The SNF-funded project Telling Memories: On the Method of Oral History in Dance develops a methodology of oral history from a dance historiographical perspective. Based on an exemplary study of dance in Switzerland, it tests and discusses interview forms with dancers and choreographers as autobiographical 'sources' for writing dance histories. As (self-)representations along biographical narratives (bio), these not only open up new perspectives on and for the writing (grafie) of dance history. They also challenge reflection on oral history as a field of knowledge in dance studies. Oral history is thereby evaluated as an autobiographical and at the same time cooperative, performative 'source' under methodological and historical-critical aspects for the writing of dance history. The project proposes five focus chapters with methodological, historical, theoretical and practical reflections on a dance-specific oral history. They are essentially fed by five case studies on the formation of the independent dance scene in Switzerland, which guide the reader through the book and, conversely, are exemplary applications of the proposed theoretical reflections. In its overall arrangement, this results in a book of materials that can be read both as an oral dance history theory and as an oral dance history of Switzerland.
The selection of case studies is focused around themes that emerged virulently in Switzerland in the 1970s/80s and that have received little attention in research on Swiss dance production to date. In a contrastive comparison with historical and contemporary references, they offer revealing insights into dance and professional understandings, social and geopolitical mobility movements, and institutionalization and professionalization tendencies. Of particular interest here is how and which positions and perspectives, previously not represented in history or represented differently, are expressed in the exchange of oral history.
