Sophia Obermeyer first studied philosophy and political science in her Bachelor at Free University Berlin (2013-2016). This was followed by a Master´s degree in Philosophy at Free University Berlin and the University of Bergen (Norway), which she completed with the thesis “What´s Wrong With Populism?” (2016-2019). Obermeyer developed another area of interest in the form of intensive involvement with contemporary dance and choreography. She pursued this both as a freelance artist in the Berlin scene and at the Inter-Unversity Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT). Her work was supported by the Berlin Senate and the Goethe Institute.

Cripping verticality: Artistic strategies to move normative orders of embodied alignment

What does it mean to give up one´s embodied verticality? And how is this a critical endeavor? Ballet blanche obviously strived away from gravity, but also contemporary dance techniques continuously focus on extended vertical alignment of bodies. Verticality and rectitude imply both: a specific shape of the embodied subject and its distinct spatial and intersubjective orientation. As philosophers Adriana Cavarero and Judith Butler have shown, rectitude serves as a cultural code for normative concepts such as rationality, integrity and autonomy. In my doctoral thesis I suggest that it is not uncontested: movement artists and choreographers use shifted axis and embodied lines that shake hegemonial notions of alignment. Applying methods which are tailored to its research subject/objects, a three-step investigation evolves: Firstly, I interpret diverse artistic practices of dancers and choreographers such as Raimund Hoghe, Makisig Akin and Michael Turinsky with a focal point on their ways to work with, against and through rectitude. Secondly, I discuss those practices in the context of postural care ethics as critical strategies. Thirdly, I assume that these cripping strategies play out on two levels: on the predominantly visual perception and in enabling different embodied experiences when and while moving. I propose to adapt crip phenomenology as a method in order to mediate embodied and rational systems of knowledge. This is where I lay open and draw from my own situatedness as a professional dancer with crip experiences. While aligning with the phenomenological turn in disability choreography, this thesis distills crip phenomenology´s critical force and therefore contributes to a sharpened taxonomy of crip practices in contemporary dance.

Research Interests:

• Care Ethics
• Critical Disability Studies
• Phenomenology
• Critical Theory