Performance studies

Performance studies
Name	Performance studies
Focus	The study of performative acts, events, and practices

Performance studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines embodied actions, live events, and representational practices as sites of meaning-making and social action. It analyzes theatrical productions, rituals, public ceremonies, music concerts, protests, and everyday interactions through methods drawn from theatre studies, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies. Scholars in the field investigate practitioners, institutions, and audiences using ethnography, historiography, textual analysis, and practice-led research.

Definition and Scope

Performance studies covers scholarly inquiry into staged and unscripted events involving actors, performers, participants, and spectators. It addresses theatrical works such as Hamlet and Waiting for Godot, ritualized practices like Totem ceremonies and Noh (as performance traditions), musical performances tied to Jazz at Lincoln Center and Glastonbury Festival, and political acts connected to Stonewall riots and Solidarity (Poland). The scope extends to practices associated with figures and groups including Bertolt Brecht, Augusto Boal, Sarah Kane, Pina Bausch, and Merce Cunningham, and institutions such as Royal Shakespeare Company, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Teatro Colón. Research situates performances within contexts involving events like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Venice Biennale, World EXPO, and commemorative ceremonies such as Armistice Day observances.

History and Development

The field emerged from intersections among scholars and practitioners linked to institutions including the University of California, Berkeley, the New York University, and the University of Chicago, and centers such as the Tisch School of the Arts and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Key formative figures include Richard Schechner, Victor Turner, Erving Goffman, Judith Butler, and Diana Taylor. Influences trace through movements and works such as Performance Art exhibitions at Documenta, avant-garde experiments by Fluxus artists, the political theatre of Brechtian ensembles, and ritual studies inspired by fieldwork in regions like West Africa and Southeast Asia. Canon formation drew on texts circulated via presses like Cambridge University Press and Routledge, and conferences hosted by associations including the American Society for Theatre Research and the Performance Studies international network.

Theoretical Approaches and Methodologies

The field employs theoretical frameworks from thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Pierre Bourdieu, and Jacques Derrida, alongside discipline-specific models by Schechner and Turner. Methodologies include participant-observation practiced in the tradition of Bronisław Malinowski and Clifford Geertz, archival research using collections like those at the British Library and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and practice-as-research exemplified by practitioners affiliated with Royal Holloway and Goldsmiths, University of London. Analytical tools draw on semiotics as in the work of Umberto Eco, dramaturgy influenced by Konstantin Stanislavski, and discourse analysis shaped by Noam Chomsky debates. Ethical and reflexive methods reference standards promoted by organizations such as the American Anthropological Association and funding bodies including the European Research Council.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Performance studies intersects with theatre through entities like Barbican Centre and artists from Opéra Garnier, with anthropology through fieldwork traditions linked to National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City), with musicology via archives such as Smithsonian Folkways and artists like Miles Davis, and with political science through events like the Arab Spring. It engages visual art via collaborations with institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and artists from Yayoi Kusama to Marina Abramović, and links to gender studies through scholarship on figures such as bell hooks and Simone de Beauvoir. The field also connects to legal and human rights issues involving cases before institutions like the European Court of Human Rights and public performances at sites like Tahrir Square.

Key Topics and Practices

Major topics include embodiment studies as related to performers such as Josephine Baker and Martha Graham, ritual and liminality with reference to Victor Turner's fieldwork, political performance exemplified by Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed and protests like May 1968 events in France, and performance historiography centered on archives like the V&A Theatre and Performance Collections. Practice areas include devised theatre associated with Complicite, site-specific work at venues like High Line (New York City), performance art by Chris Burden, community arts projects tied to organizations such as National Theatre of Scotland, and digital performance initiatives involving festivals like SxSW. Pedagogy and rehearsal practices draw from traditions linked to Lee Strasberg, Jerzy Grotowski, and companies such as The Wooster Group.

Institutions, Education, and Training

Academic programs appear at universities including Northwestern University, University of California, Davis, Goldsmiths, University of London, New York University, and The Ohio State University, and conservatories like Juilliard School and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Research centers include Center for Performance Research (New York), Performance Studies international networks, and university-based labs such as the MIT Media Lab for digital performance. Festivals and venues that serve as training grounds include Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sundance Film Festival, Lincoln Center, and Sydney Opera House. Grants and awards relevant to scholars and practitioners come from bodies like the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacArthur Foundation, and prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Awards.

Contemporary Debates and Critiques

Current debates address cultural appropriation in works involving artists such as Gord Downie controversies and institutions like Metropolitan Museum of Art, the ethics of representation highlighted by cases including Ai Weiwei exhibitions, the commodification of participatory events at festivals like Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and the role of digital platforms exemplified by YouTube and TikTok in reshaping performance economies tied to companies like Live Nation. Critical voices draw on scholarship from Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Stuart Hall, and Homi K. Bhabha, and activist interventions from groups like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter inform discussions on access, inclusion, and censorship at venues including Carnegie Hall and municipal cultural bodies. Debates also consider pedagogy, the precarity of performers associated with unions like the Actors' Equity Association, and preservation challenges facing archives such as the American Folklife Center.

Category:Performing arts