Grotowski and Performance Studies

Abstract

There are many links joining performance studies and Jerzy Grotowski’s research and terminology. The article is an attempt of initial exploration of this dense web of relations following four main lines: 1) Grotowski’s historic links to the individuals and organizations that pioneered performance studies; 2) particular meanings that Grotowski gave to the terms related to performance studies; 3) Grotowski’s beliefs regarding the dramatic nature of human relations, which link him to the concepts of the forerunners and founders of performance studies; 4) Grotowski’s distinctive vision of behaviour in non-daily situations, different from the ideas of performance studies and his different perception of the function of performance from the ones dominant in performance studies. The task I set myself is to provide preliminary outline of these four areas and to put forth initial hypotheses to be tested in future studies.

Keywords

• performance
• grotowski
• schechner