Auguste Rodin and the dancing body

‘Pathosformeln’ in motion, between the 20th and 21st centuries

Abstract

The essay aims to highlight the connections between certain elements of Auguste Rodin’s work and that of pioneering modern artists in dance, who were protagonists of the Parisian scene – and beyond – between the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It also traces the permanence of these connections over a long period of time, up to the 2020s, in cultural contexts that are distant from each other and, in some cases, even through decisive remediation operations. The evidence of these connections and the desire to investigate them have been at the centre of projects developed by various museums over the last two decades, resulting in exhibitions dedicated to the relationship between Rodin and dance, which have created almost laboratory-like spaces for those interested in the study of dance, its forms and its meanings (Musée Rodin, Paris 2006; The Courtauld Gallery, London 2016; Musée Faure, Aix‑les‑Bains 2018; Musée Rodin, Paris 2018; MUDEC, Milan 2023). The Warburgian perspective that informs the essay’s underlying reflection, also nourished by these experiences, allows us to look at a variety of case studies: from the dancers of the Royal Ballet of Phnom Penh, from Cambodia, whom Rodin saw in France in 1906, to artists such as Anna Halprin, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Alessandra Cristiani, Roberto Zappalà, Redcar and Tino Sehgal.