Training the “intranquillity”: Contemporary dance between discomfort and playfulness

Abstract

Drawing on Erwin Straus’ notion of pathicity, as well as an atmospherological perspectives, this article explores the role of the pathic and felt-bodily dimension in the acquisition of the expressive and interpretive capacities required of contemporary dancers. Through the analysis of case studies emerging from interviews conducted with professional dancers, and in dialogue with the somaesthetics of discomfort developed by Mark Tschaepe (2024), the article argues that dancers grow artistically by diversifying their responses to their surroundings through discomfort and playful complicity.