The Sixth Sense of the Avant-Garde : Dance, Kinaesthesia and the Arts in Revolutionary Russia

Résumé de l'éditeur : "The touch and movement senses have a large place in the modern arts. This is widely discussed and celebrated, often enough as if it represents a breakthrough in a primarily visual age. This book turns to history to show just how significant movement and the sense of movement were to pioneers of modernism at the turn of the 20th century. It makes this history vivid through a picture of movement in the lives of an extraordinary generation of Russian artists, writers, theatre people and dancers bridging the last years of the tsars and the Revolution. Readers will gain a new perspective on the relation between art and life in the period 1890-1920 in great innovators like the poets Mayakovsky and Andrei Bely, the theatre director Meyerhold, the dancer Isadora Duncan and the young men and women in Russia inspired by her lead, and esoteric figures like Gurdjieff. Movement, and the turn to the body as a source of natural knowledge, was at the centre of idealistic creativity and hopes for a new age, for a 'new man', and this was true both for those who looked forward to the technology of the future and those who looked back to the harmony of Ancient Greece. The book weaves history and analysis into a colourful, thoughtful affirmation of movement in the expressive life." "The touch and movement senses have a large place in the modern arts. This is widely discussed and celebrated, often enough as if it represents a breakthrough in a primarily visual age. This book turns to history to show just how significant movement and the sense of movement were to pioneers of modernism at the turn of the 20th century. It makes this history vivid through a picture of movement in the lives of an extraordinary generation of Russian artists, writers, theatre people and dancers bridging the last years of the tsars and the Revolution. Readers will gain a new perspective on the relation between art and life in the period 1890-1920 in great innovators like the poets Mayakovsky and Andrei Bely, the theatre director Meyerhold, the dancer Isadora Duncan and the young men and women in Russia inspired by her lead, and esoteric figures like Gurdjieff. Movement, and the turn to the body as a source of natural knowledge, was at the centre of idealistic creativity and hopes for a new age, for a 'new man', and this was true both for those who looked forward to the technology of the future and those who looked back to the harmony of Ancient Greece. The book weaves history and analysis into a colourful, thoughtful affirmation of movement in the expressive life. "-- Provided by publisher Résumé de l'éditeur : "The touch and movement senses have a large place in the modern arts. This is widely discussed and celebrated, often enough as if it represents a breakthrough in a primarily visual age. This book turns to history to show just how significant movement and the sense of movement were to pioneers of modernism at the turn of the 20th century. It makes this history vivid through a picture of movement in the lives of an extraordinary generation of Russian artists, writers, theatre people and dancers bridging the last years of the tsars and the Revolution. Readers will gain a new perspective on the relation between art and life in the period 1890-1920 in great innovators like the poets Mayakovsky and Andrei Bely, the theatre director Meyerhold, the dancer Isadora Duncan and the young men and women in Russia inspired by her lead, and esoteric figures like Gurdjieff. Movement, and the turn to the body as a source of natural knowledge, was at the centre of idealistic creativity and hopes for a new age, for a 'new man', and this was true both for those who looked forward to the technology of the future and those who looked back to the harmony of Ancient Greece. The book weaves history and analysis into a colourful, thoughtful affirmation of movement in the expressive life." Cover page......Page 1 Halftitle page......Page 2 Title page......Page 4 Copyright page......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 9 NOTE ON THE TEXT......Page 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......Page 12 Introduction: Movement and Exuberant Modernism......Page 14 The senses......Page 34 Muscular feeling and kinaesthesia......Page 42 The kinaesthetic intellect......Page 52 ‘The higher sensitivity’......Page 57 Kinaesthesia and synaesthesia......Page 67 The new dance......Page 76 The Russian Hellenes......Page 80 ‘Ach, the devil take it, again they’re dancing here!’......Page 87 The perfect language: Andrei Bely on gesture......Page 94 The dance-word: the creative union of Esenin and Duncan......Page 103 Word plasticity: the budetliane and the bare-footed......Page 112 The mystic arts......Page 120 From Dalcroze to Gurdjieff......Page 127 ‘Presence’......Page 133 Mayakovsky dances the foxtrot......Page 140 Brik-dance......Page 146 Who thought up biomechanics?......Page 153 Technique......Page 164 Kinaesthesia in culture......Page 173 FURTHER READING......Page 186 NOTES......Page 188 INDEX......Page 222 Cover page 1 Halftitle page 2 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 CONTENTS 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9 NOTE ON THE TEXT 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 12 Introduction: Movement and Exuberant Modernism 14 CHAPTER ONE The Sixth Sense 34 The senses 34 Muscular feeling and kinaesthesia 42 CHAPTER TWO Search for Deeper Knowledge 52 The kinaesthetic intellect 52 ‘The higher sensitivity’ 57 Kinaesthesia and synaesthesia 67 CHAPTER THREE Expression in Dance 76 The new dance 76 The Russian Hellenes 80 ‘Ach, the devil take it, again they’re dancing here!’ 87 CHAPTER FOUR Speaking Movement 94 The perfect language: Andrei Bely on gesture 94 The dance-word: the creative union of Esenin and Duncan 103 Word plasticity: the budetliane and the bare-footed 112 CHAPTER FIVE By ‘the Fourth Way’ 120 The mystic arts 120 From Dalcroze to Gurdjieff 127 ‘Presence’ 133 CHAPTER SIX Thinking with the Body 140 Mayakovsky dances the foxtrot 140 Brik-dance 146 Who thought up biomechanics? 153 CHAPTER SEVEN Art as Bodily Knowledge 164 Technique 164 Kinaesthesia in culture 173 FURTHER READING 186 NOTES 188 INDEX 222 Machine generated contents note: -- List of illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Note on text/translation List of abbreviations Introduction: Movement and exuberant modernism Chapter 1 The sixth sense -- The senses -- Muscular feeling and kinaesthesia Chapter 2 Search for deeper knowledge -- The kinaesthetic intellect -- 'The higher sensitivity' -- Kinaesthesia and synaesthesia Chapter 3 Expression in dance -- The new dance -- The Russian Hellenes -- 'Ach, the devil take it, they're dancing here again' Chapter 4 Speaking movement -- The perfect language: Andrei Bely on gesture -- The dance-word: the creative union of Esenin and Duncan -- Word plasticity: the budetliane and the bare-footed Chapter 5 By 'the fourth way' -- The mystic arts -- From Dalcroze to Gurdjieff -- 'Presence' Chapter 6 Thinking with the body -- Mayakovsky dances the fox-trot -- Brik-dance -- Who thought up biomechanics? Chapter 7 Art as bodily knowledge -- Technique -- Kinaesthesia in culture Further reading -- Notes -- Index