The general idea of this workshop is to introduce "non specialists" to the manipulation of concepts – specifically the ones generated by western philosophy. The main effort here is to support a dance / performing community which will be pressured by concept related questions and practices all along their career, whether to justify their work, or as a set of "choreographic" tools.
We will proceed through both a historical perspective (to give names and context to these concepts) and a thematic one – the tension between language and body.
We will be accompanied by the idea of a glorified idiot – a character travelling in the world of concepts while holding on to the queerness of her/his/their body. What can this idiotic body – autistic and singular – tell us about a concept related practice?
The point is to share some critical knowledge about some of the conceptual displays more or less recurrent in the dance field and their historical and ideological backgrounds. The purpose is to consider theory as a practice by itself. This is also an open research for us all.
The history of knowledge is also the history of the violence made to the body. We will have a look at this phenomenon, use it, and see ways to deconstruct ideologies and positions of power (including mine, as a "male" "teacher") through various techniques – non the least is the art of asking questions.
The workshop will be guided simultaneously through four mini projects:
- Elements of ideology / History of philosophy
We will navigate swiftly through the history of concepts, guided by our duet of body and language.
- Tales and stories
We will walk around a few conceptual lands and philosophical tales, for example: "Witchcraft, women and the denied body - what is experimental knowledge?"; "There is no sexual relation"; "The laws of hospitality"; "The master of knowledge"; "How to build a bridge?"; "Thinking in fragments". We won't cover them all. The idea is to give a perspective on how some concepts have been used or invented, in our recent history, and to practice our questioning skills. We will be able to unveil various ways of how the presence of a body is treated in those conceptual displays, and its possible consequences.
- Elements of ideology / the myth of humanism
While holding on to the relation between body and language, I will attempt the impossible task to introduce the arcane of contemporary philosophy, and to make us familiar with the problem of a "talking body", as introduced by the structuralist movement. You will hear about the infamous names of Lacan, Wittig, Derrida, Levi-Strauss, Foucault, Farge, Deleuze, Veil, Cixous, Agamben, Althusser, Saussure, Kristeva... This is an impossible and superficial unification of heterogenous characters, bound to failure. But we will see what kind of ideologies and conceptual displays have prevailed in recent history.
- Strategies: A critical examination of conceptual practice in performance
The main idea here will be to confront your own practice to these problematics and to show each other how to recognise a concept / an apparel of concepts in the midst of a body based practice, and what can we do about/with those theoretical objects. We will also share knowledge about how other people have dealt with it in their own work.
The task at hand is unending, but we can at least try to unveil a few objects and deconstruct the charm of meaningless words.
Jassem Hindi
