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Representing Soldiers to Soldiers Through Dance: Authenticity, Theatricality, and Witnessing the Pain of Others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Matthew Reason
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Abstract

Representations of war recur throughout art, whether celebrating the glories and heroism of conflict, or depicting its horrors and follies. This paper uses qualitative audience research to examine soldiers' own responses to the representation of soldiers in choreographer Rosie Kay's dance performance 5 Soldiers: The Body is the Frontline. This article explores how for military audiences the satisfaction of an internalized sense of authenticity allowed them to accept the performance as a legitimate representation; at the same time the presentation of war in a choreographic language meant that the performance was also abstracted, with theatrical and stylized elements that were far from authentic as a documentary. This paper proposes that it was the combination of authenticity with theatricality that generated empathetic investment and made 5 Soldiers an articulate witness to the military experience.

Keywords

audience researchauthenticitydancemilitaryrepresentationtheatricalitytraumawarwitnessing
Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , August 2017 , pp. 79 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2017 

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References

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