Re: [xmca] Vygotsky and performance? Eisenstein, Meyerhold?

Just a lateral association: Vygotsky wrote many theatrical reviews in
1922-1923. If anybody is interested, I have some scanned copies
form newspapers (in Russian)

On 2/4/08, Lois Holzman <lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org> wrote:
>
> HI Matt,
>
> This may be peripheral to your specific question regarding Vygotsky
> and Meyerhold but it might be interesting anyway.
>
> The idea that performing is key to or even is development is the heart
> of my own work and a growing number of others. Performance in the
> sense we use it is developmental in the sense Vygotsky spoke about
> free play being developmental, what we performance people call being
> who you are and other than who you are/who you are becoming
> simultaneously. Others here who look at learning and development
> performatorily (and improvisationally, as a form of performance) are
> Ana and Artin in particular. If this interests you you might want to
> check out some of our writings.
>
> Another thing you might not be aware of is the work of Nicolas
> Evreinoff (1879-1953), a Russian actor, director, playwright,
> composer, musician and theorist. Evreinoff was a supporter of the
> Bolshevik revolution and directed many of the "Mass Spectacles" staged
> in the early years of the revolution, which involved thousands of
> ordinary people re-enacting recent (and not so recent) historical
> events. For Evreinoff performance was not a teaching tool, but a
> transformative activity that could be practiced in daily life as well
> as on stage. In his book, The Theatre in Life, published in 1927,
> Evreinoff identified performance (which he called "theatricality") as
> a human instinct that allowed for transformation. Evreinoff wrote:
>
> Man has one instinct about which, in spite of its inexhaustible
> vitality, neither history nor psychology nor aesthetics have so far
> said a single word. I have in mind the instinct of transformation, the
> instinct of opposing to images received from without images
> arbitrarily created from within, the instinct of transmuting
> appearances found in nature into something else, an instinct which
> clearly reveals its essential character in the conception of what I
> call theatricality…The instinct of theatricalization which I claim the
> honour to have discovered may be best described as the desire to be
> 'different,' to do something that is 'different,' to imagine oneself
> in surroundings that are 'different' from the commonplace surroundings
> of our everyday life. It is one of the mainsprings of our existence,
> of that which we call progress, of change, evolution and development
> in all departments of life. We are all born with this feeling in our
> soul, we are all essentially theatrical beings.
>
> Evreinoff, Nicolas. The Theatre in Life. Trans. Alexander I.
> Nazaroff. New York: Brentano's, 1927: 22-23.
>
> All best,
>
> Lois
>
> Lois Holzman, Director
> East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy
> 920 Broadway, 14th floor
> New York NY 10010
> tel. 212.941.8906 ext. 324
> fax 212.941.0511
> lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org
> www.eastsideinstitute.org
> www.performingtheworld.org
> www.loisholzman.net
>
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 4, 2008, at 8:40 AM, Matt Ratto wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm a new subscriber to the list but some of you may know me. I did my
> > PhD in Communication at UC San Diego and often visited LCHC and talked
> > with Mike (Hi Mike!). I also spent a few months in Helsinki at the
> > Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Research with Yrjo
> > Engestrom and the great crew there.
> >
> > I'm currently in Umea, Sweden and had a conversation a few weeks ago
> > with Victor Kaptelinin about a book I'm currently working on. He
> > recommended that I post to the list some of my questions about the
> > links between Vygotsky and performance. I've noted a number of
> > similarities between the theories of emotion and activity in Vygotsky
> > and those in the performance theories of Meyerhold. (Basically, that
> > emotion is embedded in activity, rather that prior to it.) Has anyone
> > written on these connections, or connections between Vygotsky, Luria,
> > Leon'tev and contemporary theater or dance?
> >
> > I hope you don't mind a newbie posting a question!
> >
> > best,
> >
> > Matt
> >
> > --
> > Matt Ratto
> > Research Fellow
> > HUMlab/Department of History of Ideas
> > Umeå Universitet
> > 901 87 Umeå
> > SWEDEN
> >
> > Assistant Professor (Summer, 08)
> > Faculty of Information Studies
> > University of Toronto
> > Toronto, Canada
> > ----
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>

-- 
Sincerely yours Bella Kotik-Friedgut
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca