School of Performing Arts - Theses

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A Brief History of My Body: the space between the fiction and the real in contemporary performance

Voorendt, Ingrid ( 2011)

An investigation into the space between the reality of the performance act and the fiction presented within it. This research has been carried out in two parts: the creation of an original performance work, A Brief History of My Body (presented at the Victorian College of the Arts in September 2010), and the following dissertation. The creative work and dissertation research the work of contemporary practitioners relevant to the project, explore the potent ‘live’ space between reality and fiction with particular regard to the physical body in performance, and investigate the agency of the performer who plays consciously with and between fiction and reality. The dissertation has a major focus on the stages of thought that led to the creative process, concluding with a work of performance. The thesis is structured in two distinct parts. The first and major part is framed as a series of eight meditations, chronologically tracing the arc of the theoretical research prior to beginning work on the practical project. These meditations underpin the creative work, A Brief History of My Body, track the thought process behind it, and illuminate the ideas being slowly shaped. The second part of the thesis briefly reflects on the practical research.