chapter 6

There was a considerable focus on very literal uses of the body in the second half of chapter 6. Continuing with most performance work of the period, collaborations between multiple types of artist were happening and the continuously growing inclusion of dancers seemed to have an affect on changing the ways in which the body was to be utilized in performance art. The idea of spontaneity and chance were very much present through dance. “Using improvisation ‘to find out what our bodies could do, not learning somebody else’s pattern or technique.’” (p. 140) The body was allowed to move in ways that were not choreographed and were possibly not typical of what was common in dance. Thus, the element of chance that was prevalent throughout this period of performance art, revealed itself also through dance. In Parades and Changes, for example the artists were allowed to simply express their individual responses to light, material, and space, rather than performing moves choreographed by someone else.

The bodies of the dancer became more like objects in some performance because of the way they were used. “Indeed, Rainer emphasized the object quality of the dancer’s body when she said that she wished to use the body ‘so that it could be handled like an object, picked up and carried, and so that objects and bodies could be interchangeable.’” (p 143) What may be plausible reasons why some dancer preferred for their bodies to be used as objects? In Yves Klein’s Anthropometries of the Blue Period for example, women’s bodies were literally used as paintbrushes. What is the significance of this dismissal of traditional uses of the body to create innovations in performance in this new period of performance art? What led dancers to create these new ways of using the body and what elements of it were particularly attractive to artists using other mediums?