Ritual Design for the Ballet Stage: Constructions of Popular Culture in European Theatrical Dance, 1650–1760
(Hanna Walsdorf, Petra Dotlacilová, e.a.)
Emmy Noether Research Group at the University of Leipzig, 2015–2019
The Project: Aims & Claims:
The three main components of theatrical dance – choreography, music, and costumes/ décor – have scarcely been investigated as a complex whole. On a broad basis of source materials, the project aims at systematically contextualizing and deciphering attributes and narratives. Therefore, an empirical, philological and iconographical analysis of the historical records is to be done, supported by ongoing academic discourses on transculturality, materiality and performance in order to confirm the European ballet stages as places of political and social negotiations creating images of popular, foreign and imagined cultures.
The ritual connection is self-evident: when the Other was portrayed in dance, be it in the form of peasant festivals, noble savages or ancient ceremonies, patterns of space and motion were generously applied in order to provide the audience with a clear ritual framework for the actions on stage. Working on the basis of a broad range of materials, this finding will be systematically researched and analyzed in case studies from Paris, London, Milan and Stuttgart in four subprojects:
SP 1: Transcultural Encounters (Dr. Hanna Walsdorf)
SP 2: Choreographical Structures (Kathrin Stocker M.A.)
SP 3: Compositional Strategies (Jelena Rothermel, M.A.)
SP 4: Vestmental Designs (Petra Dotlacilova M.A.)
Petra Dotlacilová, Prag, Tschechische Republik:
Doctoral student. Graduated at the Charles University (Italian philology) and Academy of Performing Arts (Dance Studies) in Prague, Czech Republic.
In 2013 her MA dissertation was published in Prague under the title Vývoj baletu-pantomimy v osvícenské Evropě (The Development of ballet pantomime in Enlightenment Europe).In February 2015 she commenced doctoral research at the University of Stockholm. In her thesis she will examine the development and reforms of the theatre costume in Paris from the perspective of Enlightenment concepts of 'nature', 'truth', 'character' and 'nation'. In Stockholm she takes part in project "Performing Premodernity". In March 2015 she also began a collaboration with Dr Hanna Walsdorf's project "Ritual Design for the Ballet Stage: Constructions of Popular Culture in European Theatrical Dance (1650–1760)" at the University of Leipzig.
Hanna Walsdorf, Leipzig, Deutschland:
Studium der Musik- und Tanzwissenschaft, Politischen Wissenschaft sowie der Historische Hilfswis-senschaften und Archivkunde an den Universitäten Salzburg, Bonn und Bern. Magisterexamen 2006 in Bonn,im Juli 2009 Promotion mit Auszeichnung in Salzburg. 2009–2013 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im SFB 619 »Ritualdynamik« an der Universität Heidelberg. Seit April 2014 Leiterin der Emmy Noether-Nachwuchsgruppe »Ritualdesign für die Ballettbühne: Konstruktionen von Volkskultur im europäischen Theatertanz (1650–1760)« am Institut für Theaterwissenschaft der Universität Leipzig.
