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Texts

These are some of the texts I've written over the last years. To read them, write down your e-mail address in the text box to receive the corresponding link or file. If you would like to receive more than one text, please contact me by e-mail here.

UFRJ
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Arte Cruzando Fronteiras: Gerda Alexander e a Multiplicidade da Atuação Profissional em Eutonia (in English: "Art Crossing Borders: Gerda Alexander and the Mutiplicity of the Professional Activity in Eutony")

ABSTRACT - This master's dissertation relates Gerda Alexander's training and early professional experiences with the multiplicity of professional practice in Eutony. Through qualitative social research, the historical-biographical research presents Dalcroze Eurhythmics, the specificities of the training by the Otto Blensdorf's school, Gerda Alexander's perspective on German modern dance, the certification as a Dalcroze Eurhythmics teacher, the art scene in Berlin, the first partnerships and employers in the Nordic countries, the transit in the 1930s, the impact of the rise of Nazism on her career, and finally, the opening of the training school for Dalcroze Eurhythmics teachers in Copenhagen, covering the period from 1908 to 1940. The research is oriented by Gerda Alexander's references as a way of appreciating her autobiographical narrative, in an attitude of “listening to the woman”, makes reference to contemporary theories and those of the period in question, contemplates European and Brazilian authors, highlights her meetings with researchers from different fields of knowledge, and develops two main themes, due to their relevance in Gerda Alexander's trajectory: her contact with German modern dance and the networks of knowledge and professional support among women. Afterwards, the dissertation presents a reflection on the multiplicity of professional practice in Eutony by identifying the partnerships of Gerda Alexander's school in Copenhagen at the time of its closure and the professional regulation of Eutony today in different countries, including the relationships between Eutony and dance in Brazil. As a form of historical, feminist, artistic, transatlantic and transgenerational activism, this work reveals the first thirty years of the trajectory of Gerda Alexander as a woman who developed her research from her training as a dance artist, crossed the boundaries of disciplines throughout the 20th century and left a legacy of multiple fields of professional activity with the creation of Eutony. 

 

ABNT REFERENCE - Oliveira, Débora (2023), 'Arte Cruzando Fronteiras: Gerda Alexander e a Multiplicidade da Atuação em Eutonia'. Master's Dissertation - Escola de Educação Física e Desportos, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro.

(IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE)

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A somatic congress in the 1950s? An overview of the First International Congress on Release of Tension and Re-Education of Functional Movement

ABSTRACT - This article provides an overview of the First International Congress on Release of Tension and Re-Education of Functional Movement that happened in Copenhagen in 1959. Acknowledging their common interests in the emerging field of psychosomatic studies, the congress gathered creators of somatic practices, some of their students, and professionals with medical, artistic and pedagogical backgrounds in order to share theoretical information and practical classes, and to further collaborations amongst peers. In this article I present historical information in the form of a first-person fictional narrative based on factual evidence and descriptions from actual attendees in order to offer an immersive experience of the event, recognizing it as the first collective effort for Somatics as a field early in the 1950s. © 2023 Intellect Ltd.

REFERENCE - Oliveira, Débora (2023), ‘A somatic congress in the 1950s? An overview of the First International Congress on Release of Tension and Re-education of Functional Movement’, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 15:2, pp. 171–82, https://doi.org/10.1386/jdsp_00109_1

(IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

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Entre palcos, ruas e hospitais: a transdisciplinaridade radical de Gerda Alexander na criação da Eutonia (in English: "Between stages, streets and hospitals: The radical transdisciplinarity of Gerda Alexander in creating Eutony")

This article is part of the proceedings of the 7th National Meeting of Dance Researchers of ANDA - National Association of Dance Researchers, on the transdisciplinarity of Gerda Alexander's professional work in the creation of Eutony.

ABNT REFERENCE - OLIVEIRA, Débora Lopes; TOURINHO. Lígia Losada; DUARTE, Carolina Natal. Entre palcos, ruas e hospitais: a transdisciplinaridade radical de Gerda Alexander na criação da Eutonia. In: ENCONTRO NACIONAL DE PESQUISADORES EM DANÇA, 7, 2022, edição virtual. Anais eletrônicos [...]. Salvador: Associação Nacional de Pesquisadores em Dança – Editora ANDA, 2022. p. 2323-2336.

(IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE)

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Descobrindo caminhos – Reflexões entre arte, movimento corporal e neurodiversidades (in English: "Discovering pathways - Reflections on art, movement and neurodiversities")
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Estimulando o nervo vago - Partes I e II (in English: "Stimulating the vagus nerve - Part I and II")

Material on the connections between arts and neurodiversity for Instituto Inclua's social networks. The first topic was vagus nerve stimulation, including topics such as self-care and chronic pain through image and text. São Sebastião do Paraíso (BRA), 2020.

(IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE)

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"here", "now" e "eat"

Trilogy of texts written in artistic residency at Ponderosa Movement & Discovery, with reflections on "being in the world" ("dasein") from the experience of having Eutony and Contact Improvisation as everyday practices in this context. The material was distributed throughout the dance centre's common spaces during the second semester of 2019. Lunow-Stolzenhagen (GER), 2019.

(IN ENGLISH)

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Um caminho de descoberta do corpo - Teoria da Eutonia ("in English: A way of discovering the body - Theory of Eutony")

A monograph written as part of the professional training in Eutony at the Brazilian Institute of Eutony. It analyses the subjects covered by the training in Eutony, integrating theoretical and experiential aspects. The text was written in digital format, on an interactive online page. Supervisor: Ma. Maria Thereza Feitosa. São Paulo, 2018.

(IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE)

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Autopercepção: Um meio de aquisição de conhecimento (in English: "Self-perception: A way of knowledge acquisition")

ABSTRACT - This Scientific Initiation approaches the studies of perception in relation to Eutony. The processes involved in human perception are studied from different points of view, and in this work there is an interest in some propositions from the Cognitive Sciences, especially those related to the philosophy of mind, dealing with theories that do not reaffirm the duality of body and mind, which is so obsolete in contemporary studies. This approach is urgently needed in research into the body and its relationship with the environment, whether in the arts, medicine, psychology, etc. It is necessary to bring this study closer to the Eutony of Gerda Alexander, once this work is constantly being developed and updated. From the bibliography surveyed, especially Alva Noë's understanding of perception as action; the conversations between supervisor and advisee; and the interviews with students and eutonist, it was possible to see that understanding the processes of perception can help in the didactic/pedagogical actions implemented in Eutony, as well as in other body approaches that emphasise perception through strategies that favour the development of the ability to be self-aware beings, an indispensable capacity when it comes to the body in movement. 

 

ABNT REFERENCE - OLIVEIRA, D. Autopercepção: Um meio de aquisição de conhecimento. Iniciação Científica (Graduação em Comunicação das Artes do Corpo - Dança) - Faculdade de Filosofia, Comunicação, Letras e Artes, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. São Paulo, 2013.

(IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE)

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Entrevista com Juliana Moraes

Interview with dancer and choreographer Juliana Moraes (BRA) about her training in Dance between UNICAMP (BRA) and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (UK), her work with Companhia Perdida and the concept of "sensorimemories" created in her latest work. This interview was handed as part of the History of the Body in Dance II course, with the professor Dr Christine Greiner at PUC/SP, 2011.

(IN PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE)

Débora Oliveira Online 2024

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