The Artistic Drive of Jean Cébron

The Artistic Drive of Jean Cébron
Dance Oral History in a Network of Change

Jean Cébron (1927-2019) was a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator.

Juan Allende-Blin 94 is a Chilean contemporary composer, scholar, and publisher.

These men were in their early twenties when they met in 1948.
Their creative collaboration started as Allende-Blin saw Cébron in Kurt Jooss’ politically charged “The Green Table” in Santiago del Chile.
Back in Germany in the 1950s, artists that were exiled during WW II like Kurt Jooss, were confronted with hostile cultural attitudes that remained in place after the Nazi regime. Against that climate, they persevered. In a recent oral history interview, Allende-Blin recounts their efforts to create art that captured and expressed contemporary sensibilities. Their drive and resilience during the 1960s paved the way to the blossoming of original forms of dance-making in Germany.

One of the challenges of documenting artistic production in connection with political and cultural change is making the network of relationships explicit. The mapping and networking of documents under open international standards is one approach to create visibility to developments over time. In this presentation,
Ricardo Viviani will propose a visual model and notation ontologies to present this study case. The goal is to leverage the power of semantic web to create Web3 applications to network knowledge in dance.

This presentation was given at the 2022 Dance Studies Conference in Vancouver, Canada.
#strategies_of_reconciliation, #transnational_activism, #queer_activism, #archive, #historiography, #semantic_web, #dance_knowledge_management

Dance Studies Association

28 Dec 202011 Jan 2026

Non-verbals in Oral History

Abstract

In this workshop, the professional choreographer and oral-historian Ricardo Viviani together with Sarah Walker, a fellow oral-historian will explore in which ways the awareness of non-verbal communication elements influence the outcome of an interview.

We are always communicating with our bodies. From postures to the placement of the body in space, these elements are constantly sending messages. By being aware of which non-verbal elements are important to observe, the interviewer can help the narrator feel more comfortable. A narrator that feels comfortable with the situation is freer to talk.

Of great importance are also the signals sent by the interviewer during an interview. Appropriate clothing that respects and eases the power structures at play during an interview, postures, gestures, help to engage the narrator. The body of the interviewer is just as important as the body of the narrator.

The analysis of video interviews can also benefit from the knowledge of non-verbals. Spoken language can acquire different colors and weights according to the complex interplay of non-verbals. Most oral-historians can adjust transcripts accordingly. This workshop will help to describe how these non-verbals are at play during the interview, thus helping to articulate the reasons for adjustments.

The workshop will consist of a theoretical introduction, examples that will be played out by the workshop leaders, followed by simulating situations and analyzing them. A group exchange of experiences will round-up this session.

21 Oct 201928 Dec 2025

Just Call Us Dancers

Just call us Dancers

Oral History in the performing arts

In the winter of 1980/81, I was awarded a scholarship to study at a dance studio located at 400 Lafayette Street in New York City. The name of this studio was Dancerschool. The studio was part of the life work of Dennis Wayne, a star dancer of the 1970s. His company was called “Dancers”, just the word “Dancers”. The simplicity of that name indicates that what they do should suffice. The art speaks for itself.

Continue reading “Just Call Us Dancers”

09 Aug 201911 Jan 2026

Common Dance, Uncommon Stories

Screenshot 2019 Abstract

Oral History epistemology for dance

Oral History is a methodology well suited to record the experience of active and passive agents in dance. Even though it is a relatively new tool from the historical sciences (Charlton, Myers, and Sharpless 2007), there is a sizable body of general literature available both on the web and in print.

Specific literature for oral history in dance is very sparse.

Beyond the biographical interview format, which is covered within the general methodology, oral history interviews have the potential to articulate aspects of dance that might require to expand from some of the best practice principles: a deeper immersion in the cultural circle of the project and possible intervention by the interviewer for example.

In this talk I will give a brief overview of the available literature, briefly talk about knowledge and meaning in dance, and subsequently deepen in a pragmatic analysis of the agents involved in dance praxis within the context of my professional practice as an oral historian in a single choreographer’s archive.

Tag: oral history