States of Possession

Tools

Rotie, Marie-Gabrielle. 2022. 'States of Possession'. In: Research Workshop: States of Possession. London, United Kingdom September 2022. [Conference or Workshop Item]

Video
poss 4.mov - Other
Download (11MB) | Preview

Preview

Video
poss 2.mov - Other
Download (13MB) | Preview

Preview

Video
poss 6.mov - Other
Download (27MB) | Preview

Abstract or Description

Butoh often plays with the notion that the body is inhabited by other selves or unseen forces. For both Butoh founders, Hijikata and Ohno this manifested in finding and embodying the spirits of their dead relatives, sister, mother, as well as ghosts and demons. In this research workshop I looked specifically at the body giving itself over to unconscious movement. I referred to the choreographic stagings of possession as found in the 19th Century documentation or 'invention' of Hysteria by Charcot. * I drew upon my own original methods generated in my solo practice (Mythic and Black Mirror) and Imagery and techniques from Butoh such as a puppetry of the body via strings, or the idea of energy or forces moving through the body as well as from outside the body. I related this back too Charcot's iconic images to examine possession as a 'performance' and in contrast to possession as a deeply embodied and uncanny process. (Rotie, 2022). Key questions centred on the question of what moves the body beyond conscious control and how might we develop methods to encourage this state? What is the line between performance and possession, as so clearly evidenced in Charcot's experiments? How does this vocabulary of possession play out in horror film representation and where might one find both commonalities and points of originality? What is the actors state when manifesting possession? These questions are open ended and do not seek definite answers, but rather a set of methodologies in which the questions might be asked and generate continual investigative responses, in the true spirit of the performance 'laboratory'.

Dancers in Videos: Regula Voegelin, Rika Fujimoto, Stephen Moynihan, Kristin Winters.
* Didi-Huberman, Charcot, J. M., & Hartz, A. (2003). Invention of hysteria : Charcot and the photographic iconography of the Salpêtriére. MIT Press.

Item Type:

Conference or Workshop Item (Other)

Additional Information:

this material is associated with my work on Nosferatu and will eventually become part of a 'portfolio' submission once the film is released to the public in 2025.

Related URLs: