Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet

Planned maintenance
A system upgrade is planned for 10/12-2024, at 12:00-13:00. During this time DiVA will be unavailable.
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The Barbette project
Stockholm University of the Arts, Department of circus.
2022 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master of Fine Arts (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesis [Artistic work]
Abstract [en]

What happens when circus artists get in the studio and throw gender, circus practice, history, sexuality,body image, theatre, writing, devising, drag and movement into one big melting pot? This thesisattempts to answer this question. Using Barbette (a genderbending circus artist active in the early-mid20th century) as catalyst, frame and partner in this research, I set out to develop what I’ve named “theopen source play”: an innovative performance-making tool that would enable fellow circus practitionersto become active creators, guiding them in devising an autobiographical show through the lenses ofcircus history and queer theory. I began by fleshing out Barbette: his life, his person and personae asreflected through both primary and secondary sources, and within the wider historical context of dragperformance. I then investigated my own personal relationship to this research, extracting interactionsand testing the roads I envision other devising artists might travel when engaging with The BarbetteProject. Taking a step back, I examined the history of female circus artists and the tropes surroundingthem — constructing a lens for gendered analysis of circus performance which I then applied tocontemporary aerial acts that play with gender. Adding on layer after layer, I concocted The BarbetteProject’s open source play and mapped out the various methods and approaches it takes. Evaluating thetwo-year period of research, I traced the devising and creation process as it unfolded over four stages ofResearch & Development conducted with diverse teams in different environments. As for the result ofthis research, I borrow from the words of poet T.S. Elliott: “We shall not cease from exploration / Andthe end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022. , p. 90
Keywords [en]
Keywords: Barbette, gender, sexuality, queer, circus, circus history, queer history, circus performance, trapeze, devising, theatre, drag, trans, transgender, body dysmorphia, storytelling, vulnerability
National Category
Performing Arts
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uniarts:diva-1331OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uniarts-1331DiVA, id: diva2:1739917
Educational program
Circus
Presentation
, Brinellvägen 58, Stockholm (English)
Uppsok
Fine Art
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2023-02-28 Created: 2023-02-27 Last updated: 2023-02-28Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

The Barbette project(42263 kB)133 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 42263 kBChecksum SHA-512
504fca3e56796597fb75c45233108c9ea5851c08105ec7276150dcf52651f93a5d7062618ee685030011db8b5911e9b69bb9271033e7667770e656d5d82818c9
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

By organisation
Department of circus
Performing Arts

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 133 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 616 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf