Shamanic striptease
Dance, Movement & Spiritualities July 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1386/dmas.5.1.47_1 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA performance called Salvation: Shamanic Striptease, co-created with white South African performer Daniel P. Cunningham, develops 'shamanic striptease' as a practice seeking movement and vocalization that yield deep significance for performer and audience. Inspired by Jerzy Grotowski, it pursues naïve expression merging intention and action for dense, multi-interpretable performance. The process explores relationships between performer and audience experience, multivalent identity, and searches for transcendence in cosmopolitan London. Special attention goes to how postcolonial white settler identity politics intersect with queer cisgender masculinity.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Argues that 'shamanic striptease' elaborates a performance practice merging somatic and semiotic meaning, inspired by Grotowski, and that the work opens considerations of identity politics and transcendental searches in a cosmopolitan context. |
Abstract
Abstract This article explores a performance called Salvation: Shamanic Striptease. It considers how my co-creation of this spiritual–erotic work with white South African performer Daniel P. Cunningham1 has elaborated ‘shamanic striptease’ – an emergent practice through which he seeks to discover movement and vocalization (words and song) that yield deep significance for him (as performer) and for those who witness his performance. This is a process in which somatic and semiotic meaning are negotiated. Inspired by the vision of seminal Polish theatre practitioner Jerzy Grotowski (1933–99), shamanic striptease looks for what might be called naïve expression, that is, a close merging of intention and action that generates a dense performance open to multiple interpretations. Our working process opens up considerations of the relationships between performers’ and audiences’ experiences, the multivalence of identity and searches for the transcendental in a cosmopolitan context of London. Special consideration is given in this essay to how the identity politics of postcolonial white settler culture intersect with queer cisgender expressions of masculinity.