Introduction [Interdisciplinarity in the performing arts: contemporary perspectives]

Abstract

Interdisciplinarity today does not raise the eyebrows that it did twenty years ago, nor does it appear as startlingly novel as it did when these recommendations were first made. While it may not yet have become part and parcel of standard academic practice, certainly many efforts are being made in that direction. This publication coordinated by the School of Performing Arts of the University of Malta contributes to these discourses by underlining both the intrinsic interdisciplinary nature of the performing arts as well as by identifying the potential which theatre, dance, and music have to create bridges with other disciplines like neuroscience, social sciences, philosophy, pedagogy, and therapy. In other words, the 'contemporary perspectives' emerging from this collection of essays are both inward and outward looking. This introduction places the present volume within current debates about the nature of interdisciplinary research, its obstacles, but also the forms which it might take, and offers an historical perspective on modern interdisciplinary practice within and through the performing arts. The essays are summarised in the final part of the introduction.