Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T11:22:08.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Representing Soldiers to Soldiers Through Dance: Authenticity, Theatricality, and Witnessing the Pain of Others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Matthew Reason
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Representations of war recur throughout art, whether celebrating the glories and heroism of conflict, or depicting its horrors and follies. This paper uses qualitative audience research to examine soldiers' own responses to the representation of soldiers in choreographer Rosie Kay's dance performance 5 Soldiers: The Body is the Frontline. This article explores how for military audiences the satisfaction of an internalized sense of authenticity allowed them to accept the performance as a legitimate representation; at the same time the presentation of war in a choreographic language meant that the performance was also abstracted, with theatrical and stylized elements that were far from authentic as a documentary. This paper proposes that it was the combination of authenticity with theatricality that generated empathetic investment and made 5 Soldiers an articulate witness to the military experience.

Keywords

audience researchauthenticitydancemilitaryrepresentationtheatricalitytraumawarwitnessing
Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , August 2017 , pp. 79 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Adorno, Theodor. [1964] 1986. The Jargon of Authenticity. Translated by K. Tarnowksi and F. Will. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Arnheim, Rudolf. 1997. “The Two Authenticities of the Photographic Media.” Leonardo 30 (1): 53–55.Google Scholar
Barker, Martin. 1998. Knowing Audiences. Luton, UK: University of Luton Press.Google Scholar
Barker, Martin. 2006. “I have seen the Future and it is not here yet… : Or, on being Ambitious for Audience Research.” Communication Review 9 (2): 123–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baudrillard, Jean. 1983. Simulations. Translated by Foss, Paul, Patton, Paul, and Beitchman, Philip. New York: Semiotext[e].Google Scholar
CO1. 2015. Telephone interview conducted by Matthew Reason with military officer. June 16.Google Scholar
CO2. 2015. Telephone interview conducted by Matthew Reason with military officer. June 3.Google Scholar
CO3. 2015. Telephone interview conducted by Matthew Reason with military officer. June 8.Google Scholar
CO4. 2015. Telephone interview conducted by Matthew Reason with military officer. June 3.Google Scholar
CO5. 2015. Telephone interview conducted by Matthew Reason with military officer. June 18.Google Scholar
Crouch, Mira, and McKenzie, Heather. 2006. “The Logic of Small Samples in Interview Based Qualitative Research.” Social Science Information 45 (4): 483–99.Google Scholar
Debord, Guy. [1967] 1997. The Society of the Spectacle. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. New York: Zone Books.Google Scholar
Dyson, Clare. 2009. “The ‘Authentic Dancer’ as a Tool for Audience Engagement.” In C. Stock, Dance Dialogues: Conversations across Cultures, Artforms and Practices, Proceedings of the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit, Brisbane, July 13–18. Online publication, QUT Creative Industries and Ausdance. Accessed April 2017. http://ausdance.org.au/articles/details/the-authentic-dancer-as-a-tool-for-audience-engagement.Google Scholar
Empire . 2014. “Lone Survivor Review.” Accessed May 11, 2016. www.empireonline.com/movies/lone-survivor/review/.Google Scholar
Freshwater, Helen. 2012. “Consuming Authenticities: Billy Elliot the Musical and the Performing Child.” The Lion and the Unicorn 36 (2): 154–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harpin, Anna. 2011. “Intolerable Acts.” Performance Research 16 (1): 102–11,Google Scholar
Museum, Imperial War. 2011. “War Story: Serving in Afghanistan.” London. October 28, 2011 to November 2012.Google Scholar
Jenkings, K. Neil, Winter, Trish, and Woodward, Rachel. 2008. “Representations of Soldier Identity in Print Media and Soldiers' own Photographic Accounts.” In War: Interdisciplinary Investigations, vol. 49, edited by Boll, J., electronic publication. Oxford, UK: Inter-disciplinary Press.Google Scholar
Jenkings, N. K., Woodward, Rachel, and Winter, Trish. 2016. “Soldiers, Identities and Representation.” Military Research at Newcastle. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://research.ncl.ac.uk/military-research/themes/soldiers-itentities-representation.html.Google Scholar
Johanson, Katya, and Glow, Hilary. 2015. “A Virtuous Circle: The Positive Evaluation Phenomenon in Arts Audience Research.” Participations 12 (1): 254–70.Google Scholar
Kay, Rosie. 2015. Personal email communication to Matthew Reason. March 30.Google Scholar
Kay, Rosie, and Reynolds, Dee. 2016. “The Body Is the Frontline.” In Choreographies of 21st Century Wars, edited by Morris, G. and Giersdorf, Jens R., 241–68. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parry, Katy, and Thumim, Nancy. 2016. “(Extra)Ordinary Portraits and Stories: Self-Representation, Public Culture and the Contemporary British Soldier.” Media, War and Conflict 9 (1): 93–109.Google Scholar
Radbourne, Jennifer, Johanson, Katya, and Glow, Hilary. 2010. “Empowering Audiences to Measure Quality.” Participations 7:2. Accessed April 2017. www.participations.org/Volume%207/Issue%202/radbourne.htm.Google Scholar
Rosie Kay Dance Company. 2010, 2015, 2016. 5 Soldiers: The Body Is the Frontline. Accessed April 28, 2017. http://rosiekay.co.uk/5-soldiers/.Google Scholar
Scarry, Elaine. 2006. On Beauty and Being Just. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Schoenmakers, Henri. 1990. “The Spectator in the Leading Role: Developments in Reception and Audience Research within Theatre Studies.” In New Directions in Theatre Research, edited by Sauter, W., 93–106. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Sontag, Susan. 2003. Regarding the Pain of Others. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Spielberg, Steven. 1998. Saving Private Ryan. Directed by Steven Spielberg; written by Robert Rodat. Universal City, CA: Amblin Entertainment and Mutual Film Company.Google Scholar
Veteran A. 2015. Post-Show Focus Group, conducted by Matthew Reason. York. June 5.Google Scholar
Veteran B. 2015. Post-Show Focus Group, conducted by Matthew Reason. York. June 5.Google Scholar
Veteran C. 2015. Post-Show Focus Group, conducted by Matthew Reason. York. June 5.Google Scholar
Wilson, Anna. 2015. “’Playing the Game’: Authenticity and Invitation in Ontroerend Goed's Audience”. Participations 12 (1): 333–48. Accessed April 2017. www.participations.org/Volume%2012/Issue%201/21.pdf.Google Scholar