Resisting to Dystopias of Bodily Control

Abstract

Dance training aims for a utopia of bodily control in order to develop an artistic expression through movement. The dancer seeks to control their body according to the values and aesthetics intrinsic to the training methodology. The urge of control has always been something very keen to humankind but also very sensitive and ambiguous. Different methodologies of such modes of control reflect not only different aesthetics, but also different values and visions of the living body. They are not innocuous physical training but transformative practices of the self in relation to the world. Therefore, such utopia raises critical questions: What is the nature of (self-)control envisioned within dance trainings? What aesthetic values form the horizon of a training process and how does its transformative power operate?

This paper departs from a personal experiential process to expose a critical perspective on the practice of bodily control developed by some dance trainings. Such perspective is conceived through an interrelation between traditional ballet training with the state of anorexia nervosa/bulimia, which is counterpointed by somatic dance training.

Grounded on an empirical understanding this is a practitioner narrative about utopian dance training and a manifesto against any practice of control that becomes a dystopia of oppression and annihilation of the fundamental knowledge intrinsic to the living body. Instead it cries out for a new perspective on the notion of control. Control needs to be perceived as a practice of deep understanding of the nature of the living body, as a condition of the body–world transformative process.

Notes

1 My translation from Portuguese: ‘Aproximo-me dois passos, ela afasta-se dois passos. Caminho dez passos e o horizonte recua dez passos. Por mais que eu caminhe, nunca a alcançarei. Para que serve a utopia? Serve para isso: para caminhar.’

2 Mary O'Donnell Fulkerson (1946–2020) was a dance teacher and choreographer, recognized for being one of the founders of Release Technique. Born in the United States, she had a major influence in th e development of New Dance and has been credited for being responsible for bringing somatic dance to Europe.