去「中國」化的漂泊指符：談華美舞蹈家在美國的離散（1986-1995）

De-centering ＂China,＂ Becoming Floating Signifiers: The Chinese Diaspora in U.S. Modern Dance (1986-1995)

盧玉珍(Yuh-jen Lu)

《台灣舞蹈研究》 14期 (2019/12) Pp. 42-96

https://doi.org/10.6303/TDRJ.201912_(14).0002

摘要

本文由後殖民、後結構主義切入，探討陳學同、江青、張家平、商如璧等人於1980-90年代的現代舞作，在中共當局與美國政府同時宣稱「六四天安門事件」為其「內政」後，以及代表美國「民主進步」的（後）現代主義藝術在NEA藝術贊助的正當性受到質疑時，如何在方興未艾的文化內戰中尋找出路，身不由己地掙扎、拉鋸與妥協，而非全然的順從或對抗。由於藝術資源的大幅度萎縮，迫使舞蹈家不是解散舞團就是轉向私人贊助，以致政治上「民族－國家」的分裂認同，無獨有偶地應驗於「舞團－編舞家」的分裂上，「文化中國」和「文化私有化」成了九○年代末的新議題。華美編舞家為了生存之道，能見度的爭取成了不言而明的準則。尤其，「中國」母題的難以完全拭除，只能去實體化其中心指涉。然而，為什麼兩岸三地的政治事件卻跨國、跨文化地介入了華美族群的自我形象建構，而適時地影響藝術家的自由創作？本研究透過田野訪談、拉邦動作分析（LMA）及辭彙直覺法（lexicon）而發現，當時華美離散表演投射出了三大走向：務實型東方主義、委託型美國夢、及文本化舞蹈等，併同若隱若現的「根」及流變現象，而概念化「中國」為一啟示作用大於革命力量且全球遊走的「漂泊指符」。

關鍵字

六四事件 ； 文化中國 ； 漂泊指符 ； 文化私有化 ； 民族－國家分裂認同

並列摘要

This essay examines how Chinese American dance artists - H.T. Chen, Chiang Ching, Ping Chong, and Ruby Shan - accommodated their modern dance works in the aftermath of the Tiananmen event and the flaming cultural wars caused by the controversy of the NEA Four during the 1980s-90s from the perspectives of post-colonialism and post-structuralism. By conducting pro-survival tactics in dance-making, the visibility of the Chinese diaspora in America has rendered their voices heard, their cultural identity legitimate, and their differences constructive, and yet this visibility is far from innocent, because much of its contradiction takes place at the implicit, indirect level, rather than at the overt one where the codes of citizenship rule. Due to drastic cuts in public funding for the arts, dance-makers have either disbanded their dance troupes or have turned to private sponsorship, so that the separation between dance companies and artists corresponds to the split notion of ＂nation-state＂ among those artists in exile who identify with Chinese culture rather than the Chinese state. As such, ＂cultural privatization＂ and ＂cultural China＂ became new topics in the U.S. during the late 1990s. The research asks why do political events, whether domestic or foreign, often have spillover effects transnationally and timely influence the self-image construction of Chinese American racial-gender-profiled dance-making, while catering to a built-in marginal rank? Through field interviews, Laban movement analysis (LMA) and the lexicon, the study of the Chinese diaspora in U.S. modern dance throughout the 1980s-90s shows at least three trajectories: pro-survival Orientalism, a commissioned American dream, and the modus operandi of dancing from a written text. Together with the twin phenomena of looming ＂roots＂ and ＂becoming,＂ motifs of ＂China＂ in dance are de-centered into ＂floating signifiers＂ in tandem with plural, yet indeterminate references that meander globally, and which are more revealing than revolutionary.

並列關鍵字

Tiananmen event ； cultural China ； cultural privatization ； floating signifiers ； nation-state split

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