12 contemporary approaches to the human body that are being used by performers or in the context of performance training. The second in a series of books entitled: Ways of Being a Body. Following on from Sandra Reeve's Nine Ways of Seeing a Body (which offered a historical perspective on different key approaches to the body over time), this new edited collection brings together a wide range of contemporary approaches to the body that are being used by performers or in the context of performance training. The intention is for students, dancers, performers, singers, musicians, directors and choreographers to locate their own preferred approach(es) to the body-in-performance amongst the lenses described here. The collection is also designed to facilitate further research in that direction as well as to signpost alternatives that might enrich their current vocabulary. All 12 approaches represent the praxis and research of their authors. The chapters reveal a wide variety of different interests but they share the common framework of the notion of 'body as flux', of 'no fixed or determined sense of self' and of supporting the performer's being-becoming-being as a skilful creative entity, emphasising the intelligence of the body at work.
The Ontogenetic Body - makes us aware of developmental processes and gives us a way to embody the forms, mind states and movement patterns of our cellular histories. The Intersubjective Body - explores the inter-relationship between dancing bodies and the environment in the context of site-responsive performance practice. The Autobiographical Body - examines somatic performance practices that explore autobiography as a fluid experience based on relationships with other people and places. The Resonant Body - considers 'cellular-body-mindfulness' through site-responsive sound dance improvisation, paying particular attention to temporality. The Dwelling Body - sees the practitioner as a conduit: experiencing body and place as continually in process and recognising the vital inter-relationship of place and identity. The Vocal Body - moves beyond the idea of the body as a 'homebase' of vocal emission and offers an integrative approach to physiovocal unity. The Musical Body - re-intepreting Stockhausen's Tierkreis offers a physical approach to performance where the body is the driving force behind musical interpretation. The Resilient Body - through the adaptive capacity of the human body the performer can develop resilience and potential. The Imaginal Body - rooted in the Alexander technique, this approach uses anatomical images, specific thinking, touch and visualisations to let go of habitual restrictive patterns and release imaginative potential. The Learnt Body - proposes a training of the performer's body that can consciously transcend socially coded habits and movement patterns. The Kinetic Body - through Kudiyattam dance training, this approach demonstrates how, underpinning the kinetics of breathing, 'foot' produces temporality, which is the fundamental source of the presence of the body. The Cognitive Body - uses Damasio's body-minded brain and 'somatic marker hypothesis' to articulate methods of physical devising for performance
