The language of affect in choreographic practice : conversations on the making of embodied at the GPO

Abstract

The language that choreographers use to reflect on their practice is infused with metaphors and sensory images that refer to the experience of affect. The language and images they use activate, steer, and make sense of affect within their compositional processes. The words they choose suggest an affective encounter, a point of confluence and emergence between the embodied experience of dancing and the meaning-making process that is intrinsic to the artistry of dance-making. In this practice, the articulation of affect involves a process of awareness, recognition, integration and expression.