Choreographies of Lived Abstractio 

6th May 2015 4:00pm-7:00pm 

Choreographies of Lived Abstraction

Guest lecture by Professor ​Maaike Bleeker (Utrecht University)

6 May, 4pm 
Teaching Block, Room 6 
University of Surrey
Guildford, UK 

ALL WELCOME

Abstract:
This lecture will be about perception and movement, and how the relationship between them provides a perspective on the connections between transformations in choreographic practice and the impact of mediatization. These transformations, I will argue, manifest themselves in an expansion of choreography to include movements that are not seen. Movement never is at any one moment. It requires to be lived through in a succession of impressions and exists in continuous transformation. Although movement may be perceived as something ‘over there’ it only emerges as object of perception as the result of how it is abstracted out of the continuity of sensory impressions. This capacity for abstraction is given in our embodiment and fundamental to perception. It is fundamental as well to transformations brought about by the rise of media culture. The address presented by media builds on this capacity for abstraction and takes it in new directions. This can be seen to manifests itself in an expansion of the kind of movements that can be the object of choreography, to include movements not performed but abstracted from what is presented on stage and consequently a shift away from movement performed on stage as the privileged object of the choreographic enterprise. 

Bio: 
Maaike Bleeker is a professor of Theatre Studies, and the Head of Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University. Previously she taught at the School for New Dance Development (Amsterdam) and the Piet Zwart Post-Graduate Program in Fine Arts (Rotterdam) and worked as a dramaturge working in theatre and dance. She is the author of Visuality in the Theatre (Palgrave, 2008). She has published extensively in international journals and edited volumes and edited several books including Anatomy Live: Performance and the Operating Theatre (AUP, 2008) and Performance and Phenomenology: Traditions and Transformations (Routledge, 2015). Maaike Bleeker is president of Performance Studies international (PSi, psi-web.org). see also: www.theatrestudies.nl

               
Dr. Laura Cull
Head of Department of Theatre & Dance

School of Arts
University of Surrey
Guildford, UK
l.cull@surrey.ac.uk
http://performancephilosophy.ning.com/