Dancing across the Page: Narrative and Embodied Ways of Knowing

194 Pages·2011·1.84 MB·English

by  Karen Barbour

Dancing Across the Page

Dancing Across the Page
Narrative and Embodied Ways of Knowing
Karen Nicole Barbour
intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USA
First published in the UK in 2011 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2011 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2011 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Copy-editor: Integra Software Services
Typesetting: Mac Style, Beverley, E. Yorkshire
ISBN 978-1-84150-421-6 / EISBN 978-1-84150-501-5
Printed and bound by Gutenberg Press, Malta.
Contents
List of Photographs and Figures 7
Mihi 9
Acknowledgements 11
Chapter 1: Being: Introductions 13
Recollections 15
Dance in my footsteps 16
Reading your way 21
Chapter 2: Becoming: Feminist Choreography and Dance Research 25
Guest lecture notes 28
Feminism and contemporary dance 28
The dancer as a cultural stereotype of femininity 29
Re-creating myself in dance – resisting stereotypical femininity 35
Kinaesthetic strategies 37
This is after all the edited life 38
Chapter 3: Dancing Across the Page: Representing Research Through Narrative 45
Reflexivity 51
Representing findings from interview transcripts 53
Narrative options 54
Crafting a specific narrative 56
Chapter 4: Dreaming Yourself Anew: Choreographic Strategies in Women’s Solo
Contemporary Dance 61
Feminist phenomenology: Lived experience and body 65
Feminist understandings of embodiment 68
Solo dancers talk (part one): Feminism and choreography 70
Stereotypical femininity and re-creating femininity 70
Choreographic strategies 76
Alternative modalities of feminine movement 79
Dancing Across the Page
Chapter 5: Knowing Differently, Living Creatively: Embodied Ways of Knowing 83
Embodied engagement in arts research: Introductory comments 86
Creative and academic processes 87
Movement and knowing 88
Solo dancers talk (part two): Articulating our embodied knowing 90
Embodied engagement in arts research: Embodied ways of knowing 95
Guidelines for embodied engagement in research 97
Aspirations (additional notes) 100
Embodied engagement in culture: Reflections on identity 101
Chapter 6: Standing Strong: Pedagogical Approaches to Affirming Identity 107
Body, gender and culture 110
Dance class 116
Pedagogy 118
Face to face with students 122
Student solos 126
Epilogue 128
Chapter 7: Improvising: Dance and Everyday Life 131
You Are Not Alone You Are Just In New Zealand 133
Crafting a research project 134
Application for research funding 134
Letter to research participant 137
Improvisation, choice and freedom 137
Moments of choice 139
Coincidence 141
Scores in performance 142
Improvising together 145
Feminism and performance improvisation 146
Chapter 8: Performing Identity: Tattoos, Dreadlocks and Feminism in Everyday Life 149
Prologue 151
Performing everyday 151
Dreadlocks 152
Being a tattooed person in Aotearoa 156
Feminism and tattooing 158
Researching tattooing 160
Identity 161
Chapter 9: Imaginings: Reaching for a Vision 163
Dancing Through Paradise 165
Moving meditations 167
Perspective 170
Script from This Is After All the Edited Life 170
Concluding thoughts for today 172
References 175
6
List of Photographs and Figures
Photograph Cover: In Fluid Echoes Dance (Barbour et al. 2007). Photograph by Cheri Waititi.
Photograph 1: In Dancing Through Paradise (Barbour 2010). Photograph by Marcia
Mitchley. 19
Photograph 2: In Fluid Echoes Dance (Barbour et al. 2007). Photograph by Cheri
Waititi. 34
Photograph 3: Karen in Fluid Echoes Dance (Barbour et al. 2007). Photograph by
Cheri Waititi. 50
Photograph 4: In You Know How I Feel (Barbour and Mitchley 2005b). Photograph by
Robert Fear. 67
Photograph 5: I n Fluid Echoes Dance (Barbour et al. 2007). Photograph by Cheri
Waititi. 98
Photograph 6: Patti Mitchley, Karen Barbour, Emma Goldsworthy and Alex
Hitchmough in Dancing Through Paradise (Barbour 2010).
Photograph by Marcia Mitchley. 120
Photograph 7: In Nightshade (Cheesman et al. 2007). Photograph by Cheri Waititi. 147
Photograph 8: In Fluid Echoes Dance (Barbour et al. 2007). Photograph by Cheri
Waititi. 154
Photograph 9: Emma Goldsworthy in Dancing Through Paradise (Barbour 2010).
Photograph by Marcia Mitchley. 166
Photograph 10: Patti Mitchley in Dancing Through Paradise (Barbour 2010).
Photograph by Marcia Mitchley. 169
Figure 1: Creative and academic processes. 87
Figure 2: Embodied engagement in arts research. 96

Mihi
Hei tīmatanga māku, ko te mihi nui ki te mauri o tēnei whenua me ngā tai e ngunguru
nei ki Aotearoa nei.
Ka mihi nui anō hoki au ki ngā iwi o Tainui.
Ka huri aku mihi ki ngā iwi o te Ao, ki ōku tūpuna kei tāwāhi, kei Kotirana me Kānata
hoki.
I whānau mai au i konei, i Aotearoa nei.
E noho ana au i konei i raro i te mana o te Tiriti o Waitangi.
I tipu ake au i te rohe o Maungamangero, i te pūtahi o ngā awa o Mangaotaki me
Waitanguru ki Piopio nei. I tōku tamarikitanga kai ake ōku karu ki ngā pae maunga
o Maungamangero ka tū tūtei ake mai e whakamakūkūtia ana e ngā awa kōpikopiko.
Ka huri rā taku titiro ki ngā tomo i noho mai ai hei āhurutanga mōwai mōku.
Rongo ai au i konei, taku piringa ki tōkukāinga.
Ina rongo ai au i te tangi mai a te ruru i te pō, ka hoki tika tonu atu au ā-wairua nei,
ki te wāhi kei roto i tōku whatumanawa, ki te wāhi e kīia tonu nei e au, ko tōku
kāinga.
E noho ana au i Hamutana ināianei, i ngā tahatika o te awa o Waikato. He piko, he
taniwha.
Ko Barbour me Hunt ōku hapū.
Ko Karen Barbour taku ingoa.
Tēnā koutou.
Ki taku tama;
‘He tihi pekehā ki te moana, ko Ngāti Ira ki te whenua.’