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Chapter 2. Practice as a shared accomplishment

Intercorporeal attunement in acrobatics
  • Kristina Brümmer and Thomas Alkemeyer
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Moving Bodies in Interaction – Interacting Bodies in Motion
This chapter is in the book Moving Bodies in Interaction – Interacting Bodies in Motion

Abstract

Central to our paper is the sequential analysis of an episode from an acrobatics training session in which a novice learns to perform a somersault in cooperation with four other acrobats. We analyze the episode from a perspective mainly inspired by sociological practice theories. Our aim is to show how the novice is attuned to the demands of practicing the somersault in different qualification stages. We illustrate how in verbal, gestural as well as direct body-to-body interactions with the trainer and the other acrobats she is incrementally enabled to participate in and contribute to the shared bodily performance. By taking an approach of theoretical empiricism, we finally explore the ways in which our empirical findings call for a specification of practice theoretical concepts of the body by introducing the notion of a ‘lived-body-in-accomplishment’ and discuss their implications for a concept of intercorporeality.

Abstract

Central to our paper is the sequential analysis of an episode from an acrobatics training session in which a novice learns to perform a somersault in cooperation with four other acrobats. We analyze the episode from a perspective mainly inspired by sociological practice theories. Our aim is to show how the novice is attuned to the demands of practicing the somersault in different qualification stages. We illustrate how in verbal, gestural as well as direct body-to-body interactions with the trainer and the other acrobats she is incrementally enabled to participate in and contribute to the shared bodily performance. By taking an approach of theoretical empiricism, we finally explore the ways in which our empirical findings call for a specification of practice theoretical concepts of the body by introducing the notion of a ‘lived-body-in-accomplishment’ and discuss their implications for a concept of intercorporeality.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. List of contributors xi
  5. Chapter 1. Intercorporeality, interkinesthesia, and enaction 1
  6. Part I. Interkinesthetic coordination and intercorporeality in team sports
  7. Chapter 2. Practice as a shared accomplishment 27
  8. Chapter 3. Intercorporeality and interkinesthetic gestalts in handball 57
  9. Chapter 4. Visual and motor components of action anticipation in basketball and soccer 93
  10. Chapter 5. Constructing cooperative and antagonistic intercorporeality 113
  11. Part II. Intercorporeal relations with moving bodies and objects in individual sports
  12. Chapter 6. Rock climbers’ communicative and sensory practices 149
  13. Chapter 7. Intercorporeal enaction and synchrony 173
  14. Chapter 8. Sound joined actions in rowing and swimming 193
  15. Chapter 9. “It’s really strange when nobody is watching” 215
  16. Part III. The enactive acquisition of embodied knowledge
  17. Chapter 10. Teaching bodies 245
  18. Chapter 11. Intercorporeal (re)enaction 267
  19. Chapter 12. Ways of relating 301
  20. Chapter 13. Intercorporeality with imaginary bodies 323
  21. Chapter 14. Afterword 345
  22. Index 355
https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.8.02bru

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. List of contributors xi
  5. Chapter 1. Intercorporeality, interkinesthesia, and enaction 1
  6. Part I. Interkinesthetic coordination and intercorporeality in team sports
  7. Chapter 2. Practice as a shared accomplishment 27
  8. Chapter 3. Intercorporeality and interkinesthetic gestalts in handball 57
  9. Chapter 4. Visual and motor components of action anticipation in basketball and soccer 93
  10. Chapter 5. Constructing cooperative and antagonistic intercorporeality 113
  11. Part II. Intercorporeal relations with moving bodies and objects in individual sports
  12. Chapter 6. Rock climbers’ communicative and sensory practices 149
  13. Chapter 7. Intercorporeal enaction and synchrony 173
  14. Chapter 8. Sound joined actions in rowing and swimming 193
  15. Chapter 9. “It’s really strange when nobody is watching” 215
  16. Part III. The enactive acquisition of embodied knowledge
  17. Chapter 10. Teaching bodies 245
  18. Chapter 11. Intercorporeal (re)enaction 267
  19. Chapter 12. Ways of relating 301
  20. Chapter 13. Intercorporeality with imaginary bodies 323
  21. Chapter 14. Afterword 345
  22. Index 355
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