From Renaissance festivals to Breton dance championships, from the Prix de Lausanne to hip-hop battles, competitions have always played a central role in the world of choreography. Whether held in a gym or on stage, they are individual and collective rituals in the training of dancers. But does competing in dance mean incorporating norms or asserting one's uniqueness ? Giving in to rivalry or experimenting with a form of encounter ? Between athletic virtuosity and artistic research, distinction and surpassing oneself, public recognition and the risk of standardization, dance competitions activate many paradoxes that run through the field of dance.
This book explores these ambivalences, laying the groundwork for a history that has been little documented until now. Combining historical, sociological, philosophical, and aesthetic approaches, it examines the complexity of competitive systems as well as their role in the economy, visibility, and invention of dance.
Published under the direction of Laetitia Basselier, PhD in dance philosophy and teacher.
Texts by Michel Briand, Theresa J. Buckland, Laura Cappelle, Carole Christe, Marc Clérivet, Angela Conquet, Ann David, Sherril Dodds, Isabelle Dufau, Catherine E. Foley, Laure Guilbert, Rebecca Hilton, Tristan Jézéquel Coajou, Gediminas Karoblis, Akène Lenoir, Hélène Marquié, Marco Mary, Valentine Nagata-Ramos, Anne Nguyen, Ana Rita Nicoliello, Marina Nordera, Emilie Ouedraogo Spencer, Mélanie Papin, Guillaume Sintès, Joanna Szymajda, Thierry Terret, Georgiana Wierre-Gore.