Dance as sign and unruly corporeality in Pasolini’s film and film theory

This article places Pasolini’s discussion of the presence of live bodies in cinematic practice in dialogue with his actual use of dance movement in his films. It weighs Pasolini’s involvement with structural linguistics in the 1960s against his apparent belief in the pre-critical and pre-reflexive role of dance and vocal movement in culture to analyze how his theory of the shot and his use of dance have both theoretical and political significance.