the thing itself

In work like this that explores complex first-person experiences of and through the body, you inevitably bump into the issue of the thing or experience itself versus our description of it.

Years ago I had a go at discussing this long-standing issue in dance and performance in a presentation called Hands that don’t want anything. It’s a little cringey for me to read these days (and much of it I now disagree with) but perhaps there are some ideas in there that readers might enjoy or be nourished by. One thing I still find useful is that beautifully important notion that “language is only a finger pointing at the moon and not the moon itself” (Johnston 1973 p.3).


References:

Johnston, William. (1973). ‘Introduction’. The Cloud of Unknowing and the Book of Privy Counseling. W. Johnston. New York, Doubleday.

Ellis, Simon. (2009). ‘Hands That Don’t Want Anything’. Presented at TaPRA, University of Plymouth, 8 September 2009.


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