Collaborative Embodied Performance - (Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues)

About the Book

"Bringing together cutting-edge scholarship in performance studies, cognitive science, sociology, literature, anthropology, psychology, architecture, philosophy, and sport science, this book asks: what do individuals bring to and do in collaborative embodied performance? How do group members with distinct capacities complement each other in skilled action? Innovative methodological approaches are applied to detailed case studies from martial arts, tango, social interaction, Body Weather, human-AI music composition, Front-of-House at the Globe Theatre, and failing at handstands. Each investigation exposes performance and theory as mutually revealing, informative and captivating. Short chapters fall into thematic clusters exploring embodied collaboration, cognition, and coordination, followed by commentaries from leading scholars in performance studies and cognitive science. Each brings to light different facets of the performance ecology present in the collaborative moment(s), equipping performance makers, students and researchers with theoretical, methodological and practical inspiration to delve deeper into their own embodied practices and critical thinking"--

Book Synopsis

This book is about joint intelligence in action. It brings together scholarship in performance studies, cognitive science, sociology, literature, anthropology, psychology, architecture, philosophy and sport science to ask how tightly knit collaboration works. Contributors apply innovative methodologies to detailed case studies of martial arts, social interaction, freediving, site-specific artworks, Body Weather, human-AI music composition, Front-of-House at Shakespeare's Globe, acrobatics and failing at handstands. In each investigation, performance and theory are mutually revealing, informative and captivating.

Short chapters fall into thematic clusters exploring complex ecologies of skill, collaborative learning and the microstructure of embodied coordination, followed by commentaries from leading scholars in performance studies and cognitive science. Each contribution highlights unique features of the performance ecology, equipping performance makers, students and researchers with the theoretical, methodological and practical inspiration to delve deeper into their own embodied practices and critical thinking.

Review Quotes

"In dancing the tango, watching a live performance, or constructing a site-specific art installation, individuals synergistically and seamlessly engage in complex collaborative actions. How can mind, body and environment mesh to achieve shared goals? Bicknell and Sutton's superb anthology is essential reading for anyone interested in better understanding thought in action in group endeavours." --Barbara Montero, City University of New York, USA

"By tracing how mindful expert performance can be shaped by ecological, social interpersonal, technological, and cultural factors, the essays collected in this book provide wonderfully in-depth accounts of skilled action in a diverse array of contexts and practices, from theatrical arts to martial arts. We find here important analyses of learning and skill acquisition, but also insights into live professional performance and training." --Shaun Gallagher, University of Memphis, USA

About the Author

Kath Bicknell is a Research Fellow in the Discipline of Anthropology at Macquarie University, Australia.
John Sutton is Emeritus Professor in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Macquarie University, Australia.