[Xmca-l] Re: A bit more on performance activism

[Rod Parker-Rees]

I am fascinated by the apparent contradiction in performance - between the constraints of a form (or score or script) and the possibilities this engenders for nuanced interpretation. In a musical performance, for example, the knowledge shared by performer and audience, when both know the score, allows minute variations in the performance to be interpreted as potentially meaningful. Similarly, when baby and caregiver share in a game of 'peek-a-boo' the baby can experience agency in performing the game - making changes and observing the caregiver's response - the 'znachenie' of the form provides a context for communication of the performer's 'smysl'.

Writing this has reminded me of a section in Mihalyi Cszikszentmihalyi's book, 'Flow' in which he writes about prisoners who are able to retain their sanity by deliberately introducing tiny choices into the way they 'perform' actions such as eating, getting onto and off their bed etc. However tight the score, there is always room for performance (and this has always infuriated those who have sought to impose uniformity on others in schools, barracks etc.).

All the best,

Rod

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Lois Holzman
Sent: 08 February 2017 22:15
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] A bit more on performance activism

Here is a summarizing quote from Schechner's talk at the 2012 Performing the World conference. It also appears in a published chapter in the book, Performance Studies in Motion, edited by Citron, Aronson-Lehavi and Zerbib. (I have a co-authored chapter on performance activism in the same book.)

To perform is to explore, to play, to experiment with new relations To perform is to cross borders, not only geographic but emotional, ideological, political and personal To perform is to engage in life-long activity study, to grasp every book as a script, as something to be played with, interpreted, reformed and remade To perform is to become someone else and yourself at the same time, to empathize, react grow and change.

Lois


Lois Holzman
Director, East Side Institute for Group & Short Term Psychotherapy
119 West 23 St, suite 902
New York, NY 10011
Chair, Global Outreach, All Stars Project, UX Tel. +1.212.941.8906 x324 Fax +1.718.797.3966 lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org Social Media Facebook  <https://www.facebook.com/lois.holzman.5>| LinkedIn <http://www.%20linkedin.com/pub/lois-holzman> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/LoisHolzman> Blogs Psychology Today <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/conceptual-revolution>| Psychology of Becoming <http://loisholzman.org/> | Mad in America <http://www.madinamerica.com/author/lois/>
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Lois Holzman <http://loisholzman.org/> | East Side Institute <http://eastsideinstitute.org/> | Performing the World <http://www.performingtheworld.org/>
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