Biomechanical Diasporas: Practitioner Perspectives on the Transmission of Meyerhold's Techniques

Abstract

This essay gives voice to practicing interpreters of Biomechanics as a means of unpicking the potential of body-based practices in transmission processes. It opens with a brief introduction explaining the background shared by the practitioners involved, namely the transmission history from Meyerhold to Nikolai Kustov to Gennady Bogdanov. The core of the essay intertwines several transmission routes – across Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Italy – with each practitioner giving rise to a particular interpretation or application of Biomechanics. Taken together, these practitioners’ perspectives shed light on the porous nature of transmission, where source techniques emerge not as fossilised forms but as dynamic processes elaborated in the encounter between transmitter and receiver, while being responsive to broader cultural, economic, political, and social factors.