1200's (Originated in Ancient Greece)
Mime - Originated in Greece through the masked dances of the character 'Pantomimus', this art form developed throughout the medieval period through forms such as the mummer plays. Early exponents include Jean-Gaspaurd Deburau, Jaque Copeau and Etienne Decroux
Ballet - Originated during the Italian renaissance in the 15th century. Later developed into a formalised concert dance. Consists of choreography and music. E.g. the work of George Balanchine.
Commedia Dell'arte - An early form of theatre emerging from Italy in the 16th century. Characterised by a series of archetypal masks, and improvised sketches or performed scenarios.
Opera - An art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (libretto) and musical score, usually in a traditional theatrical performance setting. Emerged from an Italian tradition in the 16th century.
Burlesque - Overlapping in meaning with 'caricature', 'parody' and 'travesty', this art form is usually a dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by imitating the spirit of 'serious work'. Later the term developed to refer to performance in a variety show format.
Clowning - A form of performance practise emerging out of the Commedia Dell'arte tropes. Highly physical and often comedic. Associated with circus. The contemporary form was originated by Joseph Grimaldi.
Musical Theatre - A form of theatrical language that combines song, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. Narrative driven often with highly charged emotional content. The western form emerged in the 19th century with many of its structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Modern Dance - Emerged as a rejection or rebellion against classical ballet in the late 19th century. Notable artists include Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan and Martha Graham.
Theatre of Cruelty - Originally developed as a concept by French avant-garde playwright Henry Becque. Often seen as a break with traditional western theatrical forms by means of sensory assault and a violent expression of the subconscious. Artists include Antonin Artaud.
Expressionist Theatre - A modernist movement in drama and theatre that developed principally in Germany in the early 20th century. Melodic and episodic in presentation, performances of this style often detailed the failure of social values through inflated expressions of suffering and despair. Works include Reinhard Sorge's 'The Beggar' and Strindbergs 'To Damascus'.
Epic Theatre - Theatrical movement emerging in the early 20th century, primarily from the politically charged work of Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht. Characterized by documentary effects, audience interaction and strategies designed to cultivate objective reception (verfremdungseffekt).
Dance Theatre - Or 'Tanztheatre' emerged out of Expressionist Dance in Weimar Germany in the early 1920's. Exponents include Rudolph Laban, Kurt Joosse, and Mary Wigman. Often understood as a blending of dance and dramatic elements.
Documentary Theatre - Theatrical form that utilizes things such as newspapers, government reports and interviews as source materials for scripting, often verbatim. Artists include Anna Deavere Smith, Sarah Jones and Brooke Haycock.
Psychodrama - Dramatization or role playing often used within therapy to investigate or gain insight into oneâs self-image. Founded by Jacob L. Moreno.
Theatre of the Absurd - A style of theatrical presentation that emerged after world war 2, primarily in Europe, that expressed a perceived lack of meaning or logic to human existence. Logical construction gives way to irrational speech. Artists include Samuel Beckett.
Theatre of the Oppressed - A theatrical form developed by Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal. The form understands theatre as a way of promoting social and political change. Often, the audience becomes active as 'spectators' enabling them to consider how they can change the reality in which they are living.
Drag - A social critique of gender, often articulated through opposite sex impersonation. Highly politicized and often utilized as they protest against conformist expectations and hetero-normalisation. Artists include Divine, John Epperson, and Lady Bunny.
Contemporary Dance- A hybrid dance form emerging out of classical, modern and jazz styles. It is the dominant genre for formally trained dances throughout the western world.
Installation Art - An artistic genre often utilizing performance that is typified by three-dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a given space. For example, the work of Marcel Duchamp, Allan McCollum, and Yayoi Kusama.
Performance Art - Performance presented to an audience usually within a Fine Art context. Often interdisciplinary in nature. Its key elements are an awareness of time, space and the performers body. Artists include Yoke Ono, Carolee Schneeman, Yves Klein and Joseph Beuys.
Body Art - Performance that is made on, with or consisting of the body. Often includes the performance of ritual tattooing, scarification of shaping. Artists include Kiera O'Reilly and Ron Athey.
Guerrilla Theatre - The term was coined by Peter Berg in 1965 about the actions of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, suggesting their actions are like those of a military troupe, destroying unjust order through interruption without warning. Developed as a form of agitprop and political street theatre. Artists include Bread and Puppet Theatre Company.
Site Specific Performance - Performance works creates in relation to physical sites (often outside of the traditional theatrical spaces). Often discussed in relation to both theatrical and visual arts traditions. Artists include Mike Pearson and Naomi LeFrance.
Fluxus - International and interdisciplinary art movement in the 1960's and early 1970's. Often producing collaborations between designers, architects, artists and mathematicians. Artists include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell and Henry Flynt.
Intercultural Performance - A form of theatrical practise that intentionally fuses of subverts cultural performance traditions through various form of adaptation and remix. For example, the work of Peter Brook.
Invisible Theatre - A form of theatrical practise that is enacted in spaces where audiences would not normally expect to see it. These forms of performance are usually covert, thus leading spectators to view the performance as a real, un-staged event. Often connected to ideas of culture-jamming. Artists include Boal.
Durational Performance/ Endurance Art - An art form that utilizes the passage of extended periods of time to produce unique experiences for audience and performer alike. Often involving some form of physical or mental hardship. Artists include Marina Ambramovic and Tehching Hsieh.
Puppetry/ Object Theatre - The manipulation of inanimate objects often resembling human or animal figures. Artists include Mummenschanz and Horse & Bamboo Theatre.
In-Yer-Face Theatre - A style of drama that emerged in the 1990s in Britain. Coined by critic Aleks Sierz to describe theatrical practise without hubris of pretence. Artists include Sarah Kane, Tracey Letts and Philip Ridley.
Autobiographical Performance - Often performed solo, this form of work experiments with notions of 'the self', drawing on deeply personal life histories, narratives and subjective embodied experiences. Artists include Eric Bogosian, Spalding Gray, Bobbie Baker and Diamanda Galas.
 Physical Theatre - A form of physical storytelling that relies on the performers physical motion rather than, or combined with text as the primary method of communication. Exponents include DV8, Frantic Assembly and Reckless Sleepers.
Immersive Performance - Performance within which there is no distinction between audience and actorâs world's. Often presented with extended and hyper-realistic spaces, that enable the audience to roam, explore and discover. Artists include Punchdrunk.
Mixed Reality Performance â A contemporary performance practice that utilises interactive technologies alongside developments in VR to create new forms of theatrical experience for audiences. Artists include Blast Theory.
