Type: Presentation · Individual Paper
Date: 9 August 2019
Context: Dance Studies Association Conference Dancing in Common
Location: Evanston, Illinois, USA
Role: Presenter · Researcher
Affiliation: FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany
Common Dance, Uncommon Stories — Oral History epistemology for dance explored how Oral History might be approached within the particular conditions of dance practice and a dance artist’s archive.
The presentation considered how people involved in dance may hold different experiences of the same work, and how these experiences can become part of its historical record. It focused on the relationship between embodied knowledge, oral narration and memory, with particular attention to the roles people occupy within theatrical dance.
The idea of the “paradoxical body” provided one point of departure: the body transformed through choreography carries traces of experience that may not be fully accessible through conventional documentation.
The presentation also considered the specific character of speaking about dance. Language in and around the studio can be pragmatic, affective or metaphorical, and can remain closely connected to movement and context. The interview was therefore approached as a situation in which dance experience can become a historical narrative.
Time and memory formed another part of the inquiry. The experience of a dance event and the later moment of the interview are not the same. The presentation considered how these different temporal positions shape the narratives through which dance is remembered.
One common dance generates many uncommon stories.
Archival Material:
Conference submission; presentation slides; presentation script; conference proceedings; research notes.
Post Scriptum — 30 August 2026
This entry preserves the public record of the 2019 presentation. A separate protected page retains a fuller reconstruction of its argument and working materials.
Contribution / Ertrag:
The presentation brought Oral History into dialogue with questions specific to dance: lived experience, embodied knowledge, roles within theatrical practice, and the changing temporal position of the interview.
Assessment / Relevanz:
The presentation is relevant as an early record of Viviani’s research into the relationship between dance practice and Oral History. It shows an emerging concern with how the experience of dance can be documented through multiple voices without reducing the work to a single account.
Keywords:
Oral History; Dance Epistemology; Embodied Knowledge; Theatrical Dance; Orality; Memory; Creation; Performance; Reception; Dance Archives; Historiography
External Links
Dance Studies Association — 2019 Conference Proceedings
Jaana Parviainen — “Bodily Knowledge: Epistemological Reflections on Dance”
Internal Links
Presentation Script — Common Dance, Uncommon Stories
Just Call Us Dancers — Oral History in the Performing Arts
[im]materiality — The Whole Life: Archives and Reality
Archival Note: This page forms part of an ongoing personal archive documenting Ricardo Viviani’s professional work and activities over more than four decades. Names and other personal information appear where relevant to the documented work or collaboration. If you believe that information concerning you has been published incorrectly or should be reconsidered, please contact me.