Browsing by Author "Samuel, Gerard M"
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- ItemOpen AccessA South African perspective on professional ballet dancers' career transitions (2018 - 2021)(2023) Dean, Amy Denise; Samuel, Gerard M; Wilson, LisaThe discourse of dancers' and career transitions has significantly increased since the 1980s, and much of the literature views the topic of dancers and career transitions from European, American and Australian perspectives. No literature from a South African perspective was found, and this research dissertation aims to fill this gap. This research explores the phenomenon of a dancer's career transition from a South African perspective through a microcosm - four interviews conducted with former professional ballet dancers from a single ballet company. The aim was to answer the main research question; What is the experience of South African ballet dancers transitioning from a full-time professional stage performing career to alternative careers or roles? A Phenomenological case study was applied to explore and identify the former dancer's transition experiences. Qualitative data was gathered through in-depth interviews with four former dancers who had been employed full-time by a single company in the Western Cape, South Africa. The transcripts of the data collected were analysed using thematic analysis, and four themes emerged: 1. Loss, grief and coping processes. 2. Preparation for an exit. 3. Support systems. 4. South African experience versus outside South Africa experience. Several established theories and models were used to underpin the interpretations and understandings of the experiences of these former dancers. These include Irina Roncaglia's Career Transition Model for Ballet Dancers (Roncaglia, 2006), Colin Murray Parkes' Psychosocial Transition Theory (1998), Margret Stroebe and Henk Schut's Dual-process Model of Coping and Bereavement (1995), Britton Brewer, Judy Van Raalte and Darwyn Linder's Athletic Identity (1993), and Carolyn Cutrona and Daniel Russell's ideas on types of Social Support (1990) along with an exploration on the profile of South African dancers. The research demonstrates that even though South African ballet dancers find themselves in different training and performing environments compared to their European, American and Australian counterparts, the experiences of dancers' transitioning out of a professional stage performing career have similar themes yet are unique for each individual. The research also comments on suggestions to improve South African dancers' experiences while considering the socio-economic climate of Dance in South Africa. Recommendations for further study are made, borne from the limitations and findings of this research. In closing, although zoomed into experiences from a single ballet company, the four themes provide an answer to the research question, which allows for a new perspective (South African) to be added to the already established dialogue of dancers and career transitions.
- ItemOpen AccessDancing the Other in South Africa(2016) Samuel, Gerard M; Swartz, Sally; Freire, Ida MaraAt the centre of discourse of Dance in South Africa is the notion of Other. The form and approach in Contemporary Dance in South Africa in the 21st century has been shaped by cultural forces such as apartheid and colonialism. This thesis sets out a phenomenological study of Othering in Dance in South Africa through a hermeneutical unpacking of 'Older dancing'. Its critical question grapples with the notion of age as a new marker of alterity in Dance and asks: How does dancing the Other bring new ways of seeing bodies? The lived experiences of four categories in Older dancing: dancers, choreographers, directors and dance critics, in and outside of South Africa since the 2000s, will be analysed. My own position in each of the categories above has allowed me to participate in Contemporary Dance and the performing arts field in South Africa for over 45 years. A partial history of Contemporary Dance in South Africa is explicated in order to provide paradigmatic frames for this study. The philosophical enquiry of this thesis has foregrounded Dance Studies as a discrete research field in order to highlight dance and the body itself, and to reassert an enviable position of dancing bodies as research instruments and knowledge producers. A hermeneutical narrative analysis was deployed following twelve interviews that were conducted over 4 years (2012-2014). Seven South African and five non-South African 'voices' were analysed and coded against four primary lines of enquiry in Experience: notions of cultural inscription and dancing bodies as blank slates; questions of (in)visibility and frailty of older persons, wisdom and (in)dependent older dancers and the ontologies of marginalisation for Older dancing within concert theatre Dance. This suggested a thesis of wider Body-space reading and continuum for Dance that could be useful in understanding epistemology of prejudice. Recommendations that flow from this study will relate to Dance Studies in South Africa that is already moving away from its anthropological roots in tribal dances, experimentations with multicultural dance, towards unpacking intersectionality, public art and the contested label African dance. It provides Body-space as a further theoretical tool with which to observe dancing and bodies as states of becoming that will be of interest to Dance Studies, Performance Theory and Cultural Studies.
- ItemOpen AccessInterrogating the nature, process and politics of female headed dance collaborations: the growth project (Scenkonst Sӧrmland, Sweden & Baxter Theatre Centre, Cape Town, South Africa) 2012-2016(2017) Valentine, Bernice; Samuel, Gerard MThis dissertation seeks to investigate the nature of Contemporary Dance collaborations between some South African dancers in the Western Cape and Swedish musicians and dancers and their directors and producers. My study focusses on the impact of choreographic processes in such collaborations when these are led by women. In particular, I will examine a collaboration herein referred to as the Growth Project that was undertaken between the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and Scenkonst Sörmland Theatre in Sweden between 2012-2016. The study aims to provide insight into such collaborative dance practices in order to highlight gendered practices in Dance in the Western Cape. It will outline all three parts of the Growth Project but focuses on the dance work I hit the ground running (2013), in which I performed. This dissertation considered the historical context, and political legacy of key individuals associated with the Growth Project in order to examine their views of the artistic world, their relationship to one another and what inform choreographic processes when working in Contemporary Dance in the Western Cape. When artist collaborate, there is an interplay between identity, culture and politics and issues of power and gender all add to the complexity of dance collaborations. This dissertation problematises the birth of Contemporary Dance in South Africa and focusses on the region of the Western Cape arguing that in the 2000s, colonial and apartheid history continues to support a gender inequality in South African Dance as well as in society in general. Chapter One positions myself as an emic and etic researcher and provides an overview of the influences that impacted the development of Contemporary Dance in South Africa especially in the Western Cape. With this as background, I discuss my rationale for an interrogation of collaborative dance practices between some South Africans and certain foreigners. I highlight certain gaps such as analysis of contemporary dance works by women in South African Dance Literature. Chapters Two and Three discuss the concept of collaboration and draw some distinctions between the genders, for example, when women collaborate. It focuses on economic and patriarchal modes of power in society and the manner in which these are perpetuated in dance. It acknowledges feminist theories found in Social Sciences and Humanities that are also extended in Dance Studies such as the work of Katrak (2006), Butler (1999) and Daly (2002). I reflect on the response of some South African dancing bodies to collaborative practices in Contemporary Dance and add my comments to the views on this topic already expressed by Loots (2012), Craighead (2007) amongst others. Chapter Four highlights the research methods used during this study and explains how the process of the interview was engaged with to collect data. This sourcing of data included my own reflections as a participant and observer, as well as an analysis of journalistic material (press reviews), and programme notes. I also critically unpack my own reflective journals. My unique etic and emic perspectives, as I am simultaneously the researcher as well as one of the dancers in I hit the ground running (2013), will be discussed. This research also gave rise to a number of findings which have been framed as challenges encountered by dancers, musicians, the choreographer and management teams involved in I hit the ground running (2013). The study reflects on the notion of femaleness in Contemporary Dance itself, and the impact that such femaleness has on dance making/Contemporary Dance choreography. The connections between femaleness as a form of discrimination and other forms of marginalisation such as race and cultural groups is explored. This is contested within South African and Swedish world views in the 21st century. This dissertation suggests that a feminist notion of dance making is a useful tool to understand South African and Swedish Contemporary Dance. It may extend the work of other dance researchers wanting to write about other marginalised groups for example disability dance in South Africa and Sweden.