Re-situating Performance Within The Threshold

This work investigates performance as an embodied§practice. It draws on theories of embodiment that§act as a catalyst for thinking about performance, and§thus provide an interdisciplinary framework for§conceptualising the body in performance. I explore a§discourse that situates performance itself within the§liminal, as an in-between condition, as something§that does not fit in. I reflect on performances,§ranging from music to cosmetic surgery, and I§highlight the in-between conditions and the§marginalised space that in my view posits performance§as multivalent, multifaceted and full of potential.§This line of enquiry is informed by my view of the§body as a site of change, discord and ambiguity; what§one can refer to as the threshold condition, or what§Victor Turner calls the state of betwixt and§between . I take the body as a starting point for§this discussion, as I consider the body as a vanguard§to providing a different view to the majority of§current music and performance writings. I subscribe§to the view that the multi-faceted and, at times,§highly controversial debate that has been applied to§the body, has not been equivalently explored in the§discussion of performance.