Choreographing theory: an analysis of Édouard Lock's Amelia (2002) questioning the limits of feminist and poststructuralist perspectives

Abstract

Édouard Lock's dance film Amelia (2002) is the focus of this essay. Second‐wave feminist and poststructuralist perspectives inform the analysis of this piece of contemporary dance. Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory and Julia Kristeva's theory of the semiotic and symbolic realms of representation are explored and critiqued, whilst Jacques Derrida's deconstruction forms the basis of the poststructuralist inquiry. The work of dance scholars including Ann Daly, Susan Leigh Foster and Ann Cooper Albright is drawn upon in relation to applying these theories to dance. This analysis demonstrates how dance, and specifically Lock's work, questions the limits of feminist and poststructuralist theories. The dissection of binary oppositions is a feminist and poststructuralist concern and as such, this common strategy is investigated through Amelia. Application of feminist and poststructuralist theories demonstrate that Lock's choreography presents ambiguous gender identities and challenges the boundaries of balletic convention whilst also acknowledging the necessity of conventional frameworks of identity. This analysis serves to highlight Lock's choreography as a valuable tool for comparing feminist and poststructuralist theories and leads to useful lines of questioning in each.