In　 What a Body Can Do , Ben Spatz develops, for the first time, a rigorous theory of embodied technique as knowledge. He argues that viewing technique as both　training and research has much to offer current debates over the role of practice in the　university, including the debates around "practice as research."
Drawing on critical perspectives from the sociology of knowledge,　phenomenology, dance studies, enactive cognition, and other areas, Spatz argues that technique is a major area of historical and ongoing research in physical culture, performing arts, and everyday life.
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Review
"Ben Spatz’ examination of concepts of technique and practice in embodied knowledge is a richly rewarding read, both for its rigorous discussion and clarification of ideas which can often be confused and confusing, and for its thought-provoking analysis of a range of examples." -- Susie Crow, Oxford Dance Writers
About the Author
Ben Spatz is Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Huddersfield. He holds a PhD in Theatre from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and has been a member of the Performance as Research working groups of both IFTR and ASTR. Ben is founder and artistic director of Urban Research Theater since 2004.

motw/What a Body Can Do_ Technique a - Ben Spatz.pdf

Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher 10.0.1465/W Unicode

Spatz, Ben;

Ashgate Publishing Limited

Taylor & Francis Ltd

Gower Publishing Ltd

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

London ; New York, 2015

Abingdon, Oxon, 2015

1, 2015-03-12

producers:
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Memory of the World Librarian: Slowrotation

Cover 1
Half Title
2
Title page 4
Copyright page 5
Dedication 6
Table of Contents 8
Foreword 10
Acknowledgements 12
Introduction: What Can a Body Do? 16
A body can ... 16
Five stories 20
From performance to practice 24
Embodiment and sustainability 26
Methodology and chapters 29
1. An Epistemology of Practice 38
Which epistemology? 38
A selective genealogy of technique 41
The structure of practice 53
Branches and pathways 59
Linguistic peninsulas 63
Sedimented agency 65
The trope of excess 71
Research in embodied technique 75
The problem of the substrate 79
2. The Invention of Postural Yoga 88
Yoga and physical culture 88
A royal success 90
The yoga wars 95
Healthism and “performance” 98
Two studios in the East Village 101
The gendering of yoga 107
Between athletics and somatics 110
A therapeutic turn 115
What is physical education? 119
3. Actors Without a Theatre 128
Craft and presence 128
Beyond “actor training” 132
Stanislavski’s threshold 137
The method of physical actions 144
Grotowski’s legacy 147
Songs and other epistemic objects 151
A research culture in acting 162
Interdisciplinarities 168
Laboratories 178
4. Gender as Technique 186
How to slice a cheese 186
Research in everyday life 190
The problem of sexual difference 194
Fracturing the feminine 201
Masculinities 206
Identity and inertia 212
Current research in gender 218
New paradigms 224
5. Embodied Research in the University 232
Blue skies? 232
The epistemic impulse 236
“Practice as Research” 240
The archive and epistemic distance 249
Research design and methodology 257
The fourth division 262
Bibliography 268
Index 290

In What a Body Can Do, Ben Spatz develops, for a first time, a rigorous theory of embodied technique as knowledge. He argues that understanding technique as a field of both training and research has much to offer current discussions around the role of practice in the university, including the debates over "practice as research." Drawing on critical perspectives from the sociology of knowledge, phenomenology, dance studies, enactive cognition, and other areas, Spatz argues that technique is a major area of historical and ongoing research in physical culture, performing arts, and everyday life. -- from back cover

In What a Body Can Do, Ben Spatz develops, for the first time, a rigorous theory of embodied technique as knowledge. He argues that understanding technique as both training and research has much to offer current debates over the role of practice in the university, including the debates around "practice as research."

2025-10-27