Dancing the Other in South Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorSwartz, Sallyen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorFreire, Ida Maraen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSamuel, Gerard Men_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-18T07:24:43Z
dc.date.available2017-01-18T07:24:43Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAt 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.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationSamuel, G. M. (2016). <i>Dancing the Other in South Africa</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Dance. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22781en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSamuel, Gerard M. <i>"Dancing the Other in South Africa."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Dance, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22781en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSamuel, G. 2016. Dancing the Other in South Africa. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Samuel, Gerard M AB - At 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. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - Dancing the Other in South Africa TI - Dancing the Other in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22781 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/22781
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSamuel GM. Dancing the Other in South Africa. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Dance, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22781en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Danceen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherSouth African Contemporary danceen_ZA
dc.subject.otherOlder dancingen_ZA
dc.subject.otherBody-spaceen_ZA
dc.subject.otherOtheren_ZA
dc.titleDancing the Other in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_Samuel_2016.pdf
Size:
2.08 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
PhD / Doctoral