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“It caught me”

Dance, Possession, and Revolt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2025

Konstantina Georgelou
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Abstract

Bodies in possession and in revolt are often framed as being “caught” by some other entity—a spirit, a force, or a memory. Cases of rebellion involve a loss of intentionality of movement, unlike a subject who wills and decides. What is the political significance of the illegibility of such movements, before they are consigned to taxonomies and diagnoses that render them pathological, criminal, or demonic? What thinking about dance might this permit?

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Type
Article
Information
TDR , Volume 69 , Issue 3: Performance, Possession, and Automation Brown University TDR Consortium Issue , September 2025 , pp. 160 - 170
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of New York University Tisch School of the Arts

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TDReadings

Lepecki, André. 2013. “Choreopolice and Choreopolitics: or, the task of the dancer.” TDR 57, 4 (T220):13–27. doi.org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00300CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mee, Erin B. 2014. “Standing Man and the Impromptu Performance of Hope: An Interview with Erdem Gündüz.” TDR 58, 3 (T223):69–83. doi.org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00373CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Assche, Annelies, and Schaffer, Kareth. 2023. “Flexible Performativity: What Contemporary Dancers Do When They Do What They Do.” TDR 67, 1 (T257):203–22. doi.org/10.1017/S1054204322000922CrossRefGoogle Scholar