Anna Petronella Foultier: "Is the Dancer Creative?"

Anna Petronella Foultier, Umeå University: "Is the Dancer Creative?"

Abstract
According to an influential view within the philosophy of dance, formulated notably by Graham McFee, the creative part of a dance work is exerted by the choreographer, not the dancer, and if it is the choreographer herself who is performing the work it is in her function as choreographer, not dancer, that she is creative. The dancer contributes the “raw material” that the choreographer will mould into a work of art, much as a sculptor or painter use stone, bronze, wood, or paint. On the face of it, this idea stands in stark contrast to the common collaborative practices of contemporary dance, where the dancers more often than not contribute to the choreography and are sometimes listed as co-authors of the work. In contemporary dancers’ descriptions of their role in a choreographic process it appears that artistic work goes on at many levels and it is difficult to determine exactly what belongs to the choreography and not to the individual dancer’s performance. In order to throw light on this issue, I will discuss the creativity of the dancer in terms of Margaret Boden’s tripartite theory of creativity and argue that the dancer sometimes puts all three forms into play at various stages of the process.