Performed Ethnography and Communication explores the relationships between these three key terms, addressing the impact of ethnography and communication on the cutting edge of performance studies. Ranging from digital performance, improvisation and the body, to fieldwork and staged collaboration, this volume is divided into two main sections: "Embodied technique and practice," which addresses improvisation, devised theatre-making, and body work to consider what makes bodies move, sound, behave, mean, or appear differently, and the effects of these differences on performance; "Oral history and personal narrative performance," which is concerned with the ways personal stories and histories might be transformed into public events, looking at questions of perspective, ownership, and reception. Including specific historical and theoretical case studies, exercises and activities, and practical applications for improvisation, ethnography, and devised and digital performance, Performed Ethnography and Communication represents an invaluable resource for today’s student of performance studies, communication studies or cultural studies.
D. Soyini Madison is Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, USA.
List of figuresAcknowledgmentsPrologueIntroductionPART 1 Embodied technique and practiceChapter 1 Embodied technique and practiceTechniquePracticeInterview with Ben SpatzExamples of technique and practiceCase study one: Digital Portobelo with Renee Alexander CraftChapter 2 ImprovisationThe inherited body we bring to performance practiceKey concepts in improvisational acting and performanceExamples Chapter 3 Devised theatreEthnographic data and processSuggested stages for devised performanceIn summaryInterview with Honey Pot PerformanceCase study two: the digital in dialogic performance across two continentsChapter 4 Movement and scenes of body workWarm-up improvisations for neutral maskEfforts and factors from Laban/BartenieffImprovisation exercises for efforts and factorsImprovisational exercises for BESSThe 5Rhythms from Gabrielle RothAugusto Boal and Newspaper Theatre PART 2 Oral history and personal narrative performanceChapter 5 The value of oral history and life storyWho owns the story?Interview with E. Patrick JohnsonOral history as permission, public pedagogy, and provocationOn truth Chapter 6 The narrative/narrated event and the anatomy of emotion The narrative eventThe narrated eventCase study three: holograms in a live staging of history: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fireChapter 7 Anatomy of emotion: the brain, performance, and oral historyProprioceptionMirror neurons and simulation theoryChapter 8 Performing oral history and life stories Solo performanceExercises Chapter 9 Viewpoints in rehearsal ExamplesSelected viewpoints for oral history and performanceCase study four: the storyteller's magnified embodiments in real-time telling Chapter 10 Jerzy Grotowski's plastiques and Viola Spolin's speech and soundThe brain of the body and the body of the brainInterview with Stephen WanghExamplesEpilogue: the intermix of performance, ethnography, and communicationAppendix: illustration of creativity and the brainBibliographyIndex