The Carousel Concept: A practice of life in performing arts
The contemporary experience of being a human being is fundamentally unpredictable. This is partly caused by a fast-moving society, affected by globalization and digitization and these contemporary challenges are reflected onto the stage. This reflection calls for a renegotiation of acting techniques. My research aims at developing and creating a broadly applicable language and methodology about contemporary acting training applied in the living praxis of the carousel improvisation which helps the actor/student to discover and create him- or herself as a manifold player in artistic processes. The project is driven by my wish to enhance the artistic practice of the carousel improvisation as the main working tool to train the contemporary actor/student and to create a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between presentation and representation in the field of performing arts. The purpose of this training is to develop and strengthen the contemporary actor’s/student’s personality artistically through developing a reflected relation to themselves as actors and performers in the different work stages during the carousel improvisation. The theoretical context in which my concept arises is Mette Tranholm´s PhD dissertation Disincarnation: Jack Smith and the Character as Assemblage. Mette Tranholm and I stage a practical-theoretical encounter between her disincarnation theory and the carousel concept that opens up to an understanding of the carousel practice as an assemblage of different acting techniques.
