Overview

Ungoverning Dance examines the work of progressive contemporary dance artists in continental Europe from the mid 1990s to 2015. Placing this within the context of neoliberalism and austerity, the book argues that these artists have developed an ethico-aesthetic approach that uses dance practices as sites of resistance against dominant ideologies, and that their works attest to the persistence of alternative ways of thinking and living. In response to the way that the radical values informing their work are continually under attack from neoliberalism, these artists recognise that they in effect share common pool resources. Thus, while contemporary dance has been turned into a market, they nevertheless value the extent to which it functions as a commons. Work that does this, it argues, ungoverns dance. The book offers close readings of works from the 1990s and 2000s by two generations of European-based dance artists: that of Jérôme Bel, Jonathan Burrows, La Ribot, and Xavier Le Roy who began showing work in the 1990s; and that of artists who emerged in the 2000s including Fabián Barba, Faustin Linyekula, Ivana Müller, and Nikolina Pristas. Topics examined include dance and precarious life, choreographing friendship, re-performance, the virtual in dance, and a dancer's experience of the Egyptian revolution. Ungoverning Dance proposes new ways of understanding recent contemporary European dance works by making connections with their social, political, and theoretical contexts.

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9780199321926

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Reviews

It provides an overview of some of the most important contemporary philosophical discourses in relation to dance. Above all, it makes an irresistible and convincing claim for the importance of dance as a critical tool. * Dance Research *

By examining the work of recent dance and performance artists, primarily European, in relation to philosophical inquiries into ethics, labor, and the public, Burt sets the stage for much-needed debates around dance and social responsibility. --Susan Leigh Foster, Distinguished Professor, UCLA <em>Ungoverning Dance</em> is an elegant and insightful book that engages with dance at its limit. Oriented by an ethics of relationality, the book stages an encounter with what ungoverns dance, understanding ungoverning as the way dance pushes against the political. Exploring the interstitial force of the relational field opened by dance, Ramsey demonstrates how political moving can be. --Erin Manning, Research Chair, Relational Art and Philosophy, Concordia University

By examining the work of recent dance and performance artists, primarily European, in relation to philosophical inquiries into ethics, labor, and the public, Burt sets the stage for much-needed debates around dance and social responsibility. --Susan Leigh Foster, Distinguished Professor, UCLA Ungoverning Dance is an elegant and insightful book that engages with dance at its limit. Oriented by an ethics of relationality, the book stages an encounter with what ungoverns dance, understanding ungoverning as the way dance pushes against the political. Exploring the interstitial force of the relational field opened by dance, Ramsey demonstrates how political moving can be. --Erin Manning, Research Chair, Relational Art and Philosophy, Concordia University By examining the work of recent dance and performance artists, primarily European, in relation to philosophical inquiries into ethics, labor, and the public, Burt sets the stage for much-needed debates around dance and social responsibility. --Susan Leigh Foster, Distinguished Professor, UCLA Ungoverning Dance is an elegant and insightful book that engages with dance at its limit. Oriented by an ethics of relationality, the book stages an encounter with what ungoverns dance, understanding ungoverning as the way dance pushes against the political. Exploring the interstitial force of the relational field opened by dance, Ramsey demonstrates how political moving can be. --Erin Manning, Research Chair, Relational Art and Philosophy, Concordia University

Author Information

Ramsay Burt is Professor of Dance History at De Montfort University.

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