Call for papers – Thematic focus on: “The gesture that crosses dance and philosophy”
RED – Revista Estud(i)os de Dança is pleased to invite you to submit your articles for the thematic focus: “The gesture that crosses dance and philosophy”.
Guest Editors:
(Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa; Instituto de Filosofia da Nova, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
(Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril; Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal)
In this issue, we invite gesture to resonate with dance in philosophy and philosophy in dance. Because this encounter between dance and philosophy manifests itself in different ways, either through the dancing body or through verbal language and conceptual thought, we propose the theme of gesture as a place that is both sensitive and intelligible. Translated from gesture, writing becomes an expression of the encounter between dance and philosophy in the collected texts we propose to present. Through theoretical essays, interviews, and documentation, we welcome contributions from authors working specifically at the intersection of dance and philosophy.
The question of what philosophy brings to dance and dance studies reverts to what dance and dance studies bring to philosophy, recalling the three volumes of TDR (The Drama Review) dedicated to the subject. We propose an approach between dance and philosophy through their mutual resonance, or “intimate entanglement” (Lepecki, 2006), to trace a possible understanding of gesture, where dance and philosophy dialogue; each differently, experiment, compose, and reinvent themselves.
Understanding gesture at the heart of the encounter between dance and philosophy means reflecting on it in the fractal movement of life and its passages, taking into account the unmeasured nature of forms and representation, the poetics capable of “expressing an experience that is essentially ineffable” (Sontag, 2013, p. 9), the “unconscious of the body” in language (Gil, 2001) and thus the traces of the non-verbal layer in the act of thinking philosophically about dance. In the passages between the gesture of dance and the gesture of writing, “em revezamentos entre eles que extravasam o quadro da sua simples aplicação [in relays between them that go beyond the framework of their simple application]” (Bardet, 2015, p. 11), the gestures make the meanings proliferate in dance and philosophy.
Amid the problems brought about by the gesture, the three sections that guide this edition are the field of dance and philosophy (1), the processes of artistic and philosophical research and creation (2), and the testimonies that tell the stories of the encounter between dance and philosophy (3). The first section seeks to rethink and problematise dance and philosophy as a field of research through the sphere of gesture by listening to the contribution of some authors who have traced possible paths in this sparse history. The second section addresses the ways of making in different dialogical, choreographic, and philosophical processes. The third and final section creates an open space for the inclusion of testimonies in which the “diagram” (Lingis, 1994) of the gesture convokes and sustains the gesture of the other in terms of intercorporeal and intersubjective transmissibility.
Among the themes that can be addressed are:
- the intermittence of dance in the history of philosophy
- what is gesture, what do I know about gesture, and why gesture?
- the nascent state of gesture
- the mutual transition between philosophical concepts and choreographic composition
- gesture as care
- the politics of gesture
- gesture as memory
- gesture as a testimony of the existence
- the gesture in dialogue and sharing
This project expresses a desire to consent to the study of dance and philosophy at university, in artistic centres, and in communities that, however temporary, weave their way through the world.
References
Bardet, M. (2015). A filosofia da dança: Um encontro entre dança e filosofia (R. Schöpke & M. Baladi, Trads.). Martins Fontes.
Gil, J. (2001). Movimento total: O corpo e a dança (M. Serras Pereira, Trad.). Relógio d’Água.
Lepecki, A. (2006). Mutant Enunciations. TDR (1988-), 50(4), 16–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4492710
Lingis, A. (1994). The community of those who have nothing in common. Indiana University Press.
Sontag, S. (2013). Styles of radical will. Picador.
Ana Mira (Lisbon, 1976) holds a PhD in Philosophy/Aesthetics from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2014), with the thesis Silêncio, potência e gesto: um corpo na dança [Silence, Potency and Gesture: A Body in Dance], supervised by philosopher José Gil. She was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (Kingston University) and received a grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. In 1999, she completed the course Aesthetics: Image and Resemblance at Ar.Co – Centre for Art and Visual Communication. That same year, she graduated from the Contemporary Dance Performance Course at Forum Dança. From 1992 to 2013, she studied Classical Dance, Contemporary Movement Techniques, Experiential Anatomy and Physiology, Movement Integration, Body Studies, Philosophy, and Documentation at c.e.m. – Centro em Movimento.
She is currently a guest adjunct professor at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon), teaching the courses Body (undergraduate), Theories and Practices of the Body (master’s), and Studies in Presence: Body and Duration (PhD). She also teaches Aesthetics at Ar.Co and is an integrated researcher at the Nova Institute of Philosophy, FCSH – Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Her internationally published essays include: Laboratorio de movimiento y filosofía: un testimonio (Segunda en Papel, 2024); Corpo e cidade: um estudo sobre o comum e os undercommons nas Acções de Eleonora Fabião (Húmus, 2023); Para una presencia del ritmo en la escritura de Nijinski (Rhuthmos, 2020); Poema-acontecimento: um encontro entre a palavra e o corpo (Nuisis Zobop & Instituto de Filosofia da Universidade do Porto, 2019); Contornos de inexistência: uma leitura da peça coreográfica I AM HERE, de João Fiadeiro (Teatro Municipal do Porto / Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 2018); Sensorial Document: an embodied practice in dance and philosophy from collaboration in After Kaprow: The Silent Room by Rosemary Butcher (2012), Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices (2016). She has presented her research in international conferences, most recently Gestures of alterity and ecologies of practice in architecture and dance (KASK School of Arts, 2024) and Isadora Duncan, Gertrude Stein, Susanne K. Langer: gestures of appearance and resistance in dance, poetry, and philosophy (University of Lisbon, 2021).
In 2007, she was a visiting scholar in the Department of Performance Studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, with a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, conducting research at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Movement Research, and Trisha Brown Dance Company. Between 2002 and 2003, she undertook the Program of Study and Research / Dance at Dans Studio Pauline de Groot, with a grant from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.
She has pursued independent artistic training in Somatic Practices, Contemporary Dance, and Qigong in Portugal, Europe, and the United States, studying with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Eva Karczag, Francisco Camacho, João Fiadeiro, Lisa Nelson, Steve Paxton, and Vera Mantero. Her education in Dance Studies, Aesthetics, and Philosophy includes work with André Lepecki, Christine Greiner, Kuniichi Uno, Maria Filomena Molder, Marie Bardet, Peter Hulton, Peter Pál Pelbart, and Richard Schechner. She is a certified Qigong instructor by the Portuguese Federation of Chinese Martial Arts (IPDJ).
Her choreographic works include At Once, an adaptation of Deborah Hay’s solo (Teatro Maria Matos, 2010); Three Studies for Shihtao (Teatro Camões, 2007); and Duet (Alkantara Festival, 2006). As a dance performer, she has collaborated with Pauline de Groot (2001–2003), Russell Dumas (2003–2005), and Rosemary Butcher (2011–2015).
She has taught Embodied Practices, Improvisation and Composition; Dance Studies, Dance History, Movement and Philosophy Lab; and Aesthetics and Philosophy at Trinity Laban Conservatoire / Independent Dance, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Fórum Dança, c.e.m., and Balleteatro, among other academic and artistic institutions.
She curated Coalesce: in the space of the body in thought – a continuous seminar on dance, drawing, and philosophy at Porta33 (2020–2022); Dance and Philosophy Lab at Polo Cultural Gaivotas Boavista (2017); Taking a Stand: the Political and the Place, an experimental performance studies course (Baldio | Performance Studies, 2016); and the Permanent Seminar on Performance and Philosophy at the Nova Institute of Philosophy (2015).
Ezequiel Santos (Coimbra, 1967) holds a PhD in Contemporary Art from Colégio das Artes – University of Coimbra (2024), with the thesis Body and Space: A Dynamological Reading of Contemporary Dance in Non-Conventional Spaces, supervised by philosopher João Maria André. He is a guest adjunct professor at ESHTE (School of Hospitality and Tourism), in the field of social sciences, and a guest assistant professor at FMH – University of Lisbon. He taught at ESD (School of Dance, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon) in 2005/2006. He is currently a researcher in the European project Premiere – Performing Arts in a New Era: AI and XR Tools for Better Understanding, Preservation, Enjoyment, and Accessibility (HORIZON-CL2-2021-HERITAGE-01), and part of the Portuguese group in OIAPODAN – Ibero-American Observatory of Dance Policies. He is a collaborating researcher at INET-md (FMH).
Santos is the director and curator at Forum Dança, a cultural association he joined in 1996. Until 2006, as director of the Choreographic Support Unit, he coordinated artistic exchanges with over one hundred international partners across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and edited the newsletter forumdanca.BT. From 2018 to 2023, he curated the performance cycle Cartografias.
He studied photography, theatre, voice, and dance in Lisbon and New York, and completed Fórum Dança’s Dance for the Community training programme in 1993. His most influential mentors include António Pinto Ribeiro and Gil Mendo (philosophy and choreology), Madalena Victorino, Paula Massano, Rui Nunes, Francisco Camacho, Meg Stuart, Margarida Bettencourt, and Águeda Sena (techniques, composition, and body studies); Rui Pisco (theatre and acting); Ghislaine Boddington (body and technology); and Maria João Serrão and Luís Madureira (voice). In 1993, he participated in the Dance Marathon at Teatro Maria Matos and, until 1995, wrote dance criticism for national publications and assisted Paula Massano in the production of her works Self-portrait (1993) and Anteros the Visual Lover (1994). He was part of the European Choreographic Forum in Dartington (1995/96), where he created the performances Total Exposure and Eerie. As a dancer (1990–1996), he performed across Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, in works by Madalena Victorino (The Third Room, 1991), Rui Nunes (The Island of Loves, 1991), and Francisco Camacho (First Name: Le, 1994).
Since 1997, he has regularly taught seminars on Dance History and Theory at Fórum Dança and in collaboration with various municipal institutions. From 1996 to 2005, he worked as dramaturgical consultant for pieces by Paulo Henrique, Teresa Prima, Barbara Kraus, and Francisco Camacho. In 2015 and 2016, he was a guest curator for Cumplicidades – Lisbon International Dance Festival (by EIRA). Since 2020, he has contributed to the Nuisis Zobop projects, focusing on the intersection of dance, philosophy, and cultural theory through the work of Joana Von Mayer Trindade and Hugo Calhim Cristóvão.
His research interests include phenomenology of aesthetic experience, opera, consciousness studies, and social sciences. He has contributed to various publications, including Movimentos Presentes (Ed. M. J. Fazenda, Cotovia & Danças na Cidade, 1997), Corpo Fast Forward (Porto 2001 & Número), Documento Dez Mais Dez (Re.Al / João Fiadeiro & Forum Dança, 2001), Tourfly – Innovation and Future (Lisboa-01-0145-Feder-023368, 2019), and Caderno do Rivoli #9 (2023).
His writing blends academic and literary styles, with recent articles addressing embodiment (View of Body, tourisms, resonances, ufjf.br) and the performing arts (https://doi.org/10.53072/RED202401/00209). Santos is a full member of the Portuguese Psychologists' Association and an international member of the APA (Division 24: Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology). He is a Gestalt psychotherapist trained at the Gestalt Institute of Valencia (2003–2007), under the scientific direction of Manuel Ramos Gascón. As a speaker and moderator, he has participated in events across Germany, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, the UK, Romania, and Turkey.