Direction: Prof. Dr. Christina Thurner
Team: Dr. des. Elizabeth Waterhouse, Dr. Julia Wehren, M.A. Nadja Rothenburger, B.A. Claudio Richard
The project funded by the SNF examines autobiographical 'testimonies' from dancers and choreographers (19th - 21st century) from a dance history perspective. As personal records of knowledge and experience, these sources offer unique and frequently alternative perspectives for dance historiography. The specific status of dance autobiographies as sources has not yet been taken into account and warrants further reflection.
Auto_Bio_Graphies, i.e. individual’s (auto), descriptions (graphy) of their lives (bio), are here comprehended according to a performative view of the constitution and empowerment of the/a 'self'. The focus is twofold: first, a broad spectrum of autobiographical sources elaborating upon dancers’ lives will be gathered, thematically examined and historiographically evaluated in context; second, the relationship between these autobiographical testimonies and the existing dance and historical discourse will be considered to (re)describe and (re)write history.
The following questions motivate this study: How should dance scholars treat the ‘personal testimonies’ of dancers with regard to their understanding of dance, the (dance) historical, phenomenal and medial contexts? How are ‘dance experiences' presented within autobiographical description? What new findings can be derived from these sources, with regard to writing dance historiography and autobiography research?
The goal is a dance studies’ based formulation of this topic. The project is built on interdisciplinary autobiography research but focuses on its own broad corpus of dance relevant sources coherently. This makes the research productive for the discipline of dance studies and also interdisciplinarily connectable. The project consequently develops and innovatively expands previous historiographical and discourse-analytical research. Consisting of three subprojects, these aim together to revise dance history and the writing of dance history. They span analysis of dancers’ autobiographies in written form (as books), as well as statements that are spoken (oral history conversations with contemporary witnesses) and performed (pieces, performances and choreographies)—always taking into account their distinct medium and their epistemological potential.
The project thus creates a field of dance research innovation—excavating new materials, sharpening methods and for the first time fundamentally establishing autobiography research as a branch of dance historiography. In the course of the four-year project (1.9.2020-31.8.2024) several publications are planned in print, open access and digital forms. Public workshops will also be offered on the relationship between disciplinary and interdisciplinary autobiography research, as well as the topic of memory and archiving processes in dance.
Subproject A (C. Thurner): Auto_Bio_Graphy as Source in Dance Historiography Subproject B (E. Waterhouse and J. Wehren): Telling Memories. Oral History Methods in Dance Subproject C (N. Rothenburger): Auto_Choreo_Graphy and Crises Discourses
Prof. Dr. Christina Thurner (Project Director) M.A. Nadja Rothenburger (Doctoral Student) Dr. Elizabeth Waterhouse (Postdoc) Dr. Julia Wehren (Research Assistant) B.A. Claudio Richard (Student Assistant)
Research Forum Auto-Bio-Graphy, Walter-Benjamin-Kolleg, University of Bern Prof. Dr. Gabriele Rippl, Department of English Prof. Dr. Michaela Schäuble, Institut für Sozialanthropologie Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann, Institut für Kunstgeschichte Prof. Dr. Bénédicte Vauthier, Instituto de Lengua y Literaturas Hispánicas
Prof. Dr. Marina Nordera, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis Prof. Dr. Susanne Franco, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia Project Group Mnemedance | Memory In Motion
Institutional Cooperation Stiftung SAPA/Swiss Archive of the Performing Arts
