!VAR HAGENDOORN

Critical Theory and Dance Practice

During the academic year 2005/06 and again in 2009 I was a visiting professor in the post-graduate choreography program of ArtEZ, the Arnhem Institute for the Arts in Arnhem, The Netherlands where I taught a course in critical theory and dance practice.

The course aims to help students bridge the gap between critical theory and dance practice. The course will provide an introduction to some of the central issues in critical theory and explore the origins of some of the ideas and theories that inform contemporary art in general and dance in particular.

We will discuss the work of philosophers and critical thinkers such as Jacques Rancière, Jean-Luc Nancy, Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou, Michel Foucault, Bruno Latour, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze and Hélène Cixous and the work of artists such as David Lynch, Jeff Wall, Thomas Hirschhorn and René Pollesch. Students will learn how to place their own work within the larger framework of contemporary art and culture and how to both critically and artistically reflect upon developments in art, science, technology and society. During the first term each student will formulate a research question, which he or she will independently investigate during the second term.

Course Objectives

Students will learn how to flesh out the thinking involved in their artistic work and how to position themselves within the larger framework of developments in critical theory and contemporary culture. They will acquire the skills to independently do research and will learn how to structure their ideas into an essay, oral presentation and a brief artist statement. By the end of the course students should be able to:

» Demonstrate a broad knowledge of various currents in critical theory;

» Formulate and articulate their own ideas;

» Critically evaluate dance reviews and interviews with dance artists.

Course Structure

Students meet once every month. During these sessions they discuss their research with the tutor. The tutor will initiate, facilitate and guide the discussions. In addition to their own research, during each session a recent article, interview, movie, performance or exhibition will be discussed.

Course Material

The course material will largely be determined by each student's individual research project. Additionally, students are encouraged to read a selection of the books and articles from the recommended reading list.

Student Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on the basis of an essay documenting their research. The length of the essay should be between 10.000 and 15.000 words.

Recommended Reading

Jacques Rancière, The Emancipated Spectator

Jacques Ranciere, Le spectateur émancipé. Paris: La fabrique éditions, 2008.

Jean Baudrillard, The Conspiracy of Art. New York: Semiotext(e), 2005.

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison (Trans. Alan Sheridan). London: Penguin Books, 1991 (1975).

Ivar Hagendoorn, Dance, Choreography and the Brain, in: Melcher, D. and Bacci, F. [eds.], Art and the Senses. Oxford University Press, 499-514 (forthcoming).

Bruno Latour, Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern, Critical Inquiry 30, 2004, 225-248.

Alain Badiou, La danse comme métaphore de la pensée, in: Petit manuel d'inesthétique. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1998.

Brian Massumi, Parables for the Virtual. Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.

Jean-Luc Nancy, Corpus, in: Jean-Luc Nancy, The Birth to Presence (Transl. Brian Holmes). Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.

Michel Onfray, Antimanuel de Philosophie. Rosny-Sous-Bois: Editions Bréal, 2001. [Spanish translation: Antimanual de Filosofia, 2005; Dutch translation: Antihandboek voor de Filosofie, 2003].

Slavoj Zizek, Looking Awry. An Introduction to Jacques Lacan Through Popular Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1991.

Slavoj Zizek, You may!, London Review of Books, 18 March 1999.

Mary Zournazi (2003), Navigating Movements: An Interview with Brian Massumi, 21C Magazine.