Unworking Choreography

Frédéric Pouillaude is Lecturer in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. This book was originally published in French as Le Désoeuvrement Chorégraphique. Étude sur la Notion d'Oeuvre en Danse (Vrin, 2009).

Preface to the English edition

Translator's Preface

Introduction and acknowledgements

PART 1: PHILOSOPHY OF DANCE AND THE ABSENTING OF WORKS

Chapter 1: On Transcendental Absenting
Chapter 2: A Time with No Outside (Valéry and Jouissance)
Chapter 3: A Space with No Place (Straus and Ecstasy)
Chapter 4: The Absence of the Work: Presence, Expenditure, Auto-affection

PART 2: THE WORK (1): THE STAGE AND SIGNIFICATION

Chapter 1: Mallarmé: Deciphering the Stage
Chapter 2: Spectacle, Ritual, Divertissement (Genesis and Structure of the
Choreographic Stage, I)
Chapter 3: Presence, Ideality, Signification (Genesis and Structure of the
Choreographic Stage, II)
Chapter 4: Artaud: Presence and Ritual

PART 3: THE WORK (2): IMMANENCE AND IDEALITY

Chapter 1: Writing That Says Nothing
Chapter 2: Identity: Two Regimes
Chapter 3: Oral Identities: Passing Dance on, Making Versions
Chapter 4: The Supporting Trace: Images and Scores

PART 4: A TECHNIQUE WITH NO OBJECT

Chapter 1: What is a Dance Technique?
Chapter 2: Technique or Language: An Analogical Impasse
Chapter 3: Lack of Tools as Loss of Memory
Chapter 4: Intending the Unintentional, Repeating the Unrepeatable

Conclusion (1): Reflect and Repeat

Section 1: Stage and Contemporaneity
Section 2: The Reflexive Labour of Performance
Section 3: The Memorial Labour of the Work

Conclusion (2): Gesture and Trace

Appendix of illustrations

Bibliography and References