Abstract
In ‘One Manifesto Less ’, Gilles Deleuze writes about a mode of transformation found in the work of the Italian theatre director, Carmelo Bene. By way of discussion, Deleuze refers to three of Bene’s productions, each an adaptation of a work by an iconic author or playwright. In all three examples raised by Deleuze , Bene took away some key element from the original. Neither critique (a form of judgement) nor a form of representation (a continuation of the language of the theatre), subtraction constitutes a dynamic interruption which destabilises the work so as to allow for the emergence of new possibilities. Deleuze’s term for this is the release of a ‘new potentiality’. Subtraction is a means by which to destabilise that which is normative within the theatre, thereby to provoke something new or ‘untimely ’. What might subtraction mean in the field of dance which is neither centred on the text nor depends upon representation as such? This chapter poses three ways of conceiving of subtraction within dance, in relation to the canonical, choreographic production and the audience-performer relation. It argues that the notion of subtraction offers a particular way of conceiving of the production of the new within the kinaesthetic sphere, one which acknowledges the embodied legacy of training and technique in dance.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Art forum. Yvonne Rainer teaches Martha Graham Trio A. http://artforum.com/video/mode=large&id=25771. Accessed 25 Mar 2014.
Blizzard. Directed and choreographed by Nat Cursio . Also choreographed by Alice Dixon, Caroline Meaden and Melissa Jones. Melbourne, 2013.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990. Logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Deleuze , Gilles. [1979] 1993. One manifesto less. In The Deleuze reader, ed. Constantin V. Boundas, 204–222. New York: Columbia University Press.
Freud, Sigmund. 1973. Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Goldman, Danielle. 2009. Deborah Hay’s O, O. In Planes of composition: Dance theory and the global, ed. Andre Lepecki and Jenn Joy, 279–291. London/New York/Calcutta: Seagull Books.
Hay , Deborah. 2000. My body the Buddhist. Middleton: Wesleyan University Press.
Hay, Deborah. 2014. Learning curve. Melbourne: Dancehouse, March. (Participatory event).
Marx, Karl. 1977. Theses on Feuerbach. In Karl Marx: Selected writings, ed. David McLellan, 156–158. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Move, Richard. Martha @ the 1963 interview. http://www.move-itproductions.com/_1963_Interview/The_1963_Interview.html. Accessed 16 June 2015.
Nietzsche , Friedrich. 1994. On the genealogy of morality, ed. Keith Ansell-Pearson and Trans. Carol Diethe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1997. On the uses and disadvantages of history for life. In Untimely meditations, ed. Daniel Breazedale and Trans. R.J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ok-sub, Jin. 2012. Interview with Philipa Rothfield. October, Seoul.
Private Dances. Curated and directed by Nat Cursio . Also choreographed by Atlanta Eke, Appiah Annan, Efren Pamilacan, Fiona Bryant, Gabrielle Nankivell, Luke Smiles, Hasini Wikramasekera, Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, James Welsby, Lily Paskas, Soo Yuen Yoo and 2nd Toe Collective, with film and installations by Sue Healey, Deborah Kelly, Simon Ellis, Sam Fox, Kristy Ayre and Nick Roux, Eugenia Lim, Alice Dixon and Caroline Meaden and Zoe Scoglio. Melbourne, 2013.
Swan Lake. Choreographed by Matthew Bourne. London, 1995.
The Middle Room. Created and performed by Nat Cursio . Melbourne, 2014.
Trio A. Choreographed by Yvonne Rainer. New York, 1966.
Wells, Sadler’s. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. http://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2013/Matthew-Bournes-Swan-Lake-2013/. Accessed 25 Mar 2014.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rothfield, P. (2016). Tinkering Away: The Untimely Art of Subtraction. In: DeFrantz, T., Rothfield, P. (eds) Choreography and Corporeality. New World Choreographies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54653-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54653-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54652-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54653-1
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)