This book is a first attempt to map the broad context of performance studies from a multimodal perspective. It collects original research on traditional performing arts (theatre, dance, opera), live (durational performance) and mediated/recorded performances (films, television shows), as well as performative discursive practices on social media by adopting several theories and methodologies all dealing with the notion of multimodality. As a mostly dynamic and also interactive environment for various text types and genres, the context of performance studies provides many opportunities to produce meaning verbally and non-verbally. All chapters in this book develop frameworks for the analysis of performance-related events and activities and explore empirical case studies in a range of different ages and cultures. A further focus lies on the communicative strategies deployed by different communities of practice, taking into account processes of production, distribution, and consumption of such texts in diverse spatial and temporal contexts.
This book considers the semiotics practices at play in the performing arts and applies multimodal approaches commonly used in fields such as linguistics and literary theory to investigate and unpack the different semiotic resources that emerge from its various forms.
1 Mapping Multimodal Performance Studies: An Introduction
Maria Grazia Sindoni, Janina Wildfeuer, and Kay L. O’Halloran
2 Multimodal Semiotics of Theatrical Performances
Sabine Tan, Peter Wignell, and Kay L. O’Halloran
3 Making Meaning Through Movement: A Functional Grammar of Dance Movement
Arianna Maiorani
4 The Phantoms of the Opera: Towards a Multi-Dimensional Interpretative Framework of Analysis
Fabio Rossi and Maria Grazia Sindoni
5 The Eyes Have It: ‘In the Gaze … Everything Happened’
Maree Stenglin
6 Interactive Cognitive Subsystems and Dance: Choreographic Creativity
Rebecca Weber
7 Film Space as Theatrical Performing Space: A Multimodal Discourse Approach to Transmedial Analysis
Chiao-I Tseng
8 Who’s afraid of Conchita Wurst? Drag Performers and the Construction of Multimodal Prosody
Giuseppe Balirano
9 From Text to Performance: Discourse Analytical Thoughts on New Forms of Performances in Social Media
Janina Wildfeuer