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Having a Personal (Performance) Practice: Dance Artists' Everyday Work, Support, and Form

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2019

Anne Schuh
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Abstract

Personal Performance Practice (PPP) refers to a regular activity—differentiated from training and production—popular among contemporary dance artists. Against the backdrop of contemporary neoliberal working conditions, this article analyzes PPP by applying the ambivalent notion of “support” in order to show how PPP makes the daily work of dance visible, encouraging a discussion on the sustaining systems of dance. Framing this argument is the notion that in the long run, practice brings about shifts in style and in the aesthetics of dancing. The article thus calls for an acknowledgment of dance artists’ everyday work.

Keywords

personal performance practicesupporteveryday workformcontexttrainingneoliberal aestheticsdance artists’ perspective
Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 51 , Special Issue 1: Work With(Out) Boundaries: Precarity and Dance , April 2019 , pp. 79 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Dance Studies Association 2019 

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Footnotes

Special thanks to Gabriele Brandstetter and Kai van Eikels for their insightful comments and careful consideration of previous drafts. Thanks also to Nils Güttler, Daniela Hahn, Veronika Heller, Katarina Kleinschmidt, and Julia Sittmann. Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 244509707, 319305163.

References

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