Geographies for Moving Bodies: Thinking, Dancing, Spaces

Abstract

The body is well established as a research focus within contemporary human geography. Yet, the matter of how and in what ways bodies are geographical remains an open question. In this article, I address this question by examining work by geographers and others about the spaces of moving bodies. My points of departure are the twin claims that bodies move in more ways than one (spatio‐temporally, kinaesthetically, affectively, collectively, politically and imaginatively) and that this movement is potentially generative of different kinds of spaces. These claims are developed through a discussion of dance. By drawing on work from a range of disciplines, I argue that research encounters with dance offer opportunities for thinking about three sets of issues: the relation between bodies and cultural geographies; the importance of affectivity in spatial experience; and the relation between the lived and the abstract. I conclude by outlining a series of pathways along which geographical research into the spaces of moving bodies might be developed further.

Towards experimental mountaineering?

“…Its circularity keeps it from coming into contact with the networks and rhizomes that create the fabric of control like that of its circumvention. And along this line, bodies move: "Bodies move in more ways than one: yes, they move physically, but they also move affectively, kinaesthetically, imaginatively, collectively, aesthetically, socially, culturally and politically" (MCCORMACk, 2008). Without rebelling, in a language that "makes" and "no longer only suggests" (DE CERTEAU, ibid.…”

“…The two men who undertook these sporting challenges, however, did learn about the borders in an original manner, which enabled them to go beyond their initial project of comparing map and territory and gain insights into what a mobile space is. This required them to call on their physical capacities, through an activity that, like dance, links performance to affect and the abstract (MCCORMACk, 2008). But at the end of this article, it is essential to come back with the two mountaineers to what for them was unique in their relationship with the border: on the one hand coming into contact with a convention, through the irregularities and promises of the terrain, and, on the other, the time spent in a space normally perceived as a point in space and uninhabitable.…”

The dramatic story of Léon and Camille: literary geography essay set in the boulevards of Brussels

“…Beyond texts and maps, many artistic media may lend themselves to the exercise (films, contemporary art, dance, etc. -Chilaud et al, 2013;Cosgrove, 2006;McCormack, 2008) through new media and spatial analysis practices (GIS, geolocalisation, animated cartographyCaquard, 2013;Hawkins, 2013). Situated at the crossroads of artistic and scientific disciplines, these encounters enrich the analysis of works and provide additional knowledge in order to study the territory of the city.…”

‘You’re all so close you might as well sit in a circle … ’ Carceral geographies of intimacy and comfort in the prison visiting room

“…Bodily movement, be it spatio-temporal, kinaesthetic, affective, collective, political, or imaginative, is potentially generative of different kinds of spaces (McCormack 2008(McCormack , 1822, and the visiting room is accordingly performed into being through the motions embedded within it.…”