n recent years, the post structuralist theories seem to have created a split in theatrological research. But, as André Helbo analyses in this book , a dialectic theory of the semiotic and the symbolic exchange bring to light a specific paradigm. From his wide experience as a semiotician and a theatrologist, the author has developed an analysis for the theory of spectacle. Focusing his study on a critical theory of the performing arts, and examining the fundamental controversies, he then offers new perspectives and new instruments of analysis: the social aspects, readability/visibility, coherence, the spectacle contract.

This finely illustrated book offers a simple yet comprehensive 'grammar' of a new discipline. Performance Art first became popular in the fifties when artists began creating 'happenings'. Since then the artist as a performer has challenged many of the accepted rules of the theatre and radically altered our notion of what constitutes visual art. This is the first publication to outline the essential characteristics of the field and to put forward a method for teaching the subject as a discipline distinct from dance, drama, painting or sculpture. Taking the theory of primary and secondary colours as his model, Anthony Howell posits three primaries of action and shows how these may be mixed to obtain a secondary range of actions. Based on a taught course, the system is designed for practical use in the studio and is also entertaining to explore. Examples are cited from leading performance groups and practitioners such as Bobbie Baker, Orlan, Stelarc, Annie Sprinkle, Robert Wilson, Goat Island, and Station House Opera. This volume, however, is not just an illustrated grammar of action - it also shows how the syntax of that grammar has psychoanalytic repercussions. This enables the performer to relate the system to lived experience, ensuring a realisation that meaning is being dealt with through these actions and that the stystem set forth is more than a dry structuring of the characteristics of movement. Freud's notion of 'transference' and Lacan's understanding of 'repetition' are compared to a performer's usage of the same terms. Thus the book provides a psychoanalytic critique of performance at the same time as it outlines an efficient method for creating live work on both fine art and theatre courses.

Updated and enlarged, this groundbreaking collection surveys the major critical currents and approaches in drama, theater, and performance

Creativity and the Performing Artist: Behind the Mask synthesizes and integrates research in the field of creativity and the performing arts. Within the performing arts there are multiple specific domains of expertise, with domain-specific demands. This book examines the psychological nature of creativity in the performing arts. The book is organized into five sections. Section I discusses different forms of performing arts, the domains and talents of performers, and the experience of creativity within performing artists. Section II explores the neurobiology of physiology of creativity and flow. Section III covers the developmental trajectory of performing artists, including early attachment, parenting, play theories, personality, motivation, and training. Section IV examines emotional regulation and psychopathology in performing artists. Section V closes with issues of burnout, injury, and rehabilitation in performing artists. Discusses domain specificity within the performing arts Encompasses dance, theatre, music, and comedy performance art Reviews the biology behind performance, from thinking to movement Identifies how an artist develops over time, from childhood through adult training Summarizes the effect of personality, mood, and psychopathology on performance Explores career concerns of performing artists, from injury to burn out

First Published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The historical roots, key practitioners, and artistic, theoretical, and technological trends in the incorporation of new media into the performing arts. The past decade has seen an extraordinarily intense period of experimentation with computer technology within the performing arts. Digital media has been increasingly incorporated into live theater and dance, and new forms of interactive performance have emerged in participatory installations, on CD-ROM, and on the Web. In Digital Performance, Steve Dixon traces the evolution of these practices, presents detailed accounts of key practitioners and performances, and analyzes the theoretical, artistic, and technological contexts of this form of new media art. Dixon finds precursors to today's digital performances in past forms of theatrical technology that range from the deus ex machina of classical Greek drama to Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk (concept of the total artwork), and draws parallels between contemporary work and the theories and practices of Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism, Expressionism, Futurism, and multimedia pioneers of the twentieth century. For a theoretical perspective on digital performance, Dixon draws on the work of Philip Auslander, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, and others. To document and analyze contemporary digital performance practice, Dixon considers changes in the representation of the body, space, and time. He considers virtual bodies, avatars, and digital doubles, as well as performances by artists including Stelarc, Robert Lepage, Merce Cunningham, Laurie Anderson, Blast Theory, and Eduardo Kac. He investigates new media's novel approaches to creating theatrical spectacle, including virtual reality and robot performance work, telematic performances in which remote locations are linked in real time, Webcams, and online drama communities, and considers the "extratemporal" illusion created by some technological theater works. Finally, he defines categories of interactivity, from navigational to participatory and collaborative. Dixon challenges dominant theoretical approaches to digital performance—including what he calls postmodernism's denial of the new—and offers a series of boldly original arguments in their place.

How can performing be transformed into cognition? Knowing in Performing describes dynamic processes of artistic knowledge production in music and the performing arts. Knowing refers to how processual, embodied, and tacit knowledge can be developed from performative practices in music, dance, theatre, and film. By exploring the field of artistic research as a constantly transforming space for participatory and experimental artistic practices, this anthology points the way forward for researchers, artists, and decision-makers inside and outside universities of the arts.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PERFORMING ARTS “David Davies’s Philosophy of the Performing Arts is long-awaited. Not since Paul Thom’s For an Audience has a book in the Anglo-American philosophical tradition focused so clearly, exclusively, informatively, and fairly on all the performing arts. I will use this book in my classes.” James Hamilton, Kansas State University, author of The Art of Theater “In this outstanding philosophical study, David Davies subjects the different, conflicting literatures characterizing works, performances, and their relationships to critical review en route to developing his own integrated theory. Covering classical music to jazz, Shakespeare to Brecht, dance to performance art, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the performing arts.” Stephen Davies, University of Auckland, author of The Philosophy of Art Philosophical inquiry concerning the performing arts has tended to focus on music – specifically classical music – which is assumed to provide a model for understanding the performing arts as a whole. This book engages with this belief and critically explores how the “classical paradigm” might be extended to other musical genres, to theater, and to dance. Taking in key components of artistic performance – improvisation, rehearsal, the role of the audience, the embodied nature of the artistic performer – the book examines similarities and differences between the performing art forms and presents the key philosophical issues that they bring into play. These reflections are then applied to the disputed issue of those contemporary artworks usually classified as “performance art.” Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject matter, this book provides an accessible, yet sophisticated, introduction to the field and a comprehensive framework for thinking about the performing arts.

The A to Z of Arts Management, Second Edition covers 97 topics about the management of arts and cultural organisations. Each section offers a theoretical and conceptual introduction to the topic, as well as storytelling and reflections about the meaning and application of such theories in the real world. Drawing on the author’s past as a manager running media and performing arts companies and her present as a consultant helping Boards and managers, this book covers a wide range of topics, from leadership, motivation and cultural policy to passion, coffee and laughter. This second edition includes even more coverage and stories about the challenges of arts management, and new topics such as harassment, philanthropy and venues. Written for arts managers, students and Board members anywhere in the world, The A to Z of Arts Management provides information about research and academic best practice in arts management alongside stories about the reality of working in the arts and cultural industries.

This is a new and enlarged edition of Mark Fortier's very successful and widely used essential text for students. Theory/Theatre provides a unique and engaging introduction to literary theory as it relates to theatre and performance. Fortier lucidly examines current theoretical approaches, from semiotics, poststructuralism, through cultural materialism, postcolonial studies and feminist theory. This new edition includes: * More detailed explanation of key ideas * New 'Putting it into practice' sections at the end of each chapter so you can approach performances from specific theoretical perspectives * Annotated further reading section and glossary. Theory/Theatre is still the only study of its kind and is invaluable reading for beginning students and scholars of performance studies.