Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Performing Arts Honours

School

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts

First Supervisor

Renée Newman

Abstract

The focus of this research is the use of the female body as a tool for developing a feminist performance practice. This research interrogated the use of neo-burlesque and erotic dance in contemporary postdramatic performance. Contemporary feminist performance artists, such as Emma Maye Gibson (aka Betty Grumble), often use the female body as a tool for entertainment and political statement, and this trend parallels an increase of women moving into the burlesque and erotic dance spheres as professional performers and hobbyists. Despite this suggestion that the female body is a fertile site for feminist action and statement, its use is subject to continued divisive critique with assumptions regarding images of the ‘female’ body and perpetuated by the ‘male gaze’. Using a practice-as-research methodology, this research involved collaborative studio practice to explore a feminist performance practice, interviews with performance practitioners, a showcase of connected vignettes for performance, and a thesis interrogating the process. This research has revealed a contemporary performance framework for a burgeoning feminist performance practice in the interest of positioning the female body as a site of reclamation and revolution in the 21st century.

DOI

10.25958/m3b4-t136

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