Towards the transformed body: the case study of "Unshelved"

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research report explores the notion of the transformed body through the case study of Unshelved. The production of Unshelved serves as a vehicle to investigate the depth and extent of different performance dance inscriptions, traditional and contemporary, embedded in the body. This research is structured in Episodes. Episode One deals with how my identity as an Ewe Ghanaian boy was constructed and expressed through my traditional dance, and how this identity formed the base on which other identities were realized in my interaction with other cultures and their dance forms. Episode Two introduces my contemporary experience in South Africa and how my already codified Ghanaian body reacted to this experience. It deals with how my body transformed through experience with the old and the new. Episode Three unravels my journey through five identified societal structures and how my interactions with these structures were inscribed upon my body. It deals with the deconstruction of these societal structures as expressed through the creative research project Unshelved. Episode Four deals with the methodology used in this research as it investigates how materials could be excavated from the body which is a store house of memory. This Episode puts the body at the heart of the investigation as a primary tool from which intelligence is gathered. In conclusion, Episode Five defines the notion of the transformed body through a hybrid of practices that acknowledge the multi layered inscriptions that lie embedded in the contemporary body.