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Voice as Movement and a Spiritual “in-between”
  • ISSN: 2051-7068
  • E-ISSN: 2051-7076

Abstract

This article discusses a new concept-based approach to contemporary dance practice called Speakingdance, in which a dancer performs their sense of being. The practice responds to the need for a more considered use of speech in contemporary dance and the historical perception of the dancer in terms of a body–object. Philosophical thinking about speech and being provides a framework with which to re-think the relationship between speech and contemporary dance to perform a dancer’s sense of being. The practice research approach from which Speakingdance emerges values the agency and experience of the practitioner-scholar as part of a phenomenological enquiry. Practical experiments with the performance of dance and speech were documented through video and written experiential accounts. Following a period of studio-based exploration, to formulate the ‘just be’ approach to improvisation and the poetic rhythm of speech and dance in which dance ‘speaks’, three new solo ‘practice sharings’ were created to gather information about the resonant impact of the practice on audience members. The presence of resonance indicates that a relational engagement with the dancer’s being has been encountered and that the perception of the dancer has shifted away from body–object terms. The practice of Speakingdance provides a meaningful purpose for the use of speech in contemporary dance – to perform the dancer’s sense of being and promote a resonant relationship between the dancer and individual audience members. Further to this, the practice has revealed a particular conceptualization of being through what has been termed the ‘internal-being-construct’. This article encapsulates some of the findings of academic research on the topic of dance and speech which is only just emerging and contributes a unique discussion of the of the dancer’s ontology.

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2025-04-29
2026-04-22

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/content/journals/10.1386/dmas_00051_1
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Speakingdance: Accessing, interpreting and performing the dancer’s sense of being
Dance, Movement & Spiritualities 10, 209 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/dmas_00051_1
/content/journals/10.1386/dmas_00051_1
/content/journals/10.1386/dmas_00051_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Adrianna Cavarero; dance and being; dance and voice; dance improvisation; Martin Heidegger; performance philosophy; practice research; voice and being

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