On Vanishing: New Mythologies for Choreography in the Museum

Abstract

When I was twenty-two years old, beginning studies in animation, and earning a degree in visual and media studies, I discovered that the Greeks referred to choreography as “dance writing,” from the words χορeία (circular dance) and γραφή (writing). This fascinated me, because I had always viewed choreography an act that vanishes: its remnants are commonly witnessed in the bodies of performers reproducing movements and activities. The act of choreography is private, as opposed to dance, which is communally shared, or publicly viewed. Choreography occurs, it is transmitted, and it disappears, to become dance.