Prof. Dr. Gabriele Brandstetter

Free University of Berlin
Theater and Dance Studies

External Senior Fellow (FRIAS School of Language & Literature)
January 2012 – March 2012

Last Update: 31.08.2012

Curriculum Vitae

Gabriele Brandstetter is co-director of the International Research Centre “Interweaving Performance Cultures” and Professor of Theatre and Dance Studies at Freie Universität Berlin since 2003. She is also vice-president of „Heinrich-von-Kleist-Society“, a member of „German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina“ and a jury member for „art history, musicology, Theatre-, film- and media-studies“ of the DFG. Her research focus is on: History and aesthetics of dance from the 18th century until today, theatre and dance of the avant-garde; performance, theatricality and gender differences; concepts of body, movement and image. In 2004 she was awarded the “Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Prize” by the DFG, and in 2011 the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Among her numerous book publications: Tanz-Lektüren. Körperbilder und Raumfiguren der Avantgarde (1995); ReMembering the Body (2000, co-ed. H. Völckers); Bild-Sprung. TanzTheaterBewegung im Wechsel der Medien (2005); Methoden der Tanzwissenschaft. Modellanalysen zu Pina Bauschs ‚Sacre du Printemps‛ (2007, co-ed. G. Klein); Schwarm(E)Motion. Bewegung zwischen Affekt und Masse (2007, co-eds. B. Brandl-Risi, K. van Eikels), Tanz als Anthropologie (2007, co-ed. C. Wulf) , Prognosen über Bewegungen (2009, co-eds. S. Peters, K. van Eikels); Improvisieren. Paradoxien des Unvorhersehbaren. Kunst – Medien – Praxis (2010, co-eds. H.-F. Bormann, A. Matzke)

Selected Publications

Erotik und Religiosität. Eine Studie zur Lyrik Clemens Brentanos, München: Fink 1986 (= Münchener Germanistische Beiträge 33).
Tanz-Lektüren. Körperbilder und Raumfiguren der Avantgarde, Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer 1995.
de figura. Rhetorik – Bewegung – Gestalt, hrsg. v. Gabriele Brandstetter und Sibylle Peters, Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 2002.
Bild-Sprung. TanzTheaterBewegung im Wechsel der Medien, Berlin: Theater der Zeit 2005.
Schwarm(E)Motion. Bewegung zwischen Affekt und Masse, hrsg. v. Gabriele Brandstetter, Bettina Brandl-Risi und Kai van Eikels, Freiburg i.Br.: Rombach 2007 (= Scenae 3).

FRIAS Project

Touching and to be Touched. Kinesthesia and Emotion in Dance.

The project examines the question of how the various types of physical contact in dance are connected with the evocation of feelings. The intention is to examine the phenomenon of “movere” from a double perspective: as movement and touching of the body on the one hand, and as being moved/touched in the emotional sense on the other. Guiding questions ask about the modes of transfer – between touching, being touched and observing touch in dance. Working on the assumptions of various theories of body, emotion and senses, how are the processes of tactile touch, and being touched emotionally, interpreted? Is there a specific spectrum of emotions that is activated during these processes (within both the auditor and the practitioner)? How could the relationship of movement, touch and emotion be analyzed in connection to kinesthesia and empathy?
In three fields of inquiry – contemporary artistic dance, contact improvisation and tango – the relation between movement, contact and emotion is to be analyzed. The detailed investigation of different forms of contact in dance, in which sensor, motor and affective threads come together, demonstrates how Dance Studies can make a contribution to emotional research.