Body and Interdisciplinarity. From Performance Art to a Choreographic Body Installation

The true coherence of a performance depends on a structured and efficient vision, which can be symbolically reduced to three “key moments,” each having an essential role in the relationship between the “living body” and its connection with performance, which is more and more defined by interdisciplinary coherences. This paper starts with the American experiments of the 1960s and 1970s, which envisioned the “body” not only as mere “material” for feminist manifestos but also as a medium suitable for achieving the new goals set forth by performance art. The supportive environment around the Judson Dance Theatre created the necessary milieu for the convergence of body, postmodern dance, and visual arts. This openness towards experiment had important consequences for the next stage, the “Flemish wave,” and subsequently on the works of the German choreographer, Sasha Waltz.