‘After dance…?’ A Critical Dialogue on Possibilities for Un-disciplining of Dance

Abstract

Abstract: Recently considerable scholarly attention has been given to the notion of ‘un-disciplining’ dance, and there is an idea in the air that ought not just be waved away that after the great modern and post-modern ‘revolutions’ of thetwentieth century dance, at least in its codified, institutionalised and presentational ‘artistic’ forms,may have worn itself out and become incapable of self-renewal through yet another stylistic ‘revolution’ that ushers in the ‘next big thing’. There is also a sense that academic and corporate institutions of dance have sacrificed (or forgotten about) the aim of the emancipation of the human spirit through movement, and become fixated on increasingly sophisticated and technologically-driven ways to codify, standardise, and otherwise control the creation and distribution of movement and movement performances created and marketed in the name of ‘dance’. With no illusion of delivering a final word on the topic, we begin a brief dialogue on the ‘un-disciplining’ of dance, with hopes that we can raise some interesting questions, even if we settle none.