The articles in this first installment of a series on choreography that considers the relationship between philosophy and dance interrogate conceptions of the body, movement, and language. Translated for the first time into English, the selection by José Gil reads the dancing body as paradoxical through the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari; and the chapter by Peter Sloterdijk examines modernity's impulse toward movement and posits a critical theory of mobilization. An interview with choreographer Hooman Sharifi accompanies a meditation on his recent performance.

Newly commissioned pieces from Performa05 raise questions about shifting modes of transmission and witness in the staging of performance and visual art, also key concerns considered in response to Seven Easy Pieces , 2005, Marina Abramovic's (re)performance of seminal works by Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Joseph Beuys, VALIE EXPORT, and Gina Pane.