Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dance, Knowledge, and Power

  • Published:
Topoi Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Susanne K. Langer contributed an exhaustive account of aesthetics, Feeling and Form, in which she articulated her schema of the virtual and wove together the aesthetic elements of music, visual arts, dance, and literature/theater. This analysis of her work centers on two key concepts within her philosophy: the virtual as the aesthetic effect of the work and the perception of the work through intuition. In this paper, I re-read Langer’s philosophy through a perspective built on intersections between phenomenology, pragmatism, and post-structuralist theory in order to reveal the relevance of her work to current understandings of how the dancing body produces and conveys meaning. I endeavor to show how her work provides a practical, conceptual system for understanding dance as an a-linguistic form of meaning-making, bodily experience, and knowledge.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • H. E. Allison (2001) Kant’s Theory of Taste: A Reading of the Critique of Aesthetic Judgment Cambridge University Press Cambridge Occurrence Handle10.1017/CBO9780511612671

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Baudrillard, J.: 1981, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, trans. By C. Levin, Telos Press Ltd., n.p.

  • J. Butler (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity Chapman & Hall New York: Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Butler (1995) ‘Contingent Foundations: Feminism and the Question of Post-modernism’ in Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange Routledge New York

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Deleuze F. Guattari (1983) Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Deleuze F. Guattari (1987) A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia University Of Minnesota Press Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Derrida (1978) Writing and Difference trans. by Alan Bass The University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Dewey (1934) Art as Experience Capricorn Books New York

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Ferry Renaut A. (1985) French Philosophy of the Sixties: An Essay on Antihumanism trans. by Mary Schnackenberg The University of Massachusetts Press Amherst

    Google Scholar 

  • S. L. Foster (1998) ArticleTitle‘Choreographies of Gender’ Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 24 IssueID1 1–33 Occurrence Handle10.1086/495316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J. H. Gill (1994) ArticleTitle‘Langer, Language, and Art’ International Philosophical Quarterly 24 IssueID136 419–432

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Guyer (1992) The Cambridge Companion to Kant Cambridge University Press Cambridge Occurrence Handle10.1017/CCOL0521365872

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • M. Heidegger (1971) Poetry Language Thought, trans. by Albert Hofstadter Harper & Row Publishers New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Langer, S. K.: ‘Art, Feeling, and Mind’. Papers, ca. 1895–1985, 27 cartons Harvard Depository Stor 199 and 199A, Paige Box 4. II. Compositions by Langer, C. Course Lectures, Folder - Abstracts: 1, in Harvard University’s Houghton Library archive.

  • Langer, S. K.: ‘The Concept of Semblance’. Papers, ca. 1895–1985, 27 cartons Harvard Depository Stor 199 and 199A, Paige Box 6. II. Compositions by Langer, C. Course Lectures, Folder–“The Concept of Semblance”, 1, in Harvard University’s Houghton Library archive.

  • S. K. Langer (1953) Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art Developed from Philosophy in a New Key Charles Scribner’s Sons New York

    Google Scholar 

  • S. K. Langer (1996) Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason Rite, and Art Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • S. K. Langer (1957) Problems of Art: Ten Philosophical Lectures Scribner New York

    Google Scholar 

  • S. K. Langer (Eds) (1958) Reflections on Art: A Source Book of Writings by Artists Critics and Philosopher The Johns Hopkins Press Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Sheets-Johnstone (1999) The Primacy of Movement John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • C. M. Sherover (2003) From Kant and Royce to Heidegger: Essays in Modern Philosophy The Catholic University of America Press Washington D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Shusterman (2000) Performing Live: Aesthetic Alternatives for the Ends of Art Cornell University Press Ithaca, NY

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dance Department , California State University, Long Beach Long Beach, 90840, California, USA

    Colleen Dunagan

Authors
  1. Colleen Dunagan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Colleen Dunagan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dunagan, C. Dance, Knowledge, and Power. Topoi 24, 29–41 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-004-4159-5

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-004-4159-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation