Topic and Questions We Can Help You To Answer
Paper Instructions:
Assessment 1:
Detailed analysis of an instance of contemporary performance – description, analysis and contextualisation – (August 24) with written paper (1000 words)
Due Date: 1st Sept
An example of performance in contemporary life
LINK BELOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OrxRk1AOzM
Think broadly, and choose an example that you are curious about, and would like to explore in depth. As we have been doing in class (and in the field of Performance Studies, or Performance Anthropology) you may decide to look within the Arts -- a work of art, music, dance, or theatre --- or something “performative” from the culture at large, such as politics, costuming, speech, advertising, public display, ritual, religion, folk culture, etc… You are encouraged to be trans-cultural in your exploration; it is fine (and fascinating!) to explore performance in cultures you do not inhabit.
2) Write up your description and reflections as a 1000 word Essay. Include formal academic reference to any theorists and writers you find pertinent.
TIPS:
First of all, DESCRIBE this performance. How / who/ what / where / when – and then dig deeper. Issues to consider include – as we have been discussing in class - intimacy, scale, expertise, vernacular & pedestrian aesthetics, emotion, technology, distance, connection, presence, action and interaction, audience, attention, transformation, physicality, training, specialised languages, etc.
REFLECT on this performance in context: Does it serve or illuminate a particular culture or subculture? What is being created anew? Would this performance be ordinary, routine, or traditional to some people and not to others? What are the main experiences that we carry out of this performance? Does the “style” or “mode” of performance carry a message? How does it speak to your own practice?
