Recension de Femmes, attitudes performatives, aux lisières de la performance et de la danse

Femmes, attitudes performatives, aux lisières de la performance et de la danse, édité en 2014 aux Presses du réel, est le compte-rendu d’un colloque organisé par Carole Boulbès et l’École nationale supérieure d’art de Nancy en 2012. Des années 1910 à nos jours, de nombreuses pionnières ont, au sein des avant-gardes européennes et américaines, (re)défini les rapports entre danse et performance. Elles ont ainsi inventé de nouveaux espaces pour la création artistique féminine, parfois féministe. Cet ouvrage dessine les trajectoires singulières de quelques-unes de ces artistes, en se concentrant sur trois moments historiques : la danse moderne, la postmodern dance, et les performances féministes des années 1970. À l’horizon, des enjeux actuels : comment conserver leur travail sans le trahir ? Comment peut-il continuer à inspirer, artistiquement et politiquement, la recherche et la création contemporaines ?Femmes, attitudes performatives, aux lisières de la performance et de la danse was edited in 2014 by Les Presses du réel. This book results from a congress that Carole Boulbès and the École nationale supérieure d’art de Nancy held in 2012. Since the 1910s, in Europe and in America, many pioneers belonging to the avant-gardes have been (re)defining the links between dance and artistic performance, therefore shaping new spaces for women to create in the arts, and in particular for feminist claims. This book brings light on the singular paths some of these female artists followed. It focuses on three historical periods (modern dance, postmodern dance and feminist performances in the 1970s), and raises issues art and academic research have to face today. For example: how is it possible to preserve the work of these artists without betraying its spirit? And how can their work still bring strength to art and research

Dance Studies et création contemporaine : le concept de « Theory » en question

Compte-rendu du colloque « Tanz [aber/als/durch/in/und/aus] Theorie » organisé à Berlin en 2011, l’ouvrage Dance [and] Theory émane d’une réflexion collaborative d’universitaires, de danseurs, chorégraphes et d’administrateurs d’institutions culturelles sur les différents types de défis auxquels la danse est aujourd’hui confrontée. Ces défis sont abordés sous l’angle d’une réflexion sur le concept anglo-américain de « Theory » : quel est le statut du savoir produit par les Dance Studies aux États-Unis, ou la Tanzwissenschaft en Allemagne, et quelles sont les méthodes de ce champ disciplinaire ? Que peut apporter la production de savoir théorique à la pratique de la danse ? La danse incorpore-t-elle ou produit-elle elle-même une forme de savoir, de pensée ?The book Dance [and] Theory results of the congress “Tanz [aber/als/durch/in/und/aus] Theorie” that was held in 2011 in Berlin. Scholars, choreographers dancers and artistic directors among others discuss the various challenges dance has to face today. They address these challenges under the perspective of a reflection about the concept “Theory”: Which kind of knowledge do Dance Studies in the United States, or Tanzwissenschaft in Germany, produce, and which are the methods of this academic field? Which role can theory play for dance practice? Does dance incorporate or produce some kind of theories

Dance Studies et création contemporaine : le concept de « Theory » en question

Compte-rendu du colloque « Tanz [aber/als/durch/in/und/aus] Theorie » organisé à Berlin en 2011, l’ouvrage Dance [and] Theory émane d’une réflexion collaborative d’universitaires, de danseurs, chorégraphes et d’administrateurs d’institutions culturelles sur les différents types de défis auxquels la danse est aujourd’hui confrontée. Ces défis sont abordés sous l’angle d’une réflexion sur le concept anglo-américain de « Theory » : quel est le statut du savoir produit par les Dance Studies aux États-Unis, ou la Tanzwissenschaft en Allemagne, et quelles sont les méthodes de ce champ disciplinaire ? Que peut apporter la production de savoir théorique à la pratique de la danse ? La danse incorpore-t-elle ou produit-elle elle-même une forme de savoir, de pensée ?The book Dance [and] Theory results of the congress “Tanz [aber/als/durch/in/und/aus] Theorie” that was held in 2011 in Berlin. Scholars, choreographers dancers and artistic directors among others discuss the various challenges dance has to face today. They address these challenges under the perspective of a reflection about the concept “Theory”: Which kind of knowledge do Dance Studies in the United States, or Tanzwissenschaft in Germany, produce, and which are the methods of this academic field? Which role can theory play for dance practice? Does dance incorporate or produce some kind of theories

Nowcasting real economic activity in the euro area: Assessing the impact of qualitative surveys. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 331

This paper analyses the contribution of survey data, in particular various sentiment indicators, to nowcasts of quarterly euro area GDP. It uses a genuine real-time dataset that is constructed from original press releases in order to transform the actual dataflow into an interpretable flow of news. The latter is defined as the difference between the released values and the prediction of a mixedfrequency dynamic factor model. Our purpose is twofold. First, we aim to quantify the specific value added for nowcasting GDP from a set of heterogeneous data releases including not only sentiment indicators constructed by Eurostat, Markit, the National Bank of Belgium, IFO, ZEW, GfK or Sentix, but also hard data regarding industrial production or retail sales in the aggregate euro area and individually in some of the largest euro area countries. Second, our quantitative analysis is used to draw up an overall ranking of the indicators, on the basis of their average contribution to updates of the nowcast. Among the survey indicators, we find the strongest impact for the Markit Manufacturing PMI and the Business Climate Indicator in the euro area, and the IFO Business Climate and IFO Expectations in Germany. The widely monitored consumer confidence indicators, on the other hand, typically do not lead to significant revisions of the nowcast. In addition, even if euro area industrial production is a relevant predictor, hard data generally contribute less to the nowcasts: they may be more closely correlated with GDP but their relatively late availability implies that they can to a large extent be anticipated by nowcasting on the basis of survey data and, hence, their ‘news’ component is smaller. Finally, we also show that, in line with the previous literature, the NBB’s own business confidence indicator appears to be useful for predicting euro area GDP. The prevalence of survey data remains also under a counterfactual scenario in which hard data are released without any delay. This finding confirms that, in addition to being available in a more timely manner, survey data also contain relevant information that does not seem to be captured by hard data

Can inflation expectations in business or consumer surveys improve inflation forecasts? National Bank of Belgium, Working Paper No. 348

In this paper we develop a new model that incorporates inflation expectations and can be used for the structural analysis of inflation, as well as for forecasting. In this latter connection, we specifically look into the usefulness of real-time survey data for inflation projections. We contribute to the literature in two ways. First, our model extracts the inflation trend and its cycle, which is linked to real economic activity, by exploiting a much larger information set than typically seen in this class of models and without the need to resort to Bayesian techniques. The reason is that we use variables reflecting inflation expectations from consumers and firms under the assumption that they are consistent with the expectations derived from the model. Thus, our approach represents an alternative way to shrink the model parameters and to restrict the future evolution of the factors. Second, the inflation expectations that we use are derived from the qualitative questions on expected price developments in both the consumer and the business surveys. This latter source, in particular, is mostly neglected in the empirical literature. Our empirical results suggest that overall, inflation expectations in surveys provide useful information for inflation forecasts. In particular for the most recent period, models that include survey expectations on prices tend to outperform similar models that do not, both for Belgium and the euro area. Furthermore, we find that the business survey, i.e. the survey replies by the price-setters themselves, contributes most to these forecast improvements

Entre essence et historicité de la danse classique : le « néo-classique » du XX e siècle à nos jours

Often viewed in contrast with modern dance or contemporary dance, classical ballet raises specific philosophical questions. The object of my research is to analyse these questions, by exploring a period from the beginning of the 20th century to the contemporary era, and considering two notions commonly attached to classical ballet: the category of neo-classicism and the notion of grace.Indeed, when refering to choreographical productions of the 20th century and onwards, the category of neo-classical dance is often used rather than that of classical ballet. However, if the analysis of the common uses of the word "neo-classical" helps to discern different conceptions of classical ballet, its full meaning only appears through a firmer historical and philosophical determination of the notion, by making explicit the conception of classicism that is inherent to a truly neo-classical theory of ballet.Yet, such a theory is based on an essentialist conception of classical ballet, which is connected to the common identification of grace as the essence of this art. It is therefore necessary to define the notion of grace, so that it does not constitute an epistemological obstacle, but rather a heuristic tool to consider classical ballet philosophically – not reducing it to an anachronistic form of art, yet not conforming to the neo-classical view on ballet either. Here, the reflection on grace is inextricably linked with the reflection on neo-classicism, for both these perspectives on classical ballet bring to light a tension, inherent to this art, between essence and historicity, and make it possible to adopt a relational approach instead of an essentialist conception of classical ballet.Souvent pensée en creux de la danse moderne ou de la danse contemporaine, la danse classique comporte ses enjeux philosophiques propres, que notre travail a pour objet d’examiner, en se concentrant sur une période allant du début du XXe siècle à nos jours, et sur deux notions qui sont couramment attachées à la danse classique : la catégorie de néo-classique et la notion de grâce.La catégorie de danse néo-classique tend en effet à se substituer dans les discours à celle de danse classique pour désigner la création chorégraphique du XXe siècle à nos jours. Cependant, si une analyse des usages communs de ce terme permet de dessiner des lignes de partage entre différentes conceptions de la danse classique, seule une précision historique et philosophique plus ferme de la notion lui redonne sens, en explicitant la pensée du classique qui sous-tend une théorie proprement néo-classique du ballet. Or, cette théorie repose sur une conception essentialiste de la danse classique, qui rejoint l’identification commune de la grâce comme constituant l’essence de cet art. Il s’agit dès lors de déterminer la notion de grâce, afin qu’elle ne constitue pas un obstacle épistémologique mais plutôt un outil heuristique pour appréhender philosophiquement la danse classique, sans la renvoyer à une forme d’art anachronique, ni adhérer pour autant à une pensée néo-classique du ballet. La réflexion sur la grâce rejoint ici celle sur le néo-classique, ces deux perspectives sur la danse classique permettant d’identifier une tension entre essence et historicité constitutive de cet art, et de substituer une approche relationnelle à une conception essentialiste de la danse classique

Between essence and historicity of classical dance : the "neoclassical" from the 20th century to the present day

Souvent pensée en creux de la danse moderne ou de la danse contemporaine, la danse classique comporte ses enjeux philosophiques propres, que notre travail a pour objet d’examiner, en se concentrant sur une période allant du début du XXe siècle à nos jours, et sur deux notions qui sont couramment attachées à la danse classique : la catégorie de néo-classique et la notion de grâce.La catégorie de danse néo-classique tend en effet à se substituer dans les discours à celle de danse classique pour désigner la création chorégraphique du XXe siècle à nos jours. Cependant, si une analyse des usages communs de ce terme permet de dessiner des lignes de partage entre différentes conceptions de la danse classique, seule une précision historique et philosophique plus ferme de la notion lui redonne sens, en explicitant la pensée du classique qui sous-tend une théorie proprement néo-classique du ballet. Or, cette théorie repose sur une conception essentialiste de la danse classique, qui rejoint l’identification commune de la grâce comme constituant l’essence de cet art. Il s’agit dès lors de déterminer la notion de grâce, afin qu’elle ne constitue pas un obstacle épistémologique mais plutôt un outil heuristique pour appréhender philosophiquement la danse classique, sans la renvoyer à une forme d’art anachronique, ni adhérer pour autant à une pensée néo-classique du ballet. La réflexion sur la grâce rejoint ici celle sur le néo-classique, ces deux perspectives sur la danse classique permettant d’identifier une tension entre essence et historicité constitutive de cet art, et de substituer une approche relationnelle à une conception essentialiste de la danse classique.Often viewed in contrast with modern dance or contemporary dance, classical ballet raises specific philosophical questions. The object of my research is to analyse these questions, by exploring a period from the beginning of the 20th century to the contemporary era, and considering two notions commonly attached to classical ballet: the category of neo-classicism and the notion of grace.Indeed, when refering to choreographical productions of the 20th century and onwards, the category of neo-classical dance is often used rather than that of classical ballet. However, if the analysis of the common uses of the word "neo-classical" helps to discern different conceptions of classical ballet, its full meaning only appears through a firmer historical and philosophical determination of the notion, by making explicit the conception of classicism that is inherent to a truly neo-classical theory of ballet.Yet, such a theory is based on an essentialist conception of classical ballet, which is connected to the common identification of grace as the essence of this art. It is therefore necessary to define the notion of grace, so that it does not constitute an epistemological obstacle, but rather a heuristic tool to consider classical ballet philosophically – not reducing it to an anachronistic form of art, yet not conforming to the neo-classical view on ballet either. Here, the reflection on grace is inextricably linked with the reflection on neo-classicism, for both these perspectives on classical ballet bring to light a tension, inherent to this art, between essence and historicity, and make it possible to adopt a relational approach instead of an essentialist conception of classical ballet