Material of movement and thought : reflections on the dancers´s practice and corporeality

The articles in this volume have grown out of a research project entitled "FromMovement out of Reflection in Becoming: The Dancer and the Creative Process",gathering both professional dancers and theoreticians, and funded by theSwedish Research Council. The overall goal of the project was to approach anunderstanding and a conceptualization of the artistic process of the dancer, takingthe work in the creation ofina Christe!Johannessen's choreographic pieceNOW SHE KNOWS as a point of departure.The focus was both that of the dancer from within the process, and that ofexterna! observers. These viewpoints were not deadlocked hut rather aimed atan interaction and a dialogue between the theoretical and the practical levels.The research methods grew out of an at times quite intimate teamwork wherethe participants' different approaches came to cross and intersect.A number of issues were explored: How does the dancer work in the processwhere the dance takes shape? How does the understanding of a movementmaterial shift through the actual performing of it? What is it to understandor experience a movement from the perspective of the performer? What is itto understand or experience a movement from the perspective of the spectator?What kind of body is the dan ing body and how can it create a variety ofmeanings? Through what concepts are we to think the dancer's practice andcorporeality?The anthology contains essays by Cecilia Roos, Anna Petronella Foultier,Chrysa Parkinson, Katarina Elam, Cecilia Sjöholm, and Irene Hultman