz started to build a reputation as a pioneer in jazz education in Europe. Upon the establishment of a separate Institute for Jazz Research in 1971, the institution was able to position itself as an academic centre with a focus on both artistic practice and the academic study of jazz; as such, it also inspired other jazz programmes across Central Europe. This article discusses the determining factors and socio-cultural conditions for the development of the Jazz Institutes in Graz and analyses aspects of professionalisation, internationalisation and outreach activities both local and international. The leading personalities in the institution's history are introduced, and their activities from 1965 to 1980 are described. After an overview of the Institute's current state, the article discusses internal and external conflicts and criticism of the Institute's activities, artistic orientation and status. Research for this article was compiled as part of the FWF research project ‘Jazz & the City: Identity of a Capital of Jazz', conducted at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz from 2011 to 2013 under Prof. Dr Franz Kerschbaumer

scholarly journals Voice of an Elder: Zhaawonde - Dawn of a New Day

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Shawanda ◽  
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Engagement Process ◽  
Being There ◽  
The Many ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

This paper evolved, maybe ‘was birthed’ is an even better term given the circumstances, out of an engagement process that brought Gordon Shawanda and several university students together over an academic year. Gordon was invited to attend my Aboriginal Spirituality class at the University of Toronto in September 2009. He liked being there so much that he came each week, sitting through lectures, reading the materials, and participating with unerring grace in the many discussions over the entire year. We were all touched by his presence, his quiet dignity, and his deep interest in our academic learning and sharing experience. Gordon embodies what modern education is trying to get right, the bringing together of theory and practice, and the unveiling of the kind of humanity that can bring Indigenous Knowledge alive for all young people everywhere. Gordon was inspired by their enthusiastic receiving of his words to write down his story. This paper is his first real attempt to express the pain and healing he has experienced over his adulthood. I am honoured and humbled to (gently) edit this work for publication. This is a story that comes directly from the heart and soul of one man, but is the lived experience of many of our people who attended Indian Residential Schools in Canada. It is organized into four parts.

Treatise by Aman Vanderhagen “Nouvelle méthode de flute” as a reflection of the performing arts of France in the second half of the 18th century

2018 ◽  
pp. 80-88
Author(s):  
I. Yermak
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Wind Instruments ◽  
Musical Work ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
Source Study ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Source Of Information

For adequate reading of ancient musical texts, it is necessary to study the historical and cultural context and the specifics of the performing practice of that time when musical work has been written. It becomes possible when we study the treatises of past centuries, in which the main issues of musical theory and practice, technique and style are considered.No flute treatise has yet been translated into Ukrainian. Works by S. Ganassi, J.-M. Hotteterre, J. J. Quantz and J. G. Tromlitz are available in Russian. However, there are still about two hundred untranslated methodological treatises of the 18th century which contain important information about the performing arts of the era. The need for their study causes the topicality of this article.The article presents the results of the study of the treatise “Nouvelle méthode de flute” (1798) by Aman Vanderhagen, which includes number of valuable guidelines about posture, performance breathing, correct phrasing and ways of correction of the unstable notes on a one-keyed flute. The variety of strokes given in the treatise is a vivid example of the performing traditions of classicism.For the solution of the study tasks it is used historical, source-study, textual, analytical and performance methods. The conclusion is that the «Nouvelle méthode de flute» is an important source of information about peculiarities of performing on wind instruments in the second half of the 18th century and is recommended for the study of modern musicians and music historians.

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