Living Transformative Lives

424 Pages·2003·1.09 MB·English

Living
Transformative
Lives
Finnish Freelance Dance Artists Brought into Dialogue
with Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology
Leena Rouhiainen
Doctoral Dissertation
A C T A S C E N I C A 13
Näyttämötaide ja tutkimus Teatterikorkeakoulu
- Scenkonst och forskning - Teaterhögskolan
- Scenic art and research - Theatre Academy
Leena Rouhiainen
Living Transformative Lives
Finnish Freelance Dance Artists Brought into Dialogue
with Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology
Doctoral dissertation
Theatre Academy, Department of Dance and Theatre Pedagogy
Publisher: Theatre Academy
© Theatre Academy and Leena Rouhiainen
Cover: Jussi Konttinen
Lay-out: Tanja Nisula
ISBN: 952-9765-32-0
ISSN: 1238-5913
Printed in Edita, Helsinki 2003
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Preamble 9
PART ONE – METHODOLOGY, METHODS, AND PROCEDURES 13
1 On the Process, Purpose, and Objectives of the Investigation 16
2 The Methodological Context 21
2.1 The Nature and Research Interest of the Investigation 25
2.2 The Validity of the Research 28
3 Interviews as Research Material 33
3.1 The Interviewees 34
3.2 Conducting and Recording the Interviews 39
3.3 Transcribing the Recordings 45
4 The Methodological Principles Directing the Analysis of
the Interview Material 46
4.1 A Hermeneutical and Existential Phenomenological Approach 49
4.2 The Hermeneutical Dialogue 54
4.3 Language as a Source of Meaning 61
4.4 Implications of the Methodological Principles for the Analysis 68
5 The Methods and Procedures of Analyzing the Interview Material 71
5.1 The Descriptive Reading 73
5.2 The Interpretative Phenomenological - Theoretical Reading 78
PART TWO – THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 83
6 Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenological Project 86
6.1 The Basic Tenets and Approach of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology 86
The source and method of philosophizing 90
Implications of the method for the research 97
6.2 The Body as Subject 99
A bodily reflexivity and intentionality 102
The body schema 105
The flesh and its chiasms 114
6.3 An Embodied Co-existence 123
6.4 Historicity and the Structures of Culture 129
7 An Overview of Phenomenological Studies of Dance 137
7.1 A Phenomenology of Dance 139
7.2 An Aesthetics of Dance and the Lived Body 143
7.3 On the Sublime Vision and Gesture of Dance 147
7.4 On the Construction of the Dancing Subject 150
8 The Bodily and Linguistic Nature of Dance 155
PART THREE – THE INTERVIEWS IN DIALOGUE WITH
MERLEAU-PONTY’S PHENOMENOLOGY AND OTHER
THEORETICAL SOURCES 159
9 Representing the Heritage of Contemporary Dance 162
9.1 Participating in a Communal Story 162
Meanings and values related to modern and contemporary dance 167
9.2 A Local Sphere of Artistic Activity 172
The concrete cooperation of an artworld 176
The sub-fields of artistic production 181
10 The Freelance Field of Dance in Helsinki 186
10.1 The Richness of the Field 188
Modern dance in Finland 189
Modern dance expands and turns contemporary 190
A spectrum of styles 192
10.2 The Constraints of the Field 193
From bodily investigation towards commodity production 193
The pressures of maintaining a position in the field 197
The lack of economic support and spectators 202
Discontent with criticism 205
10.3 Individual Struggles in the Field 209
Questioning withdrawing from the field 211
Finding work abroad 215
Coming to terms with the field artistically 217
11 The Artistic Roles of a Freelance Dance Artist 224
11.1 On Being a Dance Teacher 232
11.2 On Being a Dancer 237
11.3 The Responsibilities of a Choreographer 250
11.4 The Relationship between the Choreographer and the Dancer 261
12 Dance Work as a Mode of Involvement with the Surrounding World 274
12.1 Socio-cultural Inscription and Self-formation 280
Carrying culturally-determined values of work 280
Dance work and self-realization 282
12.2 Laboring with the Body 290
Paying attention to the otherness of one’s own body 290
An unending source of labor 293
A bodily-oriented mode of life 295
13 Embodying Dance 302
13.1 Training for dance 302
13.2 Making Dance One’s Own 315
13.3 Searching for Motion and Expression 320
An Integrated Motional Style of Being 327
Performing and dancing 338
The pleasant and unpleasant experiences and expectations
related to dancing 345
14 Identifying Oneself as a Freelance Dance Artist 351
14.1 A Dancer’s Body as a Locus of Transformation 357
14.2 Compassionate, Skillful, and Personally-Oriented Dance Artists 363
14.3 On a Freelance Dance Artist’s Relation to Others 368
14.4 On Being a Freelance Dance Artist 375
15 In Conclusion 383
References 386
Appendices 400
Acknowledgements
During my doctoral work I have been supported by many people without whom this research
project would never have been undertaken or completed. I am grateful for their participation,
encouragement, and help. My sincere thanks goes to all of the dance artists who shared their
experiences and views in the interviews conducted for this research. Their lively descriptions,
candid accounts, and sometimes even enthusiastic attitude towards the dissertation made
me believe that I was investigating a valuable issue and gave me strength to continue with
what seemed like and endless task at certain moments.
Constructing a research report is most often a solitary venture. The fact that I could share
my thoughts and converse with my advisors on a quite regular basis was of heightened impor-
tance to me. The feedback they gave on the different versions of the report helped me under-
stand problematic conceptions and to structure the dissertation. I express my appreciation
especially to Professor Arto Haapala. His expertise in phenomenology and aesthetics has
been invaluable. He patiently and discriminatingly commented on many phases of the work
and made me feel confident with writing about phenomenology. I am also indebted to Dr.
Soili Hämäläinen for generously supporting my project and Professor Pentti Paavolainen
for the discussions we had concerning it.
An important contribution to this doctoral thesis has been given by my colleagues and
friends. Their keen interest in my work, critical questions, and warm support have both
challenged my thinking and carried me further. I thank Dr. Soili Hämäläinen, Ed.L. Eeva
Anttila, Teija Löytönen (MA in Education), Dr. Paula Salosaari, Dr. Soile Rusanen, Linda
Gold (MA in Dance), Dr. Pia Houni, and Dr. Riitta Pasanen-Willberg for all the conversations
I had with them about my research. I am also indebted to Professor Susan W. Stinson’s and
Dr. Maija Lehtovaara’s lectures and commentary. Dr. Jaana Parviainen kindly read some early
analyses of the interview material and suggested some revisions. In our discussions Professor
Wolfgang Welsch encouraged me to trust my way of thinking and Professor Marja Sorsa, in
turn, advised me about academic conventions. Neil Urquhart proofread the final document,
suggesting corrections to my English.
I also thank Associate Professor Susan Kozel and Professor Juha Varto in their role of
external examiners of the dissertation. Professor Kozel made a very discerning reading of
the research report and thus helped me further and complete it. Professor Varto made me
comprehend the overall character of the dissertation in more detail.
While working on this research, I was a research student of The Doctoral Study Program of
Performing Arts in Finland led by Professors Kari Kurkela and Pentti Paavolainen and a
researcher of the Finnish Academy in the project Making a Difference in Dance led by Dr.
Soili Hämäläinen. I thank these two institutions for offering me an environment to present,
discuss, and advance my research. I also thank The Academy of Finland, The Ministry of
Education, and the Theatre Academy for financial assistance.
Finally I would like to thank my family for its encouragement and trust in this project in
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addition to the support they gave me in everyday life while I was immersed in work. I
dedicate this work to all the dance artists I know and especially to those who contributed
to the investigation.
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This book, once begun, is not a certain set of ideas; it
constitutes for me an open situation, for which I could
not possibly provide any complex formula, and in which
I struggle blindly on until, miraculously thoughts and
words become organized by themselves.
(Merleau-Ponty, 1995/1962, 369)
Preamble
The subject of this research is phenomenology and being a contemporary freelance dance
artist. More particularly it analyzes and interprets interview material produced by four
Finnish freelance dance artists mainly on the premise of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s pheno-
menology. However, the research also enters into dialogue with previous pheno-
menological studies of dance while considering them an additional source of inter-
pretation. In addressing the interview material through this phenomenological framework,
the dissertation attempts to illuminate the life-world of freelance dance artists and to
delineate some of those constitutive structures through which being a freelance dance
artist, in recent years, has been realized in Finland. It, thus, both searches for the premises
according to which being a freelance dance artist has become possible, as well as sheds light
on the experiences and practices of the lives of freelance dance artists.
Even if much of the analysis found in this dissertation attempts to generalize issues, relies
on transnational concepts of phenomenology, and relates to international studies of western
theatrical dance, the point of departure is still the local experiences and opinions of Finnish
dance artists. Therefore, to some degree, this dissertation offers a situation- or context-
specific account of the meanings and values related to the practices of contemporary dance.
So far no other doctoral level research contemplating the lives or works of Finnish dance
artists has been compiled. Consequently, in addition to supplementing the emergent tradition
of phenomenological research on dance, this dissertation also fills a gap in research into
Finnish dance art and dance artists.
The perspective the research takes on being a freelance dance artist not only relates to the
theoretical framework it addresses nor to the empirical material it is comprised of. The
position I hold in relation to these matters as the researcher conducting the investigation
also influences the manner in which they are understood and presented in this report. Even
if this issue is partly discussed when the methodological and methodical principles of the
investigation are addressed, a few words on my background are called for here in order to
clarify the basic perspective that this research has taken on its subject matter.
I have been a professional freelance dance artist ever since I completed my practical MA
studies at the Department of Dance of the Theatre Academy in 1990. When beginning this
investigation, being a freelance dance artist, in my experience, was a demanding
occupation. My everyday life then consisted of, for example, enduring the insecurity of
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having no work and earning a living, applying for grants, planning for artistic projects,
taking care of my own dance training, learning to teach dance in various situations for
various kinds of people, and a readiness to perform whenever there was a chance to do so
or a choreographer asked me to join her or his piece. All these concerns made me often
question how I should proceed with my career as a dance artist.
I had many dancer friends with whom I discussed these issues. We all seemed to be of
the opinion that being a freelance dance artist was somewhat different from being a dance
artist working with a contract in a more or less steady company. Despite their yearly-
renewed contracts, I saw dance artists working with such dance companies or groups often
remaining in the same positions for many successive years at a time. It was evident that
freelance dance artists did not share such security. Rather, their careers became constructed
through a variety of positions and ways of working. Talking during the pauses of rehearsals
and occasionally on the phone with my colleagues, nonetheless, was not sufficient to help
me understand, as profoundly as I wished to understand, what being a freelance dance
artists in the end was all about.
The consequences of this is the dissertation at hand in which, initially as a rather young
female freelance dance artist, I explore what it means to be such a dance artist through the
interviews of four Finnish freelance dance artists and a phenomenological viewpoint. This,
however, does not mean that the study is concerned with a feminist or gender-conscious
approach. With this research my interest mainly lies in the meanings and conventions
shared by freelance dance artists irrespective of sexual identity. The interview material
itself provided very few and indirect gender- or sex-specific comments, and the theoretical
1
framework itself does not hold gender-issues to be a direct theme of interest. What it does
mean, however, is that initially I was a beginner in the fields of both research in general and
phenomenology in particular. The repercussions of this scholarly ignorance are evident
in this report. I felt obliged to thoroughly scrutinize the methodological principles and
the theoretical framework utilized in the investigation in order to construct at least a
somewhat consistent piece of academic research. This sense of obligation was further
enhanced by the location in which this research was constructed as well as the emergent
tradition of research on dance it is affiliated with.
In Finland the so-called arts universities, of which the Theatre Academy is one, have
during the past few decades begun providing post-graduate education in the field of the
arts. The objective of these study programs is to produce new knowledge and experience
of the concrete artistic practices of a given form of art. They lead to scholarly research
often designed by artists themselves. This kind of an education became possible at the Theatre
Academy by the late 1980’s. However, the Academy is still in the midst of questioning the
objectives and theoretical approaches best suited for the more or less artistic investigations
1. Even if a feminist approach is not central to this research, it should be mentioned that it is no longer unfamiliar
to dance research in general. The political impact of socio-cultural differences in embodiment and more
particularly the difference in sexual identity is recognized by many scholars in dance (cf. e.g. Dempster 1998;
Albright 1997; 1991; Manning 1997; Wolff 1997; Foster 1996; Burt 1995; Adair 1994/1992; Daly 1992b).
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