„Przeciw-ciała”: historyczność taneczności

This article seeks to propose a preliminary methodology of dance research to explore dance as a historically changing impulse for a physical activity that occurs in respect of the culturally defined forms collectively known as ‘dance’ (or its equivalents in other languages). Referring to Alain Badiou’s concept of event and Judith Butler’s theory of materiality, the author suggests including in historical research what he calls ‘anti-bodies’, i.e. kinetic events that ontologically precede the activity of the body formalised as dancing. If a specific dance is the formalisation of the primeval act of dancing, the body is a result of the ‘anti-body’ materialised. Such ‘anti-bodies’ reveal themselves when the dancer, either consciously or by mistake, transgresses the chosen form. In this context, the author proposes writing a story that will concentrate on the dance emergence process rather than on its form. Practice as research constitutes a vital aspect of this approach whereby a text must establish its theoretical grounds. What results is the politics of counter-hegemony with ‘anti-bodies’ challenging the rigid identities of both individuals and aesthetic forms.