Abstract
In many ways “Dance Studies” has in recent years become synonymous with a kind of theoretical writing that is heavy on poststructuralist philosophy but often curiously disconnected from the intentions and everyday practices of dancers and choreographers. In this presentation I intend to examine this issue by investigating and analyzing the essays that make up the book Of the Presence of the Body: Essays on Dance and Performance Theory (edited by Andre Lepecki), through the lens of a course I am teaching that steeps second-year M.F.A. dance students in the world of dance theory. What is the role of “dance” in these essays? Is there a clear demarcation between feminine and masculine approaches to the theorized space of dance writing? In what ways does dance theory perform its own authority? How can the values of practitioners inform the scholarship of theorists? If there is a voice of dance theory, to whom is it speaking, and on whose behalf?
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