Speakingdance: performing being with speech and dance

Speakingdance is a new concept-based approach to dance practice, in which the dancer’s sense of being is performed. The practice provides a meaningful purpose for speech in contemporary dance and challenges objective perceptions of the dancer. Philosophical thinking about speech and being provides a framework with which to reconsider the relationship between speech and contemporary dance to perform the dancer’s being. Speakingdance responds with: a new approach to improvisation, an affective conceptualization of being, dance that ‘speaks’ through a poetic rhythm, and a resonant relationship between the dancer and audience members. A practice research approach, that values the agency of the practitioner-scholar as part of a phenomenological enquiry, was undertaken to create the practice. Practical experiments with dance and speech were documented through video and written experiential accounts. Three ‘practice sharings’ were created to gauge the resonant impact of the work through audience participation and written ‘resonance narratives’. Resonance indicates a relational engagement with the dancer’s being. NVivo video annotation software was used to triangulate the relationship between speech, dance and audience participation. The ideas of Adrianna Cavarero, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, and Henri Bergson, provided a philosophical context for experiential knowledge. Writing facilitated reflection in which the concepts of Speakingdance were formulated. The practice research was structured around three key objectives: • Developing an understanding of the relationship between speech, dance and being. • Investigating how dancers can speak in performance without detracting attention away from the dance. • Exploring how speech can support the performance of the dancer’s being. Speakingdance has relevance for dance practitioners interested in improvisation, speech, and the performance of being. The practice encapsulates research on the topic of dance and speech, which is just emerging in academic fields. Uniquely, Speakingdance also contributes a consideration of the dancer’s ontology through a particular conceptualization of being.