MA DRAMA, THEATRE, & PERFORMANCE STUDIES

ABSURDING THE ABSURD:
USE AND TRANSFORMATION AS RESISTANCE IN PERFORMANCE

As someone who has sought intellectual shelter in academia during the lockdown period of a global pandemic, I have used this experience of physical, geographical, and at times emotional distance from my life as a contemporary dance artist to reevaluate and question the art form’s use. Central to my research is Sara Ahmed’s book, What’s the Use? On the Uses of Use (2019), which offers a critical framework, particularly her proposal of queer use, which I apply to my own specific artistic inquiries as I follow the often complicated yet potentially useful idea of the absurd. I problematize the absurd’s largely white and male-dominated past; however, I focus on adding discourse to methods and manifestations of the absurd beyond theatre-centric canons, to works of dance where use of the absurd can generate ways of being against the dominant sense as forms of resistance capable of transformative action and meaning-making. In this way I apply queer use to the absurd itself. I weave through This Bridge Called My Ass (2019) by Miguel Gutierrez, Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) by Maya Deren, fantasylover (2018) by Alyssa Martin, Sisyphus / Trans / Form (2019) by Dimitris Papaioannou, and Café Müller (1978) by Pina Bausch. Through a feminist lens and Ahmed’s queer use, I explore what it is about these works that engage in some form of repetition, of queer use of objects, spaces, and bodies, and of the absurd as both a feeling and a verb that subverts expectations and seeks a transformation of perception.

to read my thesis in an academic database: ProQuest | or for non-restricted, less stuffy access: CDTPS Database

select images from various projects:

LISTENING ON THE DAY - MICHAEL SEAN MARYE

2014-present

Ongoing research with BC-based Michael Sean Marye questioning listening and documentation through varied mediums.

Past work with Michael Sean:
Small Moves (2014)