How Does a Forgetful Woman Dance?

In this reflective essay, the author discusses the impetus, mechanics, and concepts behind her solo, improvised dance series, Mother drift dances to songs in her head (2003 –). The mechanical/visceral processes of the series and its relationship to memory and malfunction are linked to Nietzsche’s writing on “active forgetting.” Examining the relationship between the dance series and forgetfulness, Robinson poses questions about the possibilities for political resistance through repeated and non-complete acts of physical forgetting.