in Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo

Layers of Performativity

“Iconography of Death” John Douglas Taylor Conference

Lori Shyba, Assistant ProfessorMcMaster University, HamiltonOctober 25, 2008

Photo: cirquedusoleil.com

For the Funeral Procession clip from Corteo,go to the 2 minute 21 second point of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKQAsTM07l4

1. Inspiration

2.The Industry

3.The Spectacle

4.The Sacred Sphere

5.Transformation

6. Doubling and Duality

7. Omnipotence

Layers of PERFORMATIVITY

Layer One: INSPIRATION and the Kernel of Creativity

“At the heart of creativity is an

experience of the mystical union; the

heart of the mystical union is an

experience of creativity. Those who

speak in spiritual terms routinely refer to

God as as the creator but seldom see

creator as the literal term for artist.”– Julia Cameron

Layer Two: THE INDUSTRY and Making it Happen.

“Linguist philosophers J.L. Austin and

J.R. Searle distinguished between two

kinds of utterances: ‘constantives’ or

statements, and ‘performatives’ like

“I bless you” that perform an act in

their being said.”

– Marvin Carlson

Layer Three: THE SPECTACLE and theProcess of Getting it on Stage.

“In the creative process there is the

father, the author of the play; the

mother, the actor pregnant with the

part; and the child, the role to be

born.”

– Constantine Stanislavsky

Photo: cirquedusoleil.com

Layer Four: THE SACRED SPHERE of PLAY

“The play-element was present and

significant from the beginning ... some

serious, some playful, but all rooted in

ritual and production of culture by

allowing in the innate human need for

rhythm, harmony, change, contrast and

climax to unfold in full richness.”

– Johan Huizinga

Photo: cirquedusoleil.com

Layer Five: TRANSFORMATION and RITUAL

“Corteo, which means "cortege" in

Italian, is a joyous procession imagined

by a clown ... situated in a mysterious

space between heaven and earth..”

– Cirque du Soleil promotions

“Rite of Passage” is a transformance,

changing status of relationship and

identity. (Schechner) In Corteo, this rite of

passage is the transformation of the

human soul.

Layer Six: DOUBLING and DUALITY

“All performance involves a

consciousness of doubleness, through

which the actual execution of an action

is placed in mental comparison with a

potential, an idea, or a remembered

original model.”

– Richard Bauman

Layer 7: OMNIPOTENCE and CAMERA’S EYE

Looking at these Paradise scenes from

Corteo ask yourself these questions ...

1. Who or what does the camera

represent in this scene?

2. How does its pervasiveness ramify

into our culture and social fabric?

3. Is the camera you? Could it also be

a “Godcam”?

Watch the Paradise Act from CorteoPlease refer to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7XE6psJP9c

Photo: cirquedusoleil.com

Lori Shybalori.shyba@shaw.ca