Tristes tropiques and the original thought in dance

Lévi-Stauss riminds us that the objects produced by "bricolage", though anonymous, carry within them the caracter and the life of their maker: " The bricoleur may not have complete his purpose, but he always puts something of himself into it". The contemporary dancer may be considered a bricoleur: having refused the unitary and organic nature of classical and modern dance codes, he has however absorbed the 'crumbs' into his body. The dancer in fact reuses these fragments, these precious fossils, as signs. He delivers them from their literal meaning and turns them into signifying material, drawing new meanings for the the ancient structural, and in the end always identical game of theatre.

Tristi tropici di Claude Lévi-Strauss ha nel 2010 ispirato l'opera omonima di uno dei massimi coreografi italiani, Virgilio Sieni, più volte vincitore del Premio Ubu per il teatro e esponente di punta della nuova danza europea. Il saggio tenta di approfondire la relazione tra il "pensiero selvaggio" e la corporeità danzante intesa come terreno di confine tra natura e cultura. Viene approfondito il concetto di "bricolage" anche in relazione alle pratiche coreografiche contemporanee e post-moderne.