Express yourself: the value of theatricality in soccer

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the expressive part of game performance in soccer by introducing the concept of theatricality to describe a special form of expression. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of game performance by looking into the appearance, role and value of theatricality. The main argument of the paper is that theatricality can describe an important, but rarely noticed performance aspect, as it provides a unifying concept for expressive distancing in four dimensions of the players’ life-worlds: the subjective, intersubjective, collective and institutional. By explicating the value of this kind of expression in soccer the paper can provide a philosophical basis for including theatricality in performance and development strategies.

Keywords:

• theatricality
• expression
• distancing
• performance
• soccer
• games
• existential phenomenology

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was honored with the inaugural 2011 R. Scott Kretchmar Student Essay Award. The author wishes to thank Team Danmark for funding the research and Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, Ejgil Jespersen, Lev Kreft and 3 anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier versions.

Notes

1. He was, however, also inspired by philosophy, especially eastern ideas about the mind-body continuum, but also by contemporary French psychology, especially the studies of Théodule Ribot. His general account therefore appears congruent with the phenomenological account described above, and some authors (Postlewait and Davis 2003, 15–6) even suggest that he anticipates ideas of Merleau-Ponty as well as other theorists of embodiment, e.g. Lakoff and Johnson. For the current analysis he can therefore contribute with a practical account of the philosophical analysis.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth Aggerholm

Kenneth Aggerholm is at the Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 555230, Odense M.

Kenneth Aggerholm is at the Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 555230, Odense M.