Forms of absence: dance, disappearance and recurrences

• Grant number: 18/24837-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: April 15, 2019
• End date: February 14, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Theatre
• Principal Investigator: Antônio Carlos de Araújo Silva
• Grantee: Renan Marcondes Cevales
• Supervisor: Gerald Siegmund
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/07311-2 - Other bodies: presence and performativity beyond the human, BP.DR

Abstract

As part of our Doctorate research, entitled Other bodies: presence and performativity beyond the human, in which we study performative works that do not present human bodies on the scene or in which bodies appear clearly objectified, this Internship project at the Justus-Liebig Universitat Giessen aims at investigating how contemporary European dance contributed in shaping critical responses to neoliberalism in theatre and performance, and how Brazilian production is affected when dealing with similar matters. This part of our research aims at writing the third part of our thesis, that deals with Mirantes: choreography for a landscape (2012), a site-specific dance piece made by Brazilian dancer Pol Pi. Since this artist lives in Europe after 2014, the internship is also an opportunity to watch his recent works (which include a new version of the piece we are studying) and to personally interview him. Studying under Professor Gerald Siegmund in Giessen has as its main goal enabling us to deepen our understanding of absence. In his studies (but also in Heiner Goebbels approaches) can be found some of the most elaborate approaches to the idea of absence as constitutive of contemporary performance, without recurring to dichotomies between art and politics. These ideas are central to our project and will be developed during the Intership, enabling us not only to analyze in greater depth our objects of study, but mainly to detect differences and specificities in Brazilian approaches to this theme.