Performance and Modernity: Enacting Change on the Globalizing Stage

Performance and Modernity explores how ideas take shape in the human body through new styles of performance, such as acting, dance, music, pageantry, avant-garde provocations, film, video, and networked media. It demonstrates how stage actors and audiences adapted to a modernizing world by modeling new habits and borrowing strategies performers enacted.

Format: Hardback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 06 January 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

How do ideas take shape? How do concepts emerge into form? This book argues that they take shape quite literally in the human body, often appearing on stage in new styles of performance. Focusing on the historical period of modernity, Performance and Modernity: Enacting Change on the Globalizing Stage demonstrates how the unforeseen impact of economic, industrial, political, social, and psychological change was registered in bodily metaphors that took shape on stage. In new styles of performance-acting, dance, music, pageantry, avant-garde provocations, film, video, and networked media, this book finds fresh evidence for how modernity has been understood and lived, both by stage actors, who, in modelling new habits, gave emerging experiences an epistemological shape, and by their audiences, who, in borrowing the strategies performers enacted, learned to adapt to a modernizing world.

This book explores the fascinating relationship between performance and modernity, delving into the ways in which ideas and concepts manifest themselves physically within the human body. During the period of modernity, the author argues, these ideas took shape in unique and innovative ways, often making their debut on the global stage through various forms of performance. By examining the historical context of modernity, the book showcases how economic, industrial, political, social, and psychological changes were expressed through bodily metaphors that emerged on stage. These performances, encompassing acting, dance, music, pageantry, avant-garde provocations, film, video, and networked media, provide a rich source of evidence for understanding how modernity has been perceived and experienced by both stage actors and their audiences.

The author emphasizes that stage actors played a crucial role in shaping the understanding and experience of modernity. By adopting new habits and practices, they not only modeled emerging experiences but also gave them an epistemological shape. Through their performances, they offered insights into the complexities of the modern world and helped audiences navigate the challenges and opportunities it presented. On the other hand, audiences were also beneficiaries of these performances, as they adopted the strategies and techniques performers enacted, learning to adapt to the rapidly changing world around them.

The book explores the diverse range of performances that contributed to the understanding and experience of modernity. It examines how actors and audiences engaged with new forms of expression, challenging traditional notions of art and performance. It also highlights the role of technology in shaping the evolution of performance, as it enabled artists to create and share their work with a wider audience, expanding the boundaries of what was possible on stage.

In conclusion, this book offers a compelling exploration of the relationship between performance and modernity, demonstrating how ideas and concepts take shape physically within the human body. Through a focus on the historical period of modernity, it provides fresh evidence for understanding how modernity has been perceived and experienced by stage actors and their audiences. By examining the diverse range of performances that emerged during this time, the book sheds light on the ways in which performance has played a vital role in shaping our understanding of the world and our place in it.

Weight: 624g
Dimension: 159 x 234 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108833066