1. Angelica Spilis
Research Methods in Dance
Week 10
Structures of Feeling
In Raymond Williams article Structures of Feeling we perceive the notion of emergence and
moving to pre-emergent. Williams confronts the bias towards concentrating on particular works
and products of art. He gives the impression that such works are emergent tendencies and already
identifiable. There is a bias towards objectification of emergent which Williams counters by
making a point that the process of production and interpretation of art is continuous and that “the
making of art is never itself in the past tense. It is always a formative process, within a present.”
(Williams: 129). Meaning the process of production and interpretation happens at a present
moment in time in which Williams looks to the experiences that give rise to emergence, which
he labels “structures of feeling.”
In class we discussed Martha Graham’s Lamentation, which is a work that shows feelings of
mourning, emptiness and tragedy. We discussed how Martha Graham spoke about a woman who
came up to her after a performance who looked as though she had been crying and her skin was
rather pale. The woman had sadly lost her son in a car accident and wasn’t able to cry until she
had seen Lamentation. In this sense Lamentation causes the structure of feeling because at this
moment the woman who lost her son realized that she should not be ashamed to cry. The feeling
of depression or sorrow is universal and that structure of feeling is affective because it influenced
a change in emotions. We can see that the physicality of emotions are not as static has they may
seem.
Williams then returns to the concept of practical consciousness as consciousness of the world as
certainly inflected with our social presence in it. While dominant social forms describe reality for
general social relationships and social consciousness only factually exists in real relationships,
“for they become social consciousness only when they are lived, actively in real relationships,
and moreover in relationships which are more than systematic exchanges between fixed units
(Williams: 130). In the general sense of reality given in dominant social tendencies is often
distinct from “true-life” social experiences.
The internet is a great example of this because an enormous amount of humanity has
relationships based through the internet. The questions I am pondering upon are that are these
true and authentic relationships? How can you really have a fulfilled social experience if you are
having relationships through a computer screen? At this point does this make us less likely to be
able to have conversations with real people and communicate by actually speaking in person? In
my opinion you can’t have social relationships or experiences if you don’t actually communicate

2. with people outside of a digital and technological world because then your social life doesn’t
develop and remains unchanged.
In Mark Franko’s article Essentialized Affect and E/motion, he discusses Williams “Structures of
Feeling” as “immediate rather than traditional, specific rather than universal, corporeal rather
than ideal. Emotion was material; its embodiment as either political action or performative
activity was consonant with a materialist vision of the world (Franko: 40-41). In this sense
“Structures of Feeling” is individualized and related to a person’s physical body specifically. We
can say that this idea is a form of radical art, because this gives us a different experience.
Dance as Protest
In class we watched Jane Dudley’s work she choreographed called Time is Money (1934), which
is a dance described as agitational propaganda during the Great Depression era in the United
States and the oppression of the American worker. We can see that this is a form of an artist
taking action and using dance to protest social injustice. While watching this piece it seemed as
the dancer was moving as if they were struggling and pushing to make it through a terrible time
in history showing that they were not going to give up hope. What stood out most to me was the
ending of the dance where the performer stood there for a couple seconds in a sense of self
objectification. It was as if the performer realized the way they were being treated was unjust,
but they still had their dignity and determination to move forward.
Utilizing dance as a form of protest gives people a chance to express their opinions in a non-violent
manner, which can also help to keep peace between humanity. In Susan Foster’s article
Choreographies of Protest she explains that “even as they endeavor to practice the principles of
nonviolence around which their actions are oriented, they must frequently make split-second
decisions about how to protest themselves or how to push forward in an unplanned way” (Foster:
412). People can use their bodies without being hostile and still succeed in making an impact on
expressing their political statement. It may not turn out the way you expected because a dance
work can have different meanings to people, but it is still effective because it still can erupt
bodily anger without becoming violent in the process.
Furthermore, Foster explains to use when individuals participate in a political protest, they make
a commitment to themselves and to the physical action that takes place. No matter what may
happen in the process they achieve a sense of agency and self expression. I feel especially
utilizing dance as a form of protest is great because you can make a powerful statement through
movement and the physicality plays in sociality which makes the protesting action even more
affective.