Universität Wien
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135046 VO VO: Dance Texts (2025S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 13 - Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft
We 19.03. 11:30-13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4

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Details

Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 26.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 02.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4
  • Wednesday 09.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 30.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4
  • Wednesday 07.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4
  • Friday 09.05. 09:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4
  • Wednesday 14.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 21.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4
  • Wednesday 28.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Digital
  • Wednesday 04.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4
  • Wednesday 11.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal D Unicampus Hof 10 Hirnforschungzentrum Spitalgasse 4

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The literary study of dance texts (Thurner 2009) provides insights into the variety of historically evaluations of social and stage dances, ranging from sacred dances to various theatrical dances. Some of the dances were widely criticized, particularly with regard to their supposed effects on gender relations. At the same time, each dance text presents possible solutions to the challenge of the implicit change of medium caused by notating dance or writing about dance (Russell 2020). The lecture provides insights into selected dance texts from the early modern period to the present, with a focus on French dance-theoretical texts, ranging from the courtly dance of the early modern period to classical ballet and the groundbreaking pieces of the Ballets Russes and Ballets Espagnoles, as well as the avant-garde US-American, Indian, Balinese or Japanese dances of the Parisian stages, as France was long considered to be a major influence in European discourse (Cramer 2009). By considering aesthetic developments in the field of stage dance and their reflection, adaptation or contrast in England, Germany, Austria and Italy for the period up to 1900, as well as the dance and textual aesthetic innovations of American and Belgian dancers and choreographers in the 20th and 21st centuries and an insight into the Tango Argentino which is characterized as ‘nomadic’, the view of dance texts outside France is expanded.
The aim of the lecture is to provide an introduction to the genre of dance text and to literary and cultural research interests, particularly with regard to interpersonal relationships and associated gender images, as well as to raise awareness not only of the contextuality of dance-theoretical discourses, but also of the interaction between notation systems, different writing practices and dance aesthetics in historical change. The contents of the lecture are conveyed by the course instructor and discussed interactively with the students on the basis of selected texts.

Assessment and permitted materials

Final written exam in the last session. Further written exam dates by appointment (in July and September). Aids are not allowed.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Knowledge of the presented content and theses. In the written exam, the aim is to answer the questions in the form of an essay/free text in one and a half hours. Assessment based on the depth, precision and detail of the answers to the exam questions. A total of 100 points are awarded for the exam. To pass with a grade of “sufficient” (4), at least 60 points out of a possible 100 must be achieved; for a “satisfactory” (3) grade, at least 70 points; for a “good” (2) grade, at least 80 points; and for a “very good” (1) grade, at least 90 points.

Examination topics

The exam is based on the lecture notes and slides, the latter are available on Moodle. Supplementary reading and accompanying theoretical texts can be studied optionally for a deeper understanding.

Reading list

Aurnhammer, Achim/Schnitzer, Günter (ed.) (2009): Der Tanz in den Künsten 1770 - 1914. Freiburg Br. Wien [u.a.]: Rombach (Rombach Wissenschaften : Reihe Scenae, 10).
Brandstetter, Gabriele (ed.) (1993): Aufforderung zum Tanz: Geschichten und Gedichte. Stuttgart: Reclam.
Brandstetter, Gabriele /Wulf, Christopher (ed.) (2007): Tanz als Anthropologie. München: Fink.
Brandstetter, Gabriele (2015): Poetics of Dance. Body, Image, and Space in the Historical Avant-Gardes. Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Cramer, Franz Anton (2009): Bewegungserkenntnis. Zu einigen Modellen, dem Kinetischen gerecht zu werden. In: Huschka, Sabine (ed.): Wissenskultur Tanz. Historische und zeitgenössische Vermittlungsakte zwischen Praktiken und Diskursen. Bielefeld: Transcript, 133-143.
Dahms, Sibylle (2010): Der konservative Revolutionär. Jean Georges Noverre und die Ballettreform des 18. Jahrhunderts. München: epodium (derra dance research, 4).
Foster, Susan Leigh (1998): Choreography & Narrative. Ballet's Staging of Story and Desire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Franko, Mark (2015): Dance as text. Ideologies of the Baroque Body. Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Huschka, Sabine (2020): Choreographierte Körper im Theatron. Auftritte und Theoria ästhetischen Wissens. München: epodium.
Jeschke, Claudia (1983): Tanzschriften. Ihre Geschichte und Methode. Die illustrierte Darstellung eines Phänomens von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Bad Reichenhall: Comes-Verl. (Publikationen des Instituts für Musikwissenschaft der Universität Salzburg Derra de Moroda Dance Archives Tanzforschungen, 2).
Jones, Susan (2013): Literature, Modernism, and Dance. Oxford: University Press.
Müller-Farguell, Roger W. (1995): Tanz-Figuren. Zur metaphorischen Konstitution von Bewegungen in Texten. Schiller, Kleist, Heine, Nietzsche. München: Fink.
Nachtergael, Magali/Toth, Lucille (ed.) (2015): Danse contemporaine et littérature. Entre fictions et performances écrites. Pantin: Centre National de la Danse (Recherches).
Ring, Weijie (2022): Tanz in der Literatur. Zum kulturgeschichtlichen und ästhetischen Wandel in der Sattelzeit (1750–1850). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Hermaea, Neue Folge, Band 157).
Rothenberger, Eva / Ladevèze, Charlotte (ed.): Écrire la danse et danser l’écrit. Schriftsteller, Tänzer und Choreographen zwischen den Künsten. Écrivains, danseurs et chorégraphes entre les arts. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023.
Russell, Tilden (2020): Dance theory. Source readings from two millennia of Western dance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Thurner, Christina (2009): Beredte Körper – bewegte Seelen. Zum Diskurs der doppelten Bewegung in Tanztexten. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
Thurner, Christina (2024): Erinnerungen tanzen. Autobiografien als Quellen der Tanzhistoriografie. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.

Association in the course directory

BA M4; MA M3

Last modified: Fr 24.01.2025 17:26