Dance Theatre: An Anti -Discursive Illustration of an Embodied Existence

This article investigates the value of dance theatre as a legitimate mode of empirical and somatic academic enquiry. It offers an in-depth analysis of Israeli choreographer Jasmin Vardimon’s recent work 7734; examining this piece in relation to the discursive theories of the post-structural philosopher Michel Foucault and the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu as well as applying the theory of ‘corporeality’ as posited by Susan Leigh Foster, Professor of Dance. Moreover, it considers Vardimon’s own identity as belonging to the third generation from the Holocaust through the lens of ‘post memory’ and analyses the impact of the choreographer’s inherited memories upon her art. Finally, the article addresses dance theatre, specifically the work of practice led researcher, Jasmin Vardimon, as a means of transcending dualistic tendencies inherent in discursive academic research; and demonstrating how dance theatre invokes the perception, reception and reflection of the unified subjective; the body and mind of those choreographing, dancing and, last but by no means least, watching.