Re-defining the ‘contact zone’: Translation, transformation and the space in-between

Abstract

This article explores the space ‘in-between’ in intercultural arts practice. Drawing on my engagement as an academic participant in the ArtsCross/Danscross project, I unpack Mary Louise Pratt’s term ‘contact zone’. Pratt defined contact zones as ‘social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other’ (Pratt 1991: 4) and in exploring the processes that took place at Beijing Dance Academy and The Place, London in 2012 and 2013, both in the rehearsal studio and in the seminar room, I re-define the idea of the ‘contact zone’. Drawing on theories of translation and pragmatist philosophy as well as ideas from performer training and Chinese aesthetics and etymology, I move towards a more nuanced understanding of the ‘in-between’ as a productive space both for the creation of new artistic works and as a strategy for intercultural working practices.