{"id":2978,"date":"2026-06-26T10:40:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ricardoviviani.com\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2026-08-31T09:24:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:24:01","slug":"reflections-on-10-years-of-oral-history-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ricardoviviani.com\/?p=2978","title":{"rendered":"Embodied Knowledge Articulated – Reflections on 10 Years of Oral History Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ricardo
Ricardo Viviani \u2014 Photo: Barbara Kaufmann<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Type:<\/strong> Presentation
Date:<\/strong> 26 June 2026
Context:<\/strong> International Conference Pina Bausch \u2013 From Ritual to Romance<\/em>, Bergische Universit\u00e4t Wuppertal
Institution:<\/strong> Pina Bausch Foundation
Role:<\/strong> Presenter \/ Researcher<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants:<\/strong>
\nRicardo Viviani
\nIsabelle Charnavel
\nLaura Wiemer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Embodied Knowledge Articulated<\/strong>
Reflections on Ten Years of Oral History Collection of the Pina Bausch Archives<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This presentation reflects on a decade of oral history work at the Pina Bausch Archives, examining how dancers\u2019 testimonies illuminate artistic processes, pedagogical lineages, cultural encounters, and personal histories within Tanztheater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on approximately seventy interviews, the project develops a methodological framework that integrates video testimony with archival materials to document rehearsal practices, generational formation, political and transcultural experiences, and moments of rupture or displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By making embodied experience narratable rather than theoretical, the presentation foregrounds narrative, memory, and institutional context, showing how oral history expands the archive and enables a more nuanced understanding of Tanztheater\u2019s artistic and historical development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presented within the conference section Epistemologies and Forms<\/em>, the contribution was situated among approaches that examined how knowledge in and through dance can be investigated from different disciplinary perspectives. The surrounding programme included formal approaches to dance and music cognition, as well as practice-based approaches to bodily memory, storytelling and the translation of dance into concrete action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archival Material:<\/strong>
\nPresentation material; conference documentation; presentation photograph; related oral-history material from the Pina Bausch Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Post Scriptum \u2014 30 August 2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This entry is revisited in the context of the conference programme and its published abstracts, allowing the presentation to be considered not only as a record of ten years of oral-history work but also in relation to the different epistemological and methodological approaches brought together by the conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contribution \/ Ertrag:<\/strong>
\nThe presentation contributed a long-term, practice-based oral-history perspective to the conference\u2019s discussion of epistemologies and forms in Pina Bausch\u2019s work. Its distinctive point of departure was not a formal analysis of movement or cognition, but a corpus of approximately seventy interviews and the methodological integration of testimony with archival materials. In relation to the other contributions, it connected questions of bodily knowledge and storytelling with the documentary and institutional conditions through which such knowledge can be preserved, transmitted and made available for further research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assessment \/ Relevanz:<\/strong>
\nThe presentation is relevant within the conference because it extends the discussion of embodied knowledge from the level of performance and interpretation toward the level of archival methodology. Its emphasis on making embodied experience narratable complements approaches concerned with bodily memory, translation, cognition and practice, while placing particular weight on long-term testimony, narrative and institutional context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords:<\/strong>
\nOral History; embodied knowledge; Pina Bausch; Tanztheater Wuppertal; dance; memory; testimony; archival practice; epistemology; narrative; embodiment; rehearsal; choreography; cultural memory; methodology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

External Links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pina Bausch \u2013 From Ritual to Romance \u2014 Bergische Universit\u00e4t Wuppertal<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pina Bausch \u2013 From Ritual to Romance \u2014 Conference Flyer<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pina Bausch Foundation \u2014 Interviews<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Internal Links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Presentation Script \/ Conference Material<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n

\nArchival Note:<\/strong> 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<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Type: PresentationDate: 26 June 2026Context: International Conference Pina Bausch \u2013 From Ritual to Romance, Bergische Universit\u00e4t WuppertalInstitution: Pina Bausch FoundationRole: Presenter \/ Researcher Participants: Ricardo Viviani Isabelle Charnavel Laura Wiemer Embodied Knowledge ArticulatedReflections on Ten Years of Oral History Collection of the Pina Bausch Archives This presentation reflects on a decade of oral history work … <\/p>\n

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