
Cover to uncover : masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings' and Sophie Taeuber's Dada dance
- Author
- Sophie Doutreligne (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Multiple historical accounts (programme brochures and reviews) describe female Dada artists dancing with alienating, concealing masks and costumes at various Dada Soirees from 1916 to 1919. In her 'Three Dada dances' of 1916, writer, singer and performer Emmy Hennings' face was covered in a Cubist mask, attracting the spectator's attention by its frightening wide-open mouth and its radically deformed nose. In a similar and equally terrifying costume, interdisciplinary artist Sophie Taeuber performed her 'Abstract Dances' of 1917. Their complete disguise, which obscured all references to gender and individuality, suggested that both Hennings and Taeuber fully disappeared behind their unsettling body masks. However, investigating the physical body masks from a contemporary perspective places these historical Dada performances in a radical new light. In 'Cover to Uncover: Masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings' and Sophie Taeuber's Dada dance', Sophie Doutreligne explores the abstract Dada masks through the metaphorical concept of masquerade. She considers Hennings' and Taeuber's Dada body mask as a second, gender-neutral skin to their (obviously) gendered bodies. Starting from this premise, Doutreligne investigates if and how these Dada artists applied their abstract body masks to effectively destroy the traditional gender constructions that contributed to the consummation of their bodies on stage. She argues that it was exactly by performing with and certainly not behind their grotesque Dada masks that these female artists successfully escaped from their erased position in a male dominated Dada art scene. Their de-gendered Dada body masks allowed them to explore deviating and desired scripts of womanhood through the medium of dance.
- Keywords
- BODY
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01GK6DRAA73EZ9R5ZXPYKF08YQ
- MLA
- Doutreligne, Sophie. “Cover to Uncover : Masked Performance and Gender in Emmy Hennings’ and Sophie Taeuber’s Dada Dance.” PERFORMANCE RESEARCH, vol. 26, no. 8, 2021, pp. 91–100, doi:10.1080/13528165.2021.2088110.
- APA
- Doutreligne, S. (2021). Cover to uncover : masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings’ and Sophie Taeuber’s Dada dance. PERFORMANCE RESEARCH, 26(8), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2021.2088110
- Chicago author-date
- Doutreligne, Sophie. 2021. “Cover to Uncover : Masked Performance and Gender in Emmy Hennings’ and Sophie Taeuber’s Dada Dance.” PERFORMANCE RESEARCH 26 (8): 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2021.2088110.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Doutreligne, Sophie. 2021. “Cover to Uncover : Masked Performance and Gender in Emmy Hennings’ and Sophie Taeuber’s Dada Dance.” PERFORMANCE RESEARCH 26 (8): 91–100. doi:10.1080/13528165.2021.2088110.
- Vancouver
- 1.Doutreligne S. Cover to uncover : masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings’ and Sophie Taeuber’s Dada dance. PERFORMANCE RESEARCH. 2021;26(8):91–100.
- IEEE
- [1]S. Doutreligne, “Cover to uncover : masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings’ and Sophie Taeuber’s Dada dance,” PERFORMANCE RESEARCH, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 91–100, 2021.
@article{01GK6DRAA73EZ9R5ZXPYKF08YQ, abstract = {{Multiple historical accounts (programme brochures and reviews) describe female Dada artists dancing with alienating, concealing masks and costumes at various Dada Soirees from 1916 to 1919. In her 'Three Dada dances' of 1916, writer, singer and performer Emmy Hennings' face was covered in a Cubist mask, attracting the spectator's attention by its frightening wide-open mouth and its radically deformed nose. In a similar and equally terrifying costume, interdisciplinary artist Sophie Taeuber performed her 'Abstract Dances' of 1917. Their complete disguise, which obscured all references to gender and individuality, suggested that both Hennings and Taeuber fully disappeared behind their unsettling body masks. However, investigating the physical body masks from a contemporary perspective places these historical Dada performances in a radical new light. In 'Cover to Uncover: Masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings' and Sophie Taeuber's Dada dance', Sophie Doutreligne explores the abstract Dada masks through the metaphorical concept of masquerade. She considers Hennings' and Taeuber's Dada body mask as a second, gender-neutral skin to their (obviously) gendered bodies. Starting from this premise, Doutreligne investigates if and how these Dada artists applied their abstract body masks to effectively destroy the traditional gender constructions that contributed to the consummation of their bodies on stage. She argues that it was exactly by performing with and certainly not behind their grotesque Dada masks that these female artists successfully escaped from their erased position in a male dominated Dada art scene. Their de-gendered Dada body masks allowed them to explore deviating and desired scripts of womanhood through the medium of dance.}}, author = {{Doutreligne, Sophie}}, issn = {{1352-8165}}, journal = {{PERFORMANCE RESEARCH}}, keywords = {{BODY}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{8}}, pages = {{91--100}}, title = {{Cover to uncover : masked performance and gender in Emmy Hennings' and Sophie Taeuber's Dada dance}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2021.2088110}}, volume = {{26}}, year = {{2021}}, }
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