Gesture in poetry, movement and music: approaching the total artwork through Sufism in Say I am You and Deniz Küstü

Michael Ellison

doi:10.1386/dmas.3.3.217_1

Gesture in poetry, movement and music: approaching the total artwork through Sufism in Say I am You and Deniz Küstü

Michael Ellison

Department of Music

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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Abstract

In this article I speak about my experience of the connective thread of the gesture, and how metaphors of gesture across disciplines underpin relationships between music, poetry and dance. I explore the notion that, if there is a unifying force in the creation of Art and uncovering of Consciousness, it lies in some kind of Ur-gesture – a gesture that exists before translation into a certain medium – behind the forms a craftsman of music, dance or words of obligation ‘reduces it’ to. Further, I compare Rumi’s ideas on sema to those behind Whitehouse’s notion of Authentic Movement, and justify my approach to the staging of Rumi and sema in the opera Say I am You: as though the Mevlevi sema formal ritual had never been codified. Finally, I explore ideas surrounding Ur-gesture in interview with the foremost modern dance choreographer in Turkey today, Zeynep Tanbay, while probing her process of choreographing Deniz Küstü, my second opera.

Article in Journal of Dance Movement and Spiritualities, Vol 3 Number 3, ed. Amanda Williamson. Special issue: Global Journeys of Sufi Whirling - Sufism and Arts Practice, ed. Hannah McClure, Dunja Njaradi. Bristol: Intellect Journals, 2017, pp. 217-241. 9000 words.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	217-241
Number of pages	25
Journal	Dance, Movement and Spiritualities
Volume	3
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1386/dmas.3.3.217_1
Publication status	Published - 1 Sep 2016

Bibliographical note

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 648810).

Keywords

Ur-gesture
movement
opera

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10.1386/dmas.3.3.217_1

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This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Intellect at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/dmas/2016/00000003/00000003/art00003;jsessionid=59k561lteiqij.x-ic-live-02. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
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Gesture in poetry, movement and music: approaching the total artwork through Sufism in Say I am You and Deniz Küstü

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