Auto_Bio_Graphy as performance (2020-2024)

Li Cunxin: Mao's Last Dancer (Penguin Group); Isadora Duncan: My Life (Liveright); Misty Copeland: Life in Motion. An Unlikely Ballerina (Aladdin); Martha Graham: Blood Memory. An Autobiography (Doubleday); SAPA Foundation: Interview with Noemi Lapzeson; SAPA Foundation: Interview with Ursula Pellaton (SAPA); Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods: Hunter (Iris Janke); La Ribot: Otra Narcisa (Vacío Studio)

Autobiographical products by dancers and choreographers

The SNSF research project Auto_Bio_Graphy as Performance. A dance-historiographical field of innovation by the Institute of Theater Studies at the University of Bern in partnership with the SAPA Foundation was successfully completed at the end of October 2024.

The project examined the potential of autobiographical sources for dance historiography in several sub-projects. A particular focus was placed on oral history as a form of performative life narrative, which was analyzed using an extensive corpus on Swiss dance production. The research work was based on the one hand on existing oral history interviews from the SAPA collection, and on the other hand new interviews were conducted as part of the project. These oral history interviews on Swiss dance production, which were compiled during the course of the project, were handed over to the SAPA Foundation for expansion of the collection and long-term archiving.

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Head: Prof. Dr. Chirstina Thurner, University of Bern

Collaborators: Dr. Elizabeth Waterhouse, Dr. Julia Wehren, M.A. Nadja Rothenburger, B.A. Claudio Richard, B.A. David Castillo

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