A balanced, clear introduction, with semiotic, linguistic, sociology and communication perspectives, and close practical analysis of performances and performer comments, in a wide range of types (drama, dance, circus, music). This is an invaluable education text, and wide ranging tool for performers, theatre students and scholars, and general arts readers.

Geoffrey Sykes, Editor Southern Semiotic Review, Australia

Paul Bouissac uses semiotics to explore a wide range of performances -- the circus, the arts, everyday life -- in Western and non-Western cultures. He integrates key theories with his own experiences in a scholarly yet happily readable book.

Richard Schechner, Professor and Editor of The Drama Review, NYU, USA

A remarkable textbook. It provides a rigorous introduction to performance analysis in a discursive and unassuming style, covering a wide range of issues and genres, with an exceptional sense of the pedagogical reach of the idea of performance as a communication process and as a social experience.

Domenico Pietropaolo, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, Canada

What is a live performance? And why is semiotics the best approach for the analysis and interpretation of the performing arts?Drawing on semiotic developments of the past five decades, this book introduces students to the semiotic analysis of live performances and provides them with a clear method for untangling the multimodal complexity of performance from the spectator’s point of view.Presenting live performances as two-way communication processes, social events, and cognitive and affective experiences, each chapter of this highly accessible book begins first with an overview of the basics. This is followed by a case study, and moves through to a more advanced discussion, accompanied by suggestions for exercises and further reading. Diagrams and flow charts help to clearly illustrate the conceptual tools used in the analytical process, and a companion website contains recorded extracts from the live performances discussed in the book, which students can use to put their knowledge into practice. The book explores a broad range of performance types from across different cultures, including music, opera, ballet, theatre, circus, mime, improvisation, and immersion. It offers a guide for understanding the way in which a performance is produced, from an initial idea through to the final presentation in front of a live audience, and provides the reader with the tools and understanding they need for a successful semiotic analysis of live performance.
Les mer
List of FiguresPrefaceIntroduction: The Real-Life Experience of Attending a Live Performance1. Performance as Communication Process2. Performance as Creative Process3. The Construction of Performing Identities: From Person to Persona4. Performance as Social Process5. Performance as Affective Experience 6. Performance as Cognitive Experience: Narrative Structures and Relevance7. Performance as Text: Description and Interpretation of Ephemeral Events8. Performance as Metaphor: Performing Roles in Everyday Life9. Beyond Performance: Social Impact, Reflexivity, and Transformative Experience 10. The Rules of Performance: The Felicity ConditionsIndex
Les mer
A balanced, clear introduction, with semiotic, linguistic, sociology and communication perspectives, and close practical analysis of performances and performer comments, in a wide range of types (drama, dance, circus, music). This is an invaluable education text, and wide ranging tool for performers, theatre students and scholars, and general arts readers.
Les mer
An introduction to the semiotic analysis of live performances, providing a clear method for untangling the multimodal complexity of experiencing performances from the spectator’s point of view.
Clearly written and free of jargon to be as accessible to readers as possible

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781350372665
Publisert
2025-01-09
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury Academic
Høyde
234 mm
Bredde
156 mm
Aldersnivå
U, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
184

Forfatter

Biographical note

Paul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at Victoria College, University of Toronto, Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the Semioticon, an Open Semiotics Resource Center, which has a global readership.