Body lab : Kasyan Goleizovsky and the new dance in Russia in the early 20th century

The article is devoted to the role of dance seen as a laboratory of bodily culture. The idea is analysed using the example of a lesser-known area of the Russian culture from the first three decades of the 20th century - the so-called "free dance" - and the creation of Kasyan Goleizovsky. The sources of the new dance are being placed in the tradition of a Russian symbolism, as well as in an early 20th century anthropological project focusing on the change of human nature inspired by the ideas of F. Nietzsche and W. Ivanov. Drawing inspiration from the vision of theatre as a Dionysian practice, making collective spiritual revival possible, dancing becomes both a body releasing and a body restrictive practice.