The distorted storyteller: A study on autognosis in choreographic practice / Julia Gyulai (2020)

The distorted storyteller: A study on autognosis in choreographic practice By Julia Gyulai

This thesis examines the psychological self and the autobiographical story of the self in relation to authenticity in choreographic practice and performance. It approaches the psychological self and the autobiographical story of the self as its core subject through the fields of psychology and dance theatre, creating a complex, multi-layered collection of theoretical discussions and practical contemplations.

It is a critical reflection on a personal and an academic process and its performative outcome (A Landscape Beyond Death), which focuses on and makes connections between pre-verbal processes in psychology and dance theatre and builds on the importance of symbols and images in relation to Freud’s primary processes. It maintains a level of awareness towards the potentital presence of trauma and inaccessible content of the unconscious and explores fragmentation and deconstruction at all relevant layers of the work.

It deliberately takes on an autobiographical approach in which my role as performer, choreographer and researcher overlap and co-exist, creating interdependency between the psychological self, the autobiographical self and the observer/viewer, which all assemble in me. Drawing on psychological learnings, this writing formulated through my own creative subsystem. It touches upon questions of authority and obedience in dance theatre, the role of the grotesque as a defense mechanism, the complexities of postdramatic theatre, and the phenomenon of repetition.

The questions raised formulate around the subject of autognosis and identity in my choreographic practice, with the ultimate search for mental wellbeing, and the aim to understand selfhood and the self-related aspects of narrative.