ABSTRACT
This chapter looks to the fate of the subject within an ontology of force. It will offer three accounts of subjectivity, each somewhat different. The first begins with Deleuze’s depiction of subjectivity as a mode of ressentiment, in which force turns inwards, away from action. Deleuze’s portrayal of subjectivity in Nietzsche shows how forces fold inwards, to create an interior, felt as conscious experience (thoughts, feelings and sensations). The Deleuzian distinction between subjectivity and corporeal becoming, founded on Nietzschean thought, is adapted to an action-based account of dance, one which adheres to the healthy norm of action. The second notion of subjectivity looks to the formation of the subject within culture, through the cultural deployment of force to produce the trained individual. This section brings together Foucault and Deleuze in order to show the way in which culture works through subject-formation and the cultivation of corporeal dispositions. It revisits the question of virtuosity in dance, beyond the conventional realization of excellence, towards the notion of cultural reconfiguration. It does so by reference to the Nietzschean concept of the Sovereign Individual, the one who is a product of culture, yet is able to turn culture on its head. The third treatment of subjectivity pursued here examines the relation between subjectivity and its overcoming. The discussion in this section draws on the notion of Nietzschean overcoming to suggest that there is a manner of dancing which could be seen as a movement beyond the self. The suggestion is that certain practices, such as those found in postmodern dance, can be framed as the strategic deployment of subjectivity in the manner of its (own) overcoming. This last section represents a speculative (re)interpretation of Deleuze’s writing on overcoming and active destruction, as the work of the one who wants to be overcome.
