THEORIES AND PERFORMING ARTS IN JAPAN

The course is part of the complementary or integrative activities of the Japan curriculum in the Master's Degree Program in "Languages and Civilizations of Asia and Mediterranean Africa."
The course contributes to achieving the educational objectives of the program in the areas of humanities, cultural and linguistic competency.
The main educational objectives of the course are: to provide an adequate critical knowledge of the theories and practices in Japan's performing arts and to offer the essential tools for interpreting aesthetic and/or academic texts related to the performative phenomena; to develop judgment, production, and communication skills, both written and oral, in critical-interpretative discourses on the topics discussed.
The interdisciplinary nature of the course will allow students to apply the knowledge acquired in other disciplines and to broaden their understanding of the performative aspect and the body in cultural and artistic production processes, in society, and in other spheres.

Knowledge and Understanding:
- to know and understand the main elements of performance theory in relation to the theatrical practice under examination.
- to know and understand concepts and tools of theatrical criticism.
- to know and understand the historical and social contexts already analysed in other courses of the degree programme from different perspectives (e.g., historical, linguistic, artistic, religious, anthropological, etc.).

Ability to Apply Knowledge and Understanding:
- be able to analyse and interpret performative phenomena using critical and historiographical concepts and tools of the performing arts.
- be able to critically apply concepts of performance theory to the performing arts of Japan.
Judgment Skills:
- be able to develop critical judgments on performative phenomena and the analytical texts examined during lectures, using solid and well-documented arguments.
- be able to critically examine different types of sources (academic, statistical, alternative) from a comparative and transcultural perspective.

Communication Skills:
- be able to express and rework the course content in writing or orally, in a concise and effective manner.

Learning Skills:
- be able to take complete and effective notes.
- be able to critically integrate the study of different materials (notes, slides, textbooks, academic articles, audiovisual material, digital resources, and alternative sources).
- be able to study autonomously topics and materials not covered during lectures.
- refine the ability to study materials in English and Japanese.

An adequate knowledge of written and spoken Japanese is preferred.

The course examines the alignment between practice and theory and their placement in the history of the performing arts in Japan, observing the relationship between the theories that govern stage-making and performative practices (from staging to bodily techniques). Part of the course will be dedicated to methodologies in the sciences that theorise the performative phenomenon, ways of framing the performative phenomenon in academic studies, and the analysis of narrative in comparison with the theatrical practice in question. Some examples of aesthetic texts and/or theatrical criticism, including academic studies, will be analysed.
The course is structured around the following issues:
- study of the various definitions of “body”
- the relationship between theory/writing/word and body/practice/performance
- the relationship between academic studies and theatrical practice
- the relationship between body and text
- bodies in literature and theatrical practice in comparison
- comparisons of translations of aesthetic texts

Centonze, Katja (2018). Aesthetics of Impossibility: Murobushi Kō on Hijikata Tatsumi. Venezia: Cafoscarina.
Carter, Alexandra; O'Shea, Janet (eds) (2010). The Routledge Dance Studies Reader. London, New York: Routledge.
Centonze, Katja (2023). “Mishima Yukio: orditure di drammaturgie e atti performativi”. In: G. Azzaroni, M. Casari, K. Centonze (eds), Mishima Yukio e l’atto performativo: drammaturgie di un artista. Bologna: Clueb, pp. 35-55.
Centonze, Katja (2021). “Bodies in Japanese Language: An Introduction to the Polysemous Character of Corporeality.” Annali Ca’Foscari. Serie Orientale, vol. 57, pp. 575-604.

Several texts will be provided during the course and uploaded on the course moodle platform.

A short thesis written on a topic related to the course, to be agreed upon in advance with the teacher (60% of the grade), and to be discussed during the oral exam (40% of the grade).

Regarding the grading scale, scores will be assigned according to the following schema:
A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of: Sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of: Fair knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of: Good or excellent knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied comprehension of the program.

Conventional lessons and in-class discussions. PowerPoint presentations supported by audio-visual sources, web-based and alternative sources. Presentations and further readings are available on the moodle.unive.it platform.

The programme is still provisional and may be subject to change.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development