Unearthing the Spirit The Archaeological Metaphor and the Uncanny Pathology of Romantic Ballet
Bing-Heidecker, Liora ( 1949- )
Unearthing the Spirit The Archaeological Metaphor and the Uncanny Pathology of Romantic Ballet / Liora Bing-Heidecker .-- Edinburgh: : Edinburgh University Press, , 2017
22 p.
Dance Research -- Vol. 35, núm. 2, Winter 2017, p. 165 - 186
RESUMEN: This article draws on Théophile Gautier's dance writing and Sigmund Freud's psychological tenets to explore major concepts of the romantic ballet and argue that the latter presents a hitherto ignored link between two apparently detached disciplines: archaeology and psychoanalysis. The thesis suggests that the romantic ballet assimilated, via Gautier, the highly popular archaeological metaphor of the mid nineteenth century. Its resulting aesthetic therefore bears the distinct marks of the uncanny, a psychoanalytical notion formulated later, yet stimulated by the same archaeological inspiration. Consequently I contend that the romantic ballet anticipated and materialized some current critical notions such as liminality, ambiguity and hauntology, deriving from Freud's theories. Historicizing the ballerina as a personification of ballet's uncanny pathology offers a contemporary perspective on the romantic theatrical dance and illuminates its relevance to post modernist culture. PALABRAS CLAVE: Uncanny, Archaeological Metaphor, Romantic Ballet, Hauntology, Gautier, Freud, Derrida, Lacan
Unearthing the Spirit The Archaeological Metaphor and the Uncanny Pathology of Romantic Ballet / Liora Bing-Heidecker .-- Edinburgh: : Edinburgh University Press, , 2017
22 p.
Dance Research -- Vol. 35, núm. 2, Winter 2017, p. 165 - 186
RESUMEN: This article draws on Théophile Gautier's dance writing and Sigmund Freud's psychological tenets to explore major concepts of the romantic ballet and argue that the latter presents a hitherto ignored link between two apparently detached disciplines: archaeology and psychoanalysis. The thesis suggests that the romantic ballet assimilated, via Gautier, the highly popular archaeological metaphor of the mid nineteenth century. Its resulting aesthetic therefore bears the distinct marks of the uncanny, a psychoanalytical notion formulated later, yet stimulated by the same archaeological inspiration. Consequently I contend that the romantic ballet anticipated and materialized some current critical notions such as liminality, ambiguity and hauntology, deriving from Freud's theories. Historicizing the ballerina as a personification of ballet's uncanny pathology offers a contemporary perspective on the romantic theatrical dance and illuminates its relevance to post modernist culture. PALABRAS CLAVE: Uncanny, Archaeological Metaphor, Romantic Ballet, Hauntology, Gautier, Freud, Derrida, Lacan