Choreographing Rebellion

An auto-ethnographic account of a choreographic praxis developed outside of a Western framework, which engages with identity, decoloniality and transformation from a feminist perspective. Choreographing Rebellion details the methodologies employed in the dramaturgy and performance of 25 choreographic works produced by the author over three decades in South Africa and Japan. Drawing on these lived experiences, jackï job's starting point is the crafting of a signature dance language in 1994, called Daai za Lady, to respond to the oppressive and unjust socio-political system of apartheid in South Africa. The second part speaks to choreographies created in Japan between 2003-2011, where elements of daily life and principles of Butoh are applied to making dance performance. As a South African, the author uniquely offers a first-hand understanding of Butoh in the line of Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno. Her journey returns to South Africa, where the assimilation of Butoh into job's already existent and ongoing dance practice synergises and enables new meanings of personhood and transformation. Choreographing Rebellion resists singular categorisations of identity too often ascribed to dance performances and communities of people. It draws on psycho-physical practices and personal philosophies of the body, which are placed in dialogue with Giorgio Agamben and Henri Bergson, and argues for the transgressing of human-centric approaches to race, gender and class through a specific animal-human crafting of dance practice.

jackï job has been working as a dancer and choreographer since 1990 and has created more than 80 productions with artists in Africa, Asia and Europe. She is tenured as an academic researcher at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Introduction Chapter One: Briefly Looking Back to Move Forward Prelude to Daai za Lady Approaching Alternative Identities Chapter Two: Emergence Dawn: Birth of Daai za Lady The Revelation of an Animist Spirit: A Matriarchal Chair, Carcasses and Masks The Political Emergence Chapter Three: Germination & Growth Improvisation Techniques: Releasing Notions of Self Japanese Codes of Daily Life: Unbuilding Western Perceptions of Structure Enacting Love as a Strategy of Resistance The Otherworldly Attunement of Daai za Lady's Ontology Chapter Four: Blossoming & Fullness Blossoming: Finding Connections through Difference Developing New Methodologies in Performance A Brief Note on Resisting Language Fullness: Multiple Translations of Daai za Lady and Butoh in South Africa Chapter Five: And Then. Becoming the Praying Mantis Following the Lines of Life Looking Back at Daai za Lady Dissipation: What Happens Next? Bibliography Index