Articulating Embedded Choreographies: Implicit Knowledges As/And Choreographic Strategies
Date
2023-08
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
This thesis ‘looks back’ to ‘look forward’. I start with the assertion that there is a deficiency of choreographers documenting their processes that emerge in the laboratory. Using mixed methods this thesis focuses on embodied autoethnography to find a means to document and articulate my research and creative process. The first part of this research contextualises choreographic research in South Africa, choreography and embodiment and finally a conceptualisation of my understanding of choreographic strategies. The second part focuses on the embodiment philosophy of Michael Polanyi and articulates a third dimension of knowledge that exists in the gap between tacit and explicit knowledge: embedded-implicit knowledge. A clear correlation is established between embedded-implicit knowledge or ‘knowing’ and intuition. I then crafted Harald Grimen’s (1991) four interpretations of Michael Polanyi’s (1958) ‘tacit knowledge’ into choreographic strategies and used each as an approach in the development of specific creative tasks for the creation of an original choreography: L.I.F.E a history of distance (2017). My inspirations and musings became an invaluable part of this research through articulating my own interpretations of Grimen and my personal history as a source in developing a narrative structure for the work. Finally using a multi-modal reflection framework, developed from various reflexive practices, I reflected on the research and processes to answer the research question: How can Harald Grimen’s four interpretations of Michael Polanyi’s philosophy of tacit knowledge be interpreted as choreographic strategies to articulate the embedded-implicit knowledge within the process of documenting an embedded choreographic practice?
Description
Thesis submitted Faculty of Humanities, Wits School of Arts, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Theatre and Performance by Creative Research at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 2023.
Keywords
Embodiment, Choreography, South Africa, Harald Grimen, Michael Polanyi, Choreographic Writing, Creative Research, Choreographic Strategy, Tacit Knowledge, Explicit Knowledge, Intuition, Knowing, UCTD
Citation
Snyman, Johannes Hendrik Bailey. (2023). Articulating Embedded Choreographies: Implicit Knowledges As/And Choreographic Strategies. [PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WIReDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/39842