Bücher der Reihe New Studies in Aesthetics

Literary theory of the twentieth century in the Anglo-American tradition forms a coherent whole, dividing into discrete clusters. This theory is riddled with purely logical problems inherent in its enterprise, resulting from the fact that Modernist theory develops as an offshoot of Romanticism. Such fundamental flaws, or discontents, afflict all Modernist theory, from Russian Formalism through Structuralism and Deconstruction. The problems of Modernist theory cannot be solved; at most we can resolve to take theory in a new direction.

This book embarks on an interdisciplinary study of dance theater, one that provides a deeper insight into contemporary performing arts. Ciane Fernandes combines Laban movement analysis and the writings of Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault to investigate repetition in the works and creative process of Pina Bausch (b.1940), who is considered to be one of the most important choreographers of the twentieth century. This book examines repetition in Bausch¿s pieces as both method and subject, exploring its power in the metamorphosis of meaning. Repetition is used to subvert its own process of domination over the body at aesthetic, cognitive, and social levels. The body simultaneously becomes natural and linguistic, experiential and automatic, personal and social, constantly repeating and transforming the history of its domination.