“The Story Is Told As A History of the Body”:Strategies of Mimesis in the Work of Irigaray and Bausch By: Susan Kozel Jen Pryor and Edited By: Laura Pratt and Dr. Kay Picart

“In Dance Theater the story is told as a history of the body, not as danced literature…If a logic exists it is not a logic of the consciousness, but of the body, one that adheres not to the laws of causality but rather to the principle of analogy (101).” Dance Theater is an analogy or mimesis (101). What is a mimesis? –__________________________________.

“Poetry, painting and dancing, Sir, are, or should be, no other than a faithful likeness of beautiful nature”- Noverre, dancer and scholar. Mimesis found in work of Luce Irigaray and Pina Bausch based on a principle of repetition or analogy. There is always a moment of excess or remainder in the mimetic process –Remainder is a moment of _________ –Hope for regeneration –Distortion is ________, affecting the situation of bodies in ___ and ____ (101).

Mimetic Strategy What is duality? Examples of dualisms: Dominate vs. Subordinate

Discussion Question Do you believe that duality within the structure of our society it is a guise of indifference?

Distortion What is blended? What does it show?

Time, Space, Fluidity, and Desire What does Irigaray argue about this? Space: –No distinction between _____ and _________. –________ environments –Nature vs. Artificial, Reality vs. Theater

Time: ______________ Simple movement, draws out hidden emotion and lets it transform and distort the movement as it is repeated over and over Fluidity: ________________ ________________ ______

“New Symbolic” Term taken from Lacan: ________________________________ ________________________________ ________ Symbolic is a junction of the _____, _______and _______. New social and political order requires a new symbolic.

Discussion Question Irigaray ideas are expressed through Bausch’s choreography and the art of dance. Do you believe that this mimesis can occur without the expression of the body through dance? Why or why not?

Works Cited Inskeep, Steve. “Profile: German ballet choreographer Pina Bausch and her unusual works.” 20 March November Kozel, Susan. “The Story is Told as a History of the Body”: Strategies of Mimesis in the work of Irigaray and Bausch.” Meaning in Motion. Ed. Jane C. Desmond. Durham: Duke University Press, Switala, Kristin. “Feminist Theory Website: Luce Irigaray.” 20 March