Hallo Katrin!
what a fascinating project! A long time ago I also organised an experimental event with Hochschule fur Musik, Tanz & Theater in Zuerich and St. Gallen University, involving students in experiential learning! Therefore I would appreciate to learn more about your emerging master program! Currently I also work on a phenomenology of affect & (Inter-)Dance in relation to leader- and followership as well as organisational transformation (based on Merleau-Ponty & kinetic~logos~ in sensu Maxine-Sheets Johnstone).
When work-places become stages for potential spaces of play and enacted narratives and embodied performances these are not only fixed work-stations, but milieus for movement, rhythms and even dance as media ‘that allows the human body to play with space – seeking a concretisation of spatial possibilities’ (Atkinson, 2008: 1089) as an emerging, localised form of ‘aesthetics’ of co-presence (Atkinson, 2008: 1083). Carnival Dance and Samba are example for movements towards the transgression the dualism between object-body and subject-body, showing their interdependency and staging the dialogue between bodies (Slutskaya & De Cock 2008). Also the unfolding dance as part of learning in teams (Rowe, 2008) and the dance of leadership as the art of leading (Kan, 2007) are show the potency of dance for our field.
I am very much convinced that dance can help further unblock dialogue, facilitates taking flight to fulfill its literal meaning as ‘meaning flowing through’ (Isaacs, 1993).
For choreography as an aesthetics of change have a look here
http://choreograph.net/articles/lead-article-choreography-as-an-aesthetics-of-change
http://choreograph.net/articles/lead-article-framing-paper-for-still-open
It would make sense to work with dancers and choreographers while developing and enacting a choreography as an embodied aesthetics of change/trans-formation.
Looking forward to hearing from you (and others)
warm regards
wendelin
Atkinson, D. (2008), Dancing ‘the management’: on social presence, rhythm and finding common purpose. Management Decision, Vol. 46, No. 7, 1081-1095.
Isaacs, W. (1993). Taking Flight: Dialogue, Collective Thinking and Organizational Learning. Organizational Dynamics. 22:2, pp. 24-39.
Kan, M. (2007). The dance of leadership: The art of leading in business, government, and society, Public Management Review, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 587-589.
Rowe, A. (2008), Unfolding the Dance of Team Learning: A Metaphorical Investigation of Collective Learning, Management Learning, Vol. 39, No. 1, 41-56
Slutskaya, M. and De Cock. C (2008), The Body Dances: Carnival Dance and Organization Organization, November 1,; 15(6): 851 – 868
______________________________________
Associate Professor Wendelin M. Küpers
School of Management
Massey University, Albany Campus
Gate 1, South Highway 17, Albany or
Private Bag 102 904
North Shore City, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 (09) 441-8115 Ext. 9235
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web-Page massey.academia.edu
EGOS 2012 Creating Organizational Life: Embodied Art, Aesthetics and Design
http://www.egos2012.net/2011/06/creating-organizational-life-embodied-art-aesthetics-and-design/
Handbook on Practical Wisdom: Leadership, Organization and Integral Business Practice
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/departments/school-of-management/symposia-conferences/practical-wisdom-symposium/call-for-chapters.cfm
-----Original Message-----
From: Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of AACORN automatic digest system
Sent: Monday, 23 April 2012 11:02 a.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: AACORN Digest - 20 Apr 2012 to 22 Apr 2012 (#2012-24)
There is 1 message totaling 168 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. choreography and dynamic structures
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:52:46 -0400
From: Stephen Carroll <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
Katrin.
Just got around to reading your e mail today.
I must admit that I know very little about dance even though I have observed ballet and modern dance events many times. In my discussions of persuasive leaders in executive training, I have mentioned the importance of their body movements and have used some examples of leaders in film clips who had such very engaging movements.
By the way, I believe that choreography is also used as a term in the design of computer interactive systems to map out the interactions required of sellers, buyers, and other interacting entities. As in dance they have developed a notation system that communicates the sequence of steps that have to be followed and the nature of these interactions.I'm sure somebody on this site knows a lot more than I do about this.
My impression of a choregrapher is one who creates dance events using creative dance movements for dancers in a dance company which he or she might have created. It seems to me that this is just another type of management and organizational building activity. An organization must be created with a mission related to producing performances which are marketed and which present the creative artistic productions. As in any organization disparate elements must be coordinated and/or integrated- movements, music, scenery, lighting,etc. In doing this many problems occur as they do in all organizations- e.g. the individual performers do not have suficient skills to implement the creative designs -(I have seen student dancers fall in university productions- I have seen musical problems and inadequacies)
With respect to the unique possible contribution of choreography to organizational design I would guess that there are special insights and techniques in choreography which could possibly correct or alleviate some present weaknesses or deficiencies in organizational design and operations. However, given my ignorance of dance, I would not know what these are.I'm sure other AACORN members would have some insights into what some of these might be.
Steve
Stephen (Steve) Carroll
Maryland Business School
301/405-2239
[log in to unmask]
-----"Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: -----
To: [log in to unmask]
From: Katrin Kolo
Sent by: "Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network"
Date: 04/20/2012 10:41AM
Subject: choreography and dynamic structures
Dear AACORNers,
I would like to get your feedback, questions, reading recommendations, contact suggestions or any other sort of comments around the following theme:
“choreography as a method to induce dynamic in organisational structures”
Coming from an experience as business consultant (mainly reorganisation) and dance/Choreography, I have recently started a Master program in transdisciplinarity at the Zürich University of Arts (ZHdK), in which I want to work around this theme. Originally I wanted to already share my thoughts behind this theme with you in this email, but I am afraid that this would point you already in a certain direction. As I am just beginning to think about this, I want to be open for as many directions as this could lead to. Thus, thank you for your reply in any possible way.
I will try to collect all mails and bring things together to share them with you later, if you’re interested.
I would also be very happy to know, who of you is interested in “choreography/dance” related topics in general.
I am looking forward to your responses! Thanks so much Katrin
------------------------------
End of AACORN Digest - 20 Apr 2012 to 22 Apr 2012 (#2012-24)
************************************************************
________________________________________
From: Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of AACORN automatic digest system [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 11:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: AACORN Digest - 22 Apr 2012 to 23 Apr 2012 (#2012-25)
There are 5 messages totaling 3017 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. choreography and dynamic structures (5)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:36:51 -0400
From: "Taylor, Steven S." <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
I don’t know much about choreography, but I’ve been having some ideas about the challenges of the design/enactment of organizational structures. I think of design from Visser’s (2006) conception that design can be understood as creating representations. For organizations the question is both what are you trying to represent and how do you represent that? As a playwright I design a performance by writing a script. The words (and stage directions) are a representation of the performance, but as we all know there are many different performances that might emerge from the same script. As a playwright I can’t represent the performance completely (in the way that an industrial designer can completely represent a product she designs) and this is the fundamental problem of organizational design. I can design and represent some things with the hope that what emerges will be what I want, but I can’t eliminate the variability and emergent aspects of organizations (even though some try – great grand pappy Frederick comes to mind). The traditional org chart represents dyadic authority relationships, perhaps because that is something you can specify and design. My industrial engineering colleagues design and represent material work processes. The language action folks (White & Fischer, 1994; Winograd & Flores, 1986) had the interesting idea that you could represent organizations in terms of a specific and limited set ofspeech acts that defined commitments people made as they coordinated action. My IT friends represent and design information structures. So, I would say that all organization design picks something (some organizational structure?) torepresent with the hope that defining that something will produce an emergent organization that is more or less what they had in mind. And just in case you’re still reading, I’ll finish with a shameless plug – I’d love to see work on this submitted to Organizational Aesthetics (www.organizationalaesthetics.org<http://www.organizationalaesthetics.org>).
Cheers,
Steve
Visser, Willemien. (2006). The cognitive artifacts of designing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
White, Thomas E., & Fischer, Layna. (1994). The workflow paradigm. California: Future Strategies, Inc.
Winograd, Terry, & Flores, Fernando. (1986). Understanding computers and cognition. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
Steven S. Taylor, PhD
[cid:36795148-5DF6-427A-8863-6266B867F525]
From: Stephen Carroll <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Stephen Carroll <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012 1:52 PM
To: ACORN <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
Katrin.
Just got around to reading your e mail today.
I must admit that I know very little about dance even though I have observed ballet and modern dance events many times. In my discussions of persuasive leaders in executive training, I have mentioned the importance of their body movements and have used some examples of leaders in film clips who had such very engaging movements.
By the way, I believe that choreography is also used as a term in the design of computer interactive systems to map out the interactions required of sellers, buyers, and other interacting entities. As in dance they have developed a notation system that communicates the sequence of steps that have to be followed and the nature of these interactions.I'm sure somebody on this site knows a lot more than I do about this.
My impression of a choregrapher is one who creates dance events using creative dance movements for dancers in a dance company which he or she might have created. It seems to me that this is just another type of management and organizational building activity. An organization must be created with a mission related to producing performances which are marketed and which present the creative artistic productions. As in any organization disparate elements must be coordinated and/or integrated- movements, music, scenery, lighting,etc. In doing this many problems occur as they do in all organizations- e.g. the individual performers do not have suficient skills to implement the creative designs -(I have seen student dancers fall in university productions- I have seen musical problems and inadequacies)
With respect to the unique possible contribution of choreography to organizational design I would guess that there are special insights and techniques in choreography which could possibly correct or alleviate some present weaknesses or deficiencies in organizational design and operations. However, given my ignorance of dance, I would not know what these are.I'm sure other AACORN members would have some insights into what some of these might be.
Steve
Stephen (Steve) Carroll
Maryland Business School
301/405-2239
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:43:45 +0100
From: Piers Ibbotson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
My observations ( very limited I admit) of working with choreographers in
the theatre, is that they work in a way not disimilar to directors. They are
creating a performance in collaboration with dancers who share a common
repertoire of embodied knowledge. They are selecting and adapting from a
vast pattern book of movements and styles and they work to achieve something
that is as close as they can get to the "design" in the choeographer's
notes/heads. In the theatre, choreographers rarely turn up with pages of
notated movements that specify in detail what the dancers are to do. ( This
is choreographers working on plays not ballet) The design and implement
process seems to me to be one that is approriate to inanimate systems but
cannot work quite so well when the system is composed of people. The
iterative/creative process of rehearsal allows for the individuality and
creative input of the performers to modify the design as it is being
communicated. But perhaps the bit of interest for understanding
organisations is in the design of the rehearsal process, not just the design
of the dance performance itself.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Taylor, Steven S." <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
I don’t know much about choreography, but I’ve been having some ideas about
the challenges of the design/enactment of organizational structures. I think
of design from Visser’s (2006) conception that design can be understood as
creating representations. For organizations the question is both what are
you trying to represent and how do you represent that? As a playwright I
design a performance by writing a script. The words (and stage directions)
are a representation of the performance, but as we all know there are many
different performances that might emerge from the same script. As a
playwright I can’t represent the performance completely (in the way that an
industrial designer can completely represent a product she designs) and this
is the fundamental problem of organizational design. I can design and
represent some things with the hope that what emerges will be what I want,
but I can’t eliminate the variability and emergent aspects of organizations
(even though some try – great grand pappy Frederick comes to mind). The
traditional org chart represents dyadic authority relationships, perhaps
because that is something you can specify and design. My industrial
engineering colleagues design and represent material work processes. The
language action folks (White & Fischer, 1994; Winograd & Flores, 1986) had
the interesting idea that you could represent organizations in terms of a
specific and limited set ofspeech acts that defined commitments people made
as they coordinated action. My IT friends represent and design information
structures. So, I would say that all organization design picks something
(some organizational structure?) torepresent with the hope that defining
that something will produce an emergent organization that is more or less
what they had in mind. And just in case you’re still reading, I’ll finish
with a shameless plug – I’d love to see work on this submitted to
Organizational Aesthetics
(www.organizationalaesthetics.org<http://www.organizationalaesthetics.org>).
Cheers,
Steve
Visser, Willemien. (2006). The cognitive artifacts of designing. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
White, Thomas E., & Fischer, Layna. (1994). The workflow paradigm.
California: Future Strategies, Inc.
Winograd, Terry, & Flores, Fernando. (1986). Understanding computers and
cognition. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
Steven S. Taylor, PhD
[cid:36795148-5DF6-427A-8863-6266B867F525]
From: Stephen Carroll
<[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Stephen Carroll
<[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012 1:52 PM
To: ACORN <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
Katrin.
Just got around to reading your e mail today.
I must admit that I know very little about dance even though I have observed
ballet and modern dance events many times. In my discussions of persuasive
leaders in executive training, I have mentioned the importance of their
body movements and have used some examples of leaders in film clips who had
such very engaging movements.
By the way, I believe that choreography is also used as a term in the design
of computer interactive systems to map out the interactions required of
sellers, buyers, and other interacting entities. As in dance they have
developed a notation system that communicates the sequence of steps that
have to be followed and the nature of these interactions.I'm sure somebody
on this site knows a lot more than I do about this.
My impression of a choregrapher is one who creates dance events using
creative dance movements for dancers in a dance company which he or she
might have created. It seems to me that this is just another type of
management and organizational building activity. An organization must be
created with a mission related to producing performances which are marketed
and which present the creative artistic productions. As in any organization
disparate elements must be coordinated and/or integrated- movements, music,
scenery, lighting,etc. In doing this many problems occur as they do in all
organizations- e.g. the individual performers do not have suficient skills
to implement the creative designs -(I have seen student dancers fall in
university productions- I have seen musical problems and inadequacies)
With respect to the unique possible contribution of choreography to
organizational design I would guess that there are special insights and
techniques in choreography which could possibly correct or alleviate some
present weaknesses or deficiencies in organizational design and operations.
However, given my ignorance of dance, I would not know what these are.I'm
sure other AACORN members would have some insights into what some of these
might be.
Steve
Stephen (Steve) Carroll
Maryland Business School
301/405-2239
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:42:22 +0200
From: Marijke Broekhuijsen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: choreography and dynamic structures
Dear colleagues,
A very short comment.
I quite agree with Piers Ibbotson's reaction of today and of Steve's before.
I have similar experiences and observations, not to say conclusions about
the question/issue.
Since 1980 I work in MD and OD and sometimes made use of a professional
choreographer. Also in that context they tended to work in the way Piers
describes.
I even have difficulty with the word design in context of choreography.
Good luck everybody, I enjoy the discussion from my bed after a hip
replacement.
Marijke Broekhuijsen ( originally trained in Mime theatre, ecole of Jacques
le Coq a.o)
Meijerkamplaan 35
1406 SX Bussum
The Netherlands
00 31 35 6911782
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:39:20 -0400
From: Brenda Parkerson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
The perspective of an ex-dancer - I see choreography as collaboration
between the choreographer and the dancer. Choreography evolves out of the
collaboration. Choreographers are often surprised themselves by what
emerges. Design happens within a 3 dimensional space, in lighting, in
costumes and within rhythmical structures inside and outside the music. The
choreographer brings a vision, a dance vocabulary and leadership to the
collaboration. Dancers bring themselves, their discipline and a willingness
to work through the choreographer's vision.
Not very academic, but I hope makes some sense...
Brenda Parkerson
On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 12:42 PM, Marijke Broekhuijsen <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear colleagues,****
>
> ** **
>
> A very short comment.****
>
> I quite agree with Piers Ibbotson’s reaction of today and of Steve’s
> before. I have similar experiences and observations, not to say conclusions
> about the question/issue.****
>
> Since 1980 I work in MD and OD and sometimes made use of a professional
> choreographer. Also in that context they tended to work in the way Piers
> describes.****
>
> I even have difficulty with the word design in context of choreography.***
> *
>
> Good luck everybody, I enjoy the discussion from my bed after a hip
> replacement.****
>
> ** **
>
> Marijke Broekhuijsen ( originally trained in Mime theatre, ecole of
> Jacques le Coq a.o) ****
>
> Meijerkamplaan 35****
>
> 1406 SX Bussum****
>
> The Netherlands****
>
> 00 31 35 6911782****
>
> ** **
>
--
*Brenda Parkerson*
(347) 443-7373
http://www.linkedin.com/in/brendaparkerson
*
*
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:20:36 -0400
From: Stephen Carroll <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
One quick thought that popped into this aging brain based on reading the previous notes, which were very educational for me as a management professor with no direct experience in any of the arts, is that of the consultant as a choreographer. In the early seventies a colleague and myself trained all the top and middle managers at Black and Decker in basic management theory and skills. The managers had complained about their new Management by Objectives system which had been imported from GE which had created the first primative version of this system. We studied it extensively with interviews , questionnaires, empirical data, and good measures of the personality characteristics and psychological needs of the managers using it (our dancers). Of course we already knew our dancers very well from training them previously. Based on our research we created an improved system with the collaboration of the managers or dancers and implemented it with appropriate training (rehearsals) using role plays, films, detailed instructions, etc. and motivational techniques. It was tailored to fit the capabilities and psychological needs of our managers just as choreographers do. A year and a half later we studied the same managers with the same instruments and improved it further. In another year and a half did the same and then I did another analysis of it later. Company performance following was spectacular and we wrote over 30 papers and a book from this project and from an implementation we did in The Packing Corp of America. Later in the seventies I implemented it the Internal revenue Service where we created films for training as well as role playing techniques and where it still exists today. It seems to me now that we could have worked more efficiently without the many implementation problems we faced if we knew back then how good choreographers worked.
Stephen (Steve) Carroll
Maryland Business School
301/405-2239
[log in to unmask]
-----"Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: -----
To: [log in to unmask]
From: Brenda Parkerson
Sent by: "Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organisations Research Network"
Date: 04/23/2012 04:39PM
Subject: Re: choreography and dynamic structures
The perspective of an ex-dancer - I see choreography as collaboration between the choreographer and the dancer. Choreography evolves out of the collaboration. Choreographers are often surprised themselves by what emerges. Design happens within a 3 dimensional space, in lighting, in costumes and within rhythmical structures inside and outside the music. The choreographer brings a vision, a dance vocabulary and leadership to the collaboration. Dancers bring themselves, their discipline and a willingness to work through the choreographer's vision.
Not very academic, but I hope makes some sense...
Brenda Parkerson
On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 12:42 PM, Marijke Broekhuijsen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear colleagues,
A very short comment.
I quite agree with Piers Ibbotson’s reaction of today and of Steve’s before. I have similar experiences and observations, not to say conclusions about the question/issue.
Since 1980 I work in MD and OD and sometimes made use of a professional choreographer. Also in that context they tended to work in the way Piers describes.
I even have difficulty with the word design in context of choreography.
Good luck everybody, I enjoy the discussion from my bed after a hip replacement.
Marijke Broekhuijsen ( originally trained in Mime theatre, ecole of Jacques le Coq a.o)
Meijerkamplaan 35
1406 SX Bussum
The Netherlands
00 31 35 6911782
--
Brenda Parkerson
(347) 443-7373
http://www.linkedin.com/in/brendaparkerson
------------------------------
End of AACORN Digest - 22 Apr 2012 to 23 Apr 2012 (#2012-25)
************************************************************
|