What are Power Dynamics Anyways?
“Power dynamics: influence on others that exists beyond the level of language alone. Our words tell people what to do, our bodies tell them how to feel about what we’re saying, and how we use our attention determines everything.”
…This post is still in progress… but here’s where I’m at right now…
If intimacy work is about diffusing the power-differential in artistic spaces it may be supportive to highlight some of the research around power dynamics and outline how power dynamics tend to influence a room. Unless named, power is difficult to define. We usually know it when we see/feel it at play, but putting it into words to process it cognitively can be challenging.
To wildly simplify, in the sensorimotor psychotherapy practice I am undertaking, if a feeling isn’t named and integrated physically, or the sensorimotor loop is interrupted somehow during a traumatic event or as the result of ongoing unidentified harm, an individual will feel distress or disempowerment. Ongoing disempowerment can lead to detachment and depression or other illness as we do not feel attuned to our relationships or environment. Disempowerment can also be a major creativity killer!
Distinctly relevant to performance spaces is that much western concert dance and the performing arts companies making it have been shaped by imperial cultures of hierarchy that function via what social philosopher Mary Parker Follet calls Power Over (PO). Despite social change, companies and works still often reproduce hierarchies and narratives that reflect the dominant culture. For example, major ballet’s like Swan Lake and (the currently impending doom of yet another) Nutcracker include within their story Royal courts of their own. This allowed for the wealthy benefactors in the audience footing the bill to see themselves positively reflected in the stories on stage, reflecting the status quo, and normalizing their authority in multiple spheres beyond the artistic–aesthetic, political, religious, social, legal. The contemporary working reality for many performers is that many major companies making work still function as hierarchical structures (for examples of non-hierarchical structures see one of my favs Public Recordings).
Before going on, let me be clear, I LOVE codified forms of dance, theatre, and, YES, EVEN BALLET. I am obsessed with the rigour and discipline that leads to works like Wayne McGregor’s Maddaddam I was privileged to witness recently. I guarantee The National Ballet dancers weren’t “calling it in” during rehearsals… but my hope is that they weren’t harming themselves in the process either by pushing beyond their boundaries for the sake of keeping the job. For more on how consent is complicated in performance see below and I’ll elucidate this more in a future post.
IC’s were using Planned Parenthood’s acronym defining consent but soon realized that this does not quite fit every performance context, especially when the material is inherently difficult to be enthusiastic about, as in a scene of sexual violence or abuse. For performance spaces CRISP has become the new industry standard.
My next post will further cover boundaries and offer some tools for identifying the difference between the discomfort of creative growth, often related to eu-stress: a “good” form of stress versus discomfort that is crossing a boundary into distress which can lead to reflexive trauma responses and harm as experienced in the body. This embodied distinction between discomfort and physical, emotional, personal, or cultural boundary crossing is very important for performers to discern on an ongoing basis as they choose to participate in certain artistic processes–or not.
How can we recognize POWER and how it may be affecting the process?
Most intimacy direction and coordination trainings use definitions of power from social psychologists French and Raven (1959) who outline 6 sources of distinct power over (the PO defined by Mary Parker Follet that is at work in many hierarchical companies/organizations). This post pivots on this framework, however, future posts will engage other historical ideas of influence, philosophies of power, and more contributions from womxn. Please send any frameworks you work with and find helpful my way!
Legitimate/Title Power: 💼
Legitimate power is power derived from a position or a set of formal relationships. Leaders in a hierarchies and elected officials have legitimate power. People are influenced by legitimate power and they will do what they are told due to the rules of society and the workplace. This looks like Artistic Directors, CEO’s, Choreographers, Stage Managers.
Coercive Power: ⛓
Coercion involves forcing someone to do something against their will. This is usually achieved by being able to punish someone for non-compliance. Could be important to note that coercion can only ever achieve compliance in others, it can never lead them to exceed a minimum delivery level. So, if coercion is used, a performer cannot grow.
Reward Power: 🍬
Reward involves giving benefits to someone for doing something. This is almost the opposite of coercion. As with coercion, reward generally only achieves compliance. Reward generally only influences people to work to the point at which a reward has been earned. Teachers and Supervisors often hold this type of power via grades or deciding on roles in the making of a work.
Expert Power: 👩🌾
Expert power derives from an individual’s expertise. Their level of skill, competence and experience helps make them trustworthy and able to influence others. Expert power is derived purely from personal traits and is wholly independent of a position in an organization. Expert power only lasts as long as an expert keeps getting good results and is not acting purely for personal gain.
Referent Power: 👩🎤✨
Referent power is based on being liked and respected as an individual. It’s derived from an individuals perceived value, worth or attractiveness. A good example is social media influencers and celebrities. It’s a highly personal type of power and generally uninfluenced by position (though it may help individuals gain position). Referent power alone often isn’t that strong in a formal work place.
Informational Power: 🤳
Informational power is based on the ability to control the flow of information that is needed to get things done. It is often derived from having access to confidential information that others don’t know. Informational power can be very strong in our increasingly data driven world. However, once a source of information is lost, so is its associated power.
My hope in sharing this framework is to motivate an engagement with how we feel these forms of power so that we can be discerning about the projects we choose and the choices we are making as we engage in them. I also encourage looking at The 5 Pillars of Intimacy, IDC’s Consent Studio and Cookie Harrists zine The Liberated Dancer for more tools to support a safer creative experience!
To add to French & Raven’s definitions of sources of power, I began this post with a quote from powerhouse patriarchy slayer and former dominatrix Kasia Urbaniuk. Her “Playing with NO” exercises are also amongst my favourite cognitive tools for rewiring the neural programming towards “Yes” entrained into many performers through their training. Her exercises are particularly useful for flipping the power dynamics when someone crosses your boundaries or puts you on the spot.
