"A cinechoreography of communal differences." Paper.
Claudia Kappenberg (Presenter)
Activity: External talk or presentation › Invited talk
Description
Abstract: There is an increasing realisation of the profound impact of social isolation and broken social structures on individual well-being, such as current research into the connection between inflammatory disease and one’s experience of social connectedness. Notions of constructive communities are at the forefront also of debates on environmental sustainability. My question is, how do screen-based representations, screen performance and screendance reflect on contemporary communities, and what is screendance contributing to these debates? Much of screen performance tends to portray athletic, idealised individuals and spectacular acts, which may produce a ‘wow’ effect but add little to our understanding of communal relations, dynamics and potentials. To explore how screendance may address such issues I will look at the work of choreographer, composer, performer and filmmaker Meredith Monk, in particular her film Ellis Island (Rosen and Monk, 1982). I will discuss the kind of space and time the camera proposes, and the kinds of communities, communalities and communal differences it explores.