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Knowledge, Memory and Experience in Dance Revival Processes

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Knowledge, Memory and Experience in Dance Revival Processes Dance and the Archival Body: Knowledge, Memory and Experience in Dance Revival Processes Laura Elizabeth Griffiths Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Performance and Cultural Industries September 2014 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2014 The University of Leeds and Laura Elizabeth Griffiths 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Sita Popat and Dr Victoria Hunter as it would not have been possible to write this thesis without their guidance, support, generosity and patience. I am also very grateful for their contribution towards my personal professional development, enabling me to learn and experience so much over the past four years. I would also like to thank Sharon Watson for her supervision during this project, her enthusiasm; generosity and co-operation have been invaluable. Similarly, the staff team at Phoenix Dance Theatre have been a fantastic source of support throughout the past four years and I am thankful for the many varied ways in which they have interacted with this project. I am indebted to those who have given up their time, enabled me to observe rehearsals and assisted with archival tasks throughout the duration of this project. In particular; David Hamilton, Edward Lynch, Donald Edwards, Tracy Tinker, Phil Sanger, Azzurra Ardovini, Genevieve Watson, Henri Oguike, Kwesi Johnson, Ana Lujan Sanchez and the late Robert Robson. Special thanks to Lesley Blades for her assistance with the processing of the company archive materials and her commitment to this project, her friendship and support have been greatly appreciated. My thanks are due to Sharon Maxwell and Helen Roberts of the NRCD for sharing their archival expertise, both prior to the commencement of and in the early stages of this project. My thanks also go to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for making this research possible. I would like to thank my parents, Paul and Michelle Griffiths for their love, encouragement and for their continued support and investment towards my interest in dance. I am also very grateful to Roger and Sue Hall for their support and for providing respite on numerous occasions. I am thankful for the friendship of a number of close friends and colleagues, who are too many to mention but have all helped me throughout these past four years in so many ways. Lastly, but by no means least, I would like to thank my husband, Chris, for his love, support and patience throughout. 3 Abstract Over the past few decades, archival practices in dance have been the subject of substantial scrutiny and innovation. With new technologies affording opportunities for archival material to be housed in web-based platforms, questions surrounding notions of ‘archive’ and documentary practices in dance have occupied debates across academia and industry. The function of an archival source in dance as an ephemeral phenomenon is something that remains ambiguous because of the complexity of capturing the multiple aspects of dance-making processes and performance. In this thesis I address this issue by considering the role of the dancing body as a site where knowledge that can be considered as ‘archival’ is stored as a result of embodied dance-making processes and experience. Within the broader discussion of dance and archiving, I refer to the dance reconstruction practices of contemporary dance company, Phoenix Dance Theatre to illustrate new ideas about archiving dance. The discussion will focus upon notions of embodiment, memory, archives and dance reconstruction, and ideas surrounding the role of dance knowledge and its transferability to archival formats that are considered ‘tangible’ or ‘enduring’. The limitations of traditional understandings of the archive are addressed and expanded by re-considering the role of the body as an archival material. This research contributes new knowledge regarding dance archival practices through recognition that valuable information can be triggered through the re-living of historic movement action in the dancing body. In summary, the overall investigation makes a case for the role of the dancing body within the broader archival spectrum of materials relating to dance practice. I argue that the body captures some of the original essences of dance practice and performances that cannot be captured by more traditional materials and modes of archiving in dance. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................3 Abstract................................................................................................................4 List of Figures and Illustrations .....................................................................................................................8 Introduction..........................................................................................................9 Prelude ..........................................................................................................................................................9 Introducing the Research Problem ...................................................................................................... 11 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................. 14 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Literature Review ................................................................................................................................ 32 Thesis Structure .................................................................................................. 55 Prelude ........................................................................................................................................................57 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................ 59 Archives: Towards a concept of Archival ‘Knowledge Value’ ................................ 59 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 59 Archiving as an Established set of Principles and Practices................................................................. 60 The Life Cycle Model ........................................................................................................................... 61 Figure 1: The Life-Cycle Model ............................................................................................................ 62 Figure 2: Archival Processes ................................................................................................................ 64 Historicising and Problematising ‘Archival Value’ ............................................................................... 67 Figure 3: Archival Principles ................................................................................................................ 71 Primary and Secondary Archival Materials ......................................................................................... 74 Decentring Archival Principles and Practices ...................................................................................... 77 The Relationship between Archives and Memory .............................................................................. 82 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................................................ 85 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................ 88 Archival Gaps and the Body Archive in Dance ...................................................... 88 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 88 The Archive and the Dancing Body...................................................................................................... 89 Figure 4: The Archive and the Repertoire ........................................................................................... 92 5 ‘The Body as Archive’ (Lepecki 2010) .................................................................................................. 95 Corporeal Archiving ........................................................................................................................... 101 Towards an understanding of the Body as Archive ........................................................................... 103 Chapter Summary .............................................................................................................................. 110 Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................... 112 The Lived Body as an Archival Material ............................................................. 112 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................
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