Unworking Choreography: The Notion of the Work in Dance(Oxford Studies in Dance Theory)

There is no archive or museum of human movement, no place where choreographies can be collected and conserved in pristine form. The central consequence of this is the incapacity of philosophy and aesthetics to think of dance as a positive and empirical art. In the eyes of philosophers, dance refers to a space other than art, considered both more frivolous and more fundamental than the artwork without ever quite attaining the status of a work. Unworking Choreography develops this idea and postulates an unworking as evidenced by a conspicuous absence of references to actual choreographic works within philosophical accounts of dance; the late development and partial dominance of the notion of the work in dance in contrast to other art forms such as painting, music, and theatre; the difficulties in identifying dance works given a lack of scores and an apparent resistance within the art form to the possibility of notation; and the questioning of ends of dance in contemporary practice and the relativisation of the very idea that dance artistic or choreographic processes aim at work production.

Table of Contents:
Preface to the English edition Translator's Preface Introduction and acknowledgements PART 1: PHILOSOPHY OF DANCE AND THE ABSENTING OF WORKS Chapter 1: On Transcendental Absenting Chapter 2: A Time with No Outside (Valéry and Jouissance) Chapter 3: A Space with No Place (Straus and Ecstasy) Chapter 4: The Absence of the Work: Presence, Expenditure, Auto-affection PART 2: THE WORK (1): THE STAGE AND SIGNIFICATION Chapter 1: Mallarmé: Deciphering the Stage Chapter 2: Spectacle, Ritual, Divertissement (Genesis and Structure of the Choreographic Stage, I) Chapter 3: Presence, Ideality, Signification (Genesis and Structure of the Choreographic Stage, II) Chapter 4: Artaud: Presence and Ritual PART 3: THE WORK (2): IMMANENCE AND IDEALITY Chapter 1: Writing That Says Nothing Chapter 2: Identity: Two Regimes Chapter 3: Oral Identities: Passing Dance on, Making Versions Chapter 4: The Supporting Trace: Images and Scores PART 4: A TECHNIQUE WITH NO OBJECT Chapter 1: What is a Dance Technique? Chapter 2: Technique or Language: An Analogical Impasse Chapter 3: Lack of Tools as Loss of Memory Chapter 4: Intending the Unintentional, Repeating the Unrepeatable Conclusion (1): Reflect and Repeat Section 1: Stage and Contemporaneity Section 2: The Reflexive Labour of Performance Section 3: The Memorial Labour of the Work Conclusion (2): Gesture and Trace Appendix of illustrations Bibliography and References

About the Author :
Frédéric Pouillaude is Lecturer in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. This book was originally published in French as Le Désoeuvrement Chorégraphique. Étude sur la Notion d'Oeuvre en Danse (Vrin, 2009).

Review :
"Ecumenical yet provocative, studied yet playful, a contemporary classic that stands out for balancing the reality of dance against philosophy's struggle to theorize it...Essential reading."--Dominic McIver Lopies, Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy, The University of British Columbia "Pouillaude moves dance studies forward toward new ways of theorizing how choreographic works exist without allowing us to neglect the precise historical forms in which they do indeed remain."--Carrie Noland, Professor of French, University of California - Irvine