Dehors la danse: Monnier and Nancy's Epistolary Exchange on Dance and Thought

Choreographer Mathilde Monnier and philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy engage in an email conversation that blurs the boundaries between dance and philosophy, published as the book "Dehors la danse." The exchange, facilitated by the immediacy of the internet, transforms distant dialogue into an almost oral, instantaneous conversation. The ambiguous title suggests either expelling dance or reminding that dance is from the outside, echoing Foucault's "The Thought of the Outside" (1986). Nancy writes on March 23, 2000, that thought thinks nothing if it is not outside in gestures or words. The collection, bound like a school notebook with a metal spiral, includes handwritten sketches and notes by Monnier, photographs by Valérie Urréaa, and critiques the traditional primacy of interiority. While some may find the historical and anthropological notions simplistic and essentialist, the email and internet-sourced information create a stimulating effervescence. Laurence Louppe reviews the work, noting its heterogeneous writings that filter passages between the disjointed topologies of body and consciousness.