Unworking choreography : the notion of the work in dance

377 Pages·2017·7.987 MB·English

by  Pakes, Anna, Pouillaude, Frédéric

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Unworking Choreography
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Oxford Studies in Dance Theory
MARK FRANKO, Series Editor
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Unworking Choreography: The Notion of the Work in Dance
Frédéric Pouillaude
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Unworking Choreography
The Notion of the Work in Dance
F P
rédéric ouillaude
T a  P
ranslaTed by nna akes
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1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2017
Originally published in French as Le désœuvrement chorégraphqiue. Étude sur la notion
d’œuvre en danse by (c) Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin, Paris, 2009. http://www.vrin.fr
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
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above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
This translation has been made possible by the financial support of the Institut Universitaire
de France, the Prix 2013 de la traduction du Salon du livre et de la revue d’art - Festival
de l’histoire de l’art à Fontainebleau, and the Centre National du Livre.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pouillaude, Frédéric, 1978– author.
Title: Unworking choreography : the notion of the work in dance / Frédéric
Pouillaude; translated by Anna Pakes.
Other titles: Désœuvrement chorégraphqiue. English
Description: New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017. |
Series: Oxford studies in dance theory | Translation of: Le désœuvrement chorégraphqiue. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016036117 | ISBN 9780199314652 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780199314645 (cloth) | ISBN 9780190649968 (Oxford scholarship online)
Subjects: LCSH: Dance—Aesthetics. | Dance—Philosophy. |
BISAC: PERFORMING ARTS / Dance / Notation. | PHILOSOPHY / Mind & Body. |
MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Dance.
Classification: LCC GV1588.3 .P6813 2017 | DDC 792.8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036117
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printed by WebCom, Inc., Canada
Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
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In memory of Francine and Jean-L uc Pouillaude, my parents.
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CONTENTS
Preface to the English Translation ix
Translator’s Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction xxvii
PART I Philosophy of Dance and the Absenting of Works
Chapter 1. On Transcendental Absenting 3
Chapter 2. A Time with No Outside (Valéry and Jouissance) 13
Chapter 3. A Space with No Place (Straus and Ecstasy) 31
Chapter 4. Th e Absence of the Work: Presence, Expenditure,
Auto- affection 53
PART II The Work (1): The Stage and Signification
Chapter 1. Mallarmé: Deciphering the Stage 69
Chapter 2. Spectacle, Ritual, Divertissement (Genesis and Structure
of the Choreographic Stage, I) 93
Chapter 3. P resence, Ideality, Signification (Genesis and Structure
of the Choreographic Stage, II) 117
Chapter 4. Artaud: Presence and Ritual 147
PART III The Work (2): Immanence and Ideality
Chapter 1. Writing That Says Nothing 163
Chapter 2. Identity: Two Regimes 197
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viii Contents
Chapter 3. Oral Identities: Passing Dance On, Making Versions 215
Chapter 4. The Supporting Trace: Images and Scores 233
PART IV A Technique with No Object
Chapter 1. What Is a Dance Technique? 253
Chapter 2. Technique or Language: An Analogical Impasse 259
Chapter 3. Lack of Tools as Loss of Memory 267
Chapter 4. Intending the Unintentional, Repeating the Unrepeatable 273
CONCLUSION (1) Reflect and Repeat 285
Section 1. Stage and Contemporaneity 287
Section 2. The Reflexive Labor of Performance 295
Section 3. The Memorial Labor of the Work 301
CONCLUSION (2) Gesture and Trace 307
Appendix of Illustrations 313
Bibliography and References 333
Index 345
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PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION
I am honored to see Le désœuvrement chorégraphique translated into English
and published in the Oxford Studies in Dance Theory series. The original
French manuscript was almost complete by the end of 2006, and the book was
published in 2009. Given that this translation appears more than ten years after
the manuscript’s completion, one wonders if the person writing these lines is the
same person who wrote the book. In this preface, I would like to introduce the
reader to the book’s main argument, retracing the intellectual and biographical
process of its genesis; I would also like to examine what has changed in dance
philosophy in the last ten years, including some things that challenge my thesis
and other things that could be updated or addressed in different ways.
In 2002, I was studying philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris,
preparing to begin a PhD. I was also a dancer, with training in ballet and a
commitment to contemporary dance. I was convinced at the time (as I am even
now) that the only way philosophy could move forward, after the end of meta-
physics and the general obsolescence of speculative discourse, was to become
engaged with empirical, historical subject matter, which in turn implied a need
for real and extraphilosophical expertise (as in the case of Georges Canguilhem
with medicine, Jean- Toussaint Desanti with mathematics, or Michel Foucault
with social history). I was also convinced that the traditional (or “Continental”)
discipline of history of philosophy was not the way forward for contempo-
rary thought. My personal background had made me a kind of expert in one
empirical field, namely, dance, to which I therefore decided to devote my PhD
research.
Two methodological problems quickly emerged. The first concerned philo-
sophical discourse: there were (and still are) very few philosophical texts about
dance, and the few that existed (or now exist) were really not very satisfying,
such that I always remained somewhat confused and stuck for answers when
asked about the philosophical corpus on which I based my work. The second