News

OPEN CALL!!!

Performance Philosophy School of Athens II  

Athens 23-24 September 2017  

Performance Philosophy School of Athens was a two-day symposium that took place in 2014 in E.D.W. in Athens in association with the international network Performance Philosophy. The symposium hosted workshops, performances and papers that focused on learning about performance philosophy and created various pedagogies in performance and philosophy. More information can be found at: http://performancephilosophy.ning.com/page/athens and at https://muse.jhu.edu/article/576891  

Performance Philosophy School of Athens II, another two-day symposium, organised by Stefania Mylona and Stella Dimitrakopoulou, in association with the international network of Performance Philosophy, will focus on Performance Dance (Mylona, 2017), performances that stand in-between dance and performance art or more broadly the visual arts world. The symposium invites workshops, performances and papers that examine the relationship between dance movement, visual art and philosophy. Some of the questions to be addressed are the following: 
 • In what ways do dance movement and the visual arts intertwine?
 • How do dance images make us think?
 • How does sculpture come into play?
 • How does the relationship between dance movement, visual arts and philosophy benefit or influence these fields?
 • What are the aesthetics of performance dance?
 • What might performance dance offer the emerging field of performance philosophy and vice versa?   We invite artists, choreographers, dancers and scholars both from the dance world and from the visual arts world to showcase their work, to offer workshops, performances or papers that address performance dance in relation to performance philosophy. 

Please send your proposals, to ppsoaii@gmail.com until the 31st of July.  



NEW PUBLICATION

'PooF: The Concsiouness of Perfromance' 
Dr J.Blamey & Dr S.Dimitrakopoulou

Will be published in the 'Performance Artist's Workbook' (Ed. Pilvi Porkola) by Uniarts Helsinki. The book will consist of articles about teaching performance art and 100 performance art exercises.
It is done in collaboration with Live Art and Performance Studies (Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki) and the New Performance Turku festival. 

PAST 'PHILOSOPHY ON OUR FEET' EVENTS:

Philosophy on our feet: Responding to responsibility
'Expanding Response/Ability: The idea of responsible research and innovation explored through science, humanities and the arts'.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
At Trondheim Art Museum, Trondheim, Norway, 17 November 2016 

Performance Philosophy Special
We were invited by the Jewelled Moon Theatre Company to give a workshop
At The White Knight, 253-261 Kensal Road, London, 22 June 2016

At Dorset Wharf Community Centre, Hammersmith, London, May-June 2016
Weekly workshops on different themes.

At British Society of Aesthetics Conference, April 2016

Performance Lecture: 'Improvisation in Dance: a Philosophical perspective'

At Siobhan Davies – London, December 2014:
Rituals: https://www.facebook.com/events/1548104952103077/?fref=ts

At Siobhan Davies – London, November 2014:
A series of three workshops on Truth, Time and Consciousness:
Truth: https://www.facebook.com/events/1534784503432621/?fref=ts

Time: https://www.facebook.com/events/1566333030251591/?fref=ts

Consciousness: https://www.facebook.com/events/655389127907232/?fref=ts

At Arena Harringay Arts – London, 17 May 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/events/548751941911850/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar

At the Performance Philosophy Symposium – Athens, 15th-16th March 2014
http://performancephilosophy.ning.com/page/athens

Videos / Images

'Philosophy on our Feet' at the Performance Philosophy Symposium  Athens, 15th-16th March 2014

Contact Us

Please feel free to contact us by email:

Dr Jonny Blamey: jonnyblamey@yahoo.com

Dr Stella Dimitrakopoulou: dimitrakopouloustella@gmail.com

Workshops

We all know deep down that it is wonderful to be alive, but it is rare to be entirely conscious of this fact in a rational and embodied way. Having worked on a methodology for practicing philosophy using our whole selves, we invite you to experience the wonder of being alive using ‘Performance Philosophy’. We humans are naturally singers, dancers, experimenters and collaborators. We will take you on a philosophical investigation using our whole bodies that liberates us from the hidden social constraints that have grown up around philosophy like lichen on an old stump.

We have conducted experiments at ‘Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance’ and workshops in Athens and in London (at Haringey Arts and at Siobhan Davies Dance). We have covered topics including time, the limits of language, property exchange, performative utterances and contracts, resonance, self awareness, game playing, truth and many more. The workshops are participant led.

WHAT TO EXPECT
The workshops are usually structured in a way that is similar to a contemporary dance workshop. We often begin by walking around the space and engage with each other. The focus is on creating a free form philosophical discussion that may include experiment, singing, drama, movement and atypical speech patterns, for example speaking in unison. Personal autonomy is actively encouraged and no movement or action is compulsory so it is entirely acceptable to sit quietly throughout the workshop if that is desired.

WHO IS IT AIMED AT?
In the past, these workshops have been attended by philosophers, choreographers, dancers and other artists and intellectuals; but we welcome everybody to share the enquiry into the thought of dance and the dance of thought. No specific background knowledge is required and we hope that everybody will benefit from this practice in a profound way.

BOOKING
Should you desire to invite us for a workshop please send an email to
jonnyblamey@yahoo.com or dimitrakopouloustella@gmail.com

What is Performance Philosophy

Performance Philosophy combines philosophy with techniques used in contemporary dance improvisation and methods drawn from the performing arts more generally.

We see philosophy as the practice of the highest virtue of human life: the practice of living wisely. The performance of philosophy is the practice of attending to the central questions of existence: the nature of time and space; the locus of freedom; the nature of ourselves and our relationship with others; the nature of thought and of discourse and the way our thoughts are embodied in our actions; the nature of happiness and wealth and the reality of ownership; the nature of knowledge and our relationship with our bodies and sensations. Through attending to these questions thoughtfully and communally we aim to live happier and healthier lives.

Philosophy On Our Feet workshops aim at approaching these philosophical topics using the physical and aesthetic awareness engendered in disciplines such as contemporary dance, drama, music and poetry. 

Who we are

Photo by Jesus Ubera

Dr Stella Dimitrakopoulou (PhD in Creative Practice: Dance 2016) is a performance artist and researcher. As well as working individually, she is co-founder of the international performance collective ‘Trio’(2009)  and co-runs the research project Philosophy on our Feet (2012). She has worked as an interpreter and project manager for Tino Sehgal exhibitions in Paris, Athens and London. She holds an MA in Dance-Theatre: the body in performance’, a BA in Dance and a BA in Mining Engineering (NTUA). She plays the drums.

http://stella-dimitrakopoulou.blogspot.gr 

Dr Jonny Blamey is a Dr of Philosophy since 2011 specializing in the philosophy of probability. He is a songwriter and pianist. In 2009 he became and influential figure in the revolution of love and developed two acts of magic with methodologies based on philosophical method mesmerism and group singing. The second created extreme happiness in the audience and seemed to work in several venues. He is a father since 2011.