Susanne Franco - Böcker

This Handbook invites readers to approach dance memoriography as a vibrant field of knowledge that explore dance studies at the intersection with historiography, memory studies, performance studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and cognitive sciences. Dance memoriography also examines how epistemological tools introduced by critical theory can provide new insights into the functioning of memory-whether embodied, archived or transmitted-and the dynamic interplay between memory and history. In this process, artists and historians collaborate to activate and explore new ways of remembering and participate in shaping cultural memory.The Handbook highlights the potential of dance studies in investigating how memory has been conceptualised and practiced over time in and through dance. The chapters of this Handbook explore different forms of existence of dance and dancing while addressing key questions: How do the dancers embody the memory of dancing? How is the memory of dance imprinted on the spectator? How do individual and collective memory influence each other in and through dance? Is the presumed immateriality of dance works a fundamental aspect of their identity or a sign of the inability of those who perceive and study them to grasp their traces? How do mnemonic techniques, notation systems, and recording devices contribute to the transmission of a choreographic heritage? What role do archives play in preserving, erasing, or concealing the experiences of dancers and scholars who have created, organised, or engaged with them? How do memory, oblivion, and repression interact in the construction and reception of historical narratives on dance? To whom do dances belong, how are their heirs designated and how do they engage with dance legacies? What does it mean to forget a particular dance practice or tradition? Finally, how is memory implicated in the transmission of experiences and knowledge within dance practices and discourses?

Focusing on politics, gender, and identities, a group of international dance scholars provide a broad overview of new methodological approaches – with specific case studies – and how they can be applied to the study of ballet and modern dance.With an introduction exploring the history of dance studies and the development of central themes and areas of concerns in the field, the book is then divided into three parts:politics explores 'Ausdruckstanz' – an expressive dance tradition first formulated in the 1920s by dancer Mary Wigman and carried forward in the work of Pina Bausch and othersgender examines eighteenth century theatrical dance – a time when elaborate sets, costumes, and plots examined racial and sexual stereotypesidentity is concerned with modern dance.Exploring contemporary analytical approaches to understanding performance traditions, Dance Discourses' pedagogical structure makes it ideal for courses in performing arts and humanities.