Embodied Consciousness : Performance Technologies

This volume of essays combines research from neuroscience, conscious studies, methods of training performers, modes of creating a staged narrative, Asian aesthetics, and post-modern theories of performance in an examination of the relationship between consciousness and performance. This volume of essays combines research from neuroscience, consciousness studies, performer training systems, modes of creating a staged narrative, Asian aesthetics, and post-modern theories of performance in an examination of the relationship between consciousness and performance. Written by actors, directors, dancers, historians and theorists, the essays participate in the paradigm shift in the humanities and the arts from the textual to the performative. It is precisely that experience that is at the centre of the shift in the scientific study of consciousness. This collection of essays brings together a representation of this paradigm shift and the increasing body of research emerging at the intersections of consciousness and performance from theories of performance training to explorations on the role of performance in the construction of cultural aesthetics and community consciousness Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Notes on Contributors 11 Introduction 15 1 Consciousness and the Brain: A Window to the Mind 26 Part I: Pedagogy of Performance Training 42 2 The Neuroscience of Performance Pedagogy 43 3 Embodying Deep Practice: A Pedagogical Approach to Actor Training 58 4 When Consciousness Fragments: A Personal Encounter with Stage Fright in Performance 69 Part II: Eastern Influences on Western Performance Training Technologies 85 5 Motion in Stillness – Stillness in Motion: Contemplative Practice in the Performing Arts 86 6 Pause in Breath: Potential for Altered States of Consciousness in Traditional Indian Performance 102 7 Embodied Consciousness: Warm-Up and Cool-Down 113 8 Altered States: Radiating Consciousness in Michael Chekhov's Technique 123 Part III: Reception and Reflection in Contemporary Performance 138 9 Irish Biopolitics and National (Un)Consciousness: Gerard Mannix Flynn's Public Performances of Inclusion 139 10 The Performance Mirror: Self, Consciousness and Verbatim Theatre 155 11 Oprah Feelin': Technologies of Reception in the Commercial Flash Mob 169 Part IV: Theorizing the Consciousness of Postmodern Performance 187 12 Re-examining Heidegger to Uncover Creativity in the Iteratively Bound Performer 188 13 Aesthetic Encounters of a Collective Consciousness 204 14 Metatheatre and Consciousness 218 Index 228 Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-11 Consciousness and the Brain: A Window to the Mind....Pages 12-27 Front Matter....Pages 29-29 The Neuroscience of Performance Pedagogy....Pages 31-45 Embodying Deep Practice: A Pedagogical Approach to Actor Training....Pages 46-56 When Consciousness Fragments: A Personal Encounter with Stage Fright in Performance....Pages 57-72 Front Matter....Pages 73-73 Motion in Stillness — Stillness in Motion: Contemplative Practice in the Performing Arts....Pages 75-90 Pause in Breath: Potential for Altered States of Consciousness in Traditional Indian Performance....Pages 91-101 Embodied Consciousness: Warm-Up and Cool-Down....Pages 102-111 Altered States: Radiating Consciousness in Michael Chekhov’s Technique....Pages 112-126 Front Matter....Pages 127-127 Irish Biopolitics and National (Un)Consciousness: Gerard Mannix Flynn’s Public Performances of Inclusion....Pages 129-144 The Performance Mirror: Self, Consciousness and Verbatim Theatre....Pages 145-158 Oprah Feelin’: Technologies of Reception in the Commercial Flash Mob....Pages 159-176 Front Matter....Pages 177-177 Re-examining Heidegger to Uncover Creativity in the Iteratively Bound Performer....Pages 179-194 Aesthetic Encounters of a Collective Consciousness....Pages 195-208 Metatheatre and Consciousness....Pages 209-218 Back Matter....Pages 219-229 "This volume of essays combines research from neuroscience, consciousness studies, performer training systems, modes of creating a staged narrative, Asian aesthetics, and post-modern theories of performance in an examination of the relationship between consciousness and performance. Written by actors, directors, dancers, historians and theorists, the essays participate in the paradigm shift in the humanities and the arts from the textual to the performative. It is precisely that experience that is at the centre of the shift in the scientific study of consciousness. This collection of essays brings together a representation of this paradigm shift and the increasing body of research emerging at the intersections of consciousness and performance from theories of performance training to explorations on the role of performance in the construction of cultural aesthetics and community consciousness"-- Provided by publisher