🎬Performance Studies Unit 1 – Introduction to Performance Studies

What's Performance Studies?

• Interdisciplinary academic field that examines performance in various contexts including theater, dance, music, ritual, play, and everyday life
• Explores how performances create meaning, shape identity, and reflect or challenge cultural norms and values
• Draws from diverse disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, theater, dance, music, literature, and cultural studies
• Investigates the relationship between performance and power, considering how performances can reinforce or subvert dominant ideologies
• Examines the role of the audience in shaping and interpreting performances
  • Considers how audiences actively participate in the creation of meaning
  • Explores the ways in which performances can create a sense of community or shared experience among audience members
• Recognizes the importance of context in shaping the meaning and impact of performances
  • Considers how factors such as historical, cultural, and social contexts influence the creation, reception, and interpretation of performances

Key Concepts and Theories

• Performativity: the idea that identity is constructed through repeated performances of gender, race, class, and other social categories
  • Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity suggests that gender is not an innate identity but rather a series of repeated acts and performances
• Liminality: the state of being betwixt and between, often associated with rituals and rites of passage
  • Victor Turner's concept of liminality describes the transformative potential of performances that occur in liminal spaces and times
• Restored behavior: the idea that performances are never entirely original but rather draw on pre-existing cultural scripts and codes
  • Richard Schechner's concept of restored behavior emphasizes the ways in which performances are always citations of previous performances
• Efficacy and entertainment: the tension between performances that aim to transform social reality and those that aim to provide pleasure and diversion
  • Schechner's distinction between efficacy and entertainment highlights the different functions and goals of various types of performances
• Embodiment: the ways in which performances are experienced and expressed through the body
  • Explores how the body serves as a site of meaning-making and cultural expression in performances
• Performative writing: a style of writing that seeks to enact or perform the ideas being discussed rather than simply describing them
  • Della Pollock's concept of performative writing emphasizes the ways in which writing itself can be a form of performance

Pioneers and Influential Figures

• Richard Schechner: theater director and performance theorist who helped establish performance studies as an academic discipline
  • Developed key concepts such as restored behavior and the efficacy-entertainment braid
• Erving Goffman: sociologist who studied the performative aspects of everyday life
  • His book "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" (1956) explored how individuals perform various roles and manage impressions in social interactions
• Victor Turner: anthropologist who studied ritual and performance in various cultural contexts
  • Developed the concept of liminality and explored the transformative potential of performances
• Judith Butler: philosopher and gender theorist who developed the concept of gender performativity
  • Her book "Gender Trouble" (1990) argued that gender is not an innate identity but rather a series of repeated performances
• Dwight Conquergood: ethnographer and performance scholar who studied the performative aspects of culture
  • Emphasized the importance of dialogic performance and the co-performance of cultures
• Peggy Phelan: performance theorist who explored the ontology of performance
  • Her book "Unmarked: The Politics of Performance" (1993) argued that the essence of performance lies in its disappearance and resistance to reproduction

Types of Performance

• Theater: scripted performances that take place in designated performance spaces
  • Includes various genres such as drama, comedy, musical theater, and experimental theater
• Dance: performances that use the body as the primary medium of expression
  • Encompasses various styles and traditions such as ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, and cultural dance forms
• Music: performances that involve the creation and interpretation of sound
  • Includes live concerts, recitals, and other musical performances across various genres and styles
• Ritual: performances that mark significant events or transitions in individual and community life
  • Examples include religious ceremonies, rites of passage, and seasonal festivals
• Performance art: avant-garde performances that often blur the boundaries between art and life
  • Often involves the use of unconventional materials, spaces, and actions to challenge traditional notions of art and performance
• Everyday life: the performative aspects of daily interactions and activities
  • Includes the ways in which individuals perform various roles and identities in social contexts
• Digital performance: performances that incorporate digital technologies and take place in virtual spaces
  • Includes online theater, virtual reality performances, and social media-based performances

Analyzing Performance

• Semiotics: the study of signs and symbols in performance
  • Analyzes how various elements of performance (e.g., costumes, props, gestures) create meaning and convey cultural codes
• Phenomenology: the study of how performances are experienced and perceived by performers and audiences
  • Considers the embodied, sensory, and affective dimensions of performance
• Ethnography: the study of performances in their cultural and social contexts
  • Involves fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews to gain an in-depth understanding of performances and their meanings
• Dramaturgy: the study of how performances are constructed and structured
  • Analyzes the dramatic elements of performance such as plot, character, and theme
• Audience reception: the study of how audiences interpret and respond to performances
  • Considers factors such as audience demographics, expectations, and cultural backgrounds in shaping the reception of performances
• Intertextuality: the study of how performances relate to and reference other texts and performances
  • Analyzes how performances draw on and transform pre-existing cultural materials and traditions
• Performative writing: a method of analyzing performance that seeks to enact or embody the ideas being discussed
  • Uses creative and experimental writing techniques to convey the experience and meaning of performances

Cultural and Social Impact

• Identity formation: performances can shape and express individual and collective identities
  • Examples include cultural festivals, pride parades, and political demonstrations that affirm and celebrate marginalized identities
• Social change: performances can challenge dominant norms and advocate for social justice
  • Activist performances such as street theater, guerrilla performances, and protest art can raise awareness and mobilize communities around social issues
• Community building: performances can create a sense of shared experience and belonging among participants and audiences
  • Participatory performances such as community theater, dance, and music can foster social bonds and collective expression
• Cultural transmission: performances can preserve and pass on cultural traditions and values
  • Ritual performances such as religious ceremonies and rites of passage can ensure the continuity of cultural practices across generations
• Globalization: performances can circulate across cultural boundaries and create new forms of cultural exchange and hybridity
  • International festivals, touring productions, and online performances can facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and influence
• Commodification: performances can be packaged and sold as cultural products in the global marketplace
  • The commercialization of performances raises questions about authenticity, ownership, and cultural appropriation
• Resistance: performances can serve as a means of resisting dominant power structures and asserting alternative visions of social reality
  • Subversive performances such as drag shows, graffiti art, and underground music can challenge hegemonic norms and create spaces of dissent

Research Methods in Performance Studies

• Ethnography: a qualitative research method that involves immersive fieldwork and participant observation
  • Researchers attend performances, conduct interviews, and engage in cultural activities to gain an in-depth understanding of performance practices and their meanings
• Archival research: the study of historical documents, photographs, and other artifacts related to past performances
  • Researchers examine primary sources such as scripts, programs, and reviews to reconstruct and analyze historical performances
• Practice-based research: a method that involves the creation and analysis of original performances as a means of generating knowledge
  • Researchers use their own artistic practice as a site of inquiry and reflection
• Collaborative research: a method that involves working with performance communities and stakeholders to co-create knowledge
  • Researchers partner with artists, activists, and community members to design and implement participatory research projects
• Digital methods: the use of digital tools and platforms to collect, analyze, and disseminate research on performance
  • Researchers use social media, online archives, and data visualization to study the circulation and reception of performances in digital spaces
• Performative writing: a method of research that uses creative and experimental writing techniques to convey the experience and meaning of performances
  • Researchers use poetic, autobiographical, and dialogic forms of writing to evoke the embodied and affective dimensions of performance
• Interdisciplinary approaches: the integration of methods and theories from multiple disciplines to study performance
  • Researchers draw on fields such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, and media studies to analyze the complex and multifaceted nature of performance

Current Trends and Future Directions

• Decolonization: efforts to challenge the Eurocentric biases and power structures that have shaped performance studies
  • Scholars are working to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities and to develop new frameworks for studying performance across cultural contexts
• Environmental performance: the study of how performances engage with and respond to ecological issues and crises
  • Researchers are exploring the ways in which performances can raise awareness, inspire action, and imagine sustainable futures in the face of climate change and environmental degradation
• Digital performance: the study of how digital technologies are transforming the creation, circulation, and reception of performances
  • Scholars are investigating the aesthetic, social, and political implications of virtual performances, social media-based performances, and other forms of digital performance
• Embodiment and affect: a renewed focus on the bodily and emotional dimensions of performance
  • Researchers are exploring how performances generate sensations, feelings, and experiences that exceed linguistic and cognitive frameworks
• Transnational performance: the study of how performances travel across national and cultural boundaries
  • Scholars are examining the ways in which performances are adapted, translated, and transformed as they circulate in global networks and flows
• Social justice and activism: a growing emphasis on the role of performance in promoting social change and political engagement
  • Researchers are studying how performances can amplify marginalized voices, challenge oppressive systems, and inspire collective action towards a more just and equitable world
• Interdisciplinary collaborations: the development of new partnerships and projects that bring together performance scholars, artists, scientists, and other stakeholders
  • These collaborations are generating innovative approaches to studying and creating performances that address complex social, cultural, and environmental challenges