Five years after Michael Jackson’s death, the celebratory nature of remembering The King of Pop has not abated. Artists, scholars, and the mainstream media focus more intently on his talents, contributions, and immense legacy than the scandals and perceived eccentricities that defined his star text during the last years of his life. This posthumous hagiography became virtual reality in a performance at the May 2014 Billboard awards in which a holographic image of Jackson danced and sang to “Slave to the Rhythm”, one of the released old/new songs off Xscape. This was not the first appearance of a deceased entertainer in hologram form; Tupac Shakur “appeared” at Coachella Festival in 2012. Scholar Priya Thomas has made fascinating connections between that secular phenomenon and the practice of séances in American spiritualism that deserve to be examined in the context of the Billboards spectacle, especially given the intense emotional, even religious fervor that Jackson’s fans experienced in his live presence. Despite the technical brilliance of the Billboard spectacle, Jackson–as-hologram was (literally) a pale shadow of the presence Eric Michael Dyson wrote about in his essay “Michael Jackson’s Postmodern Spirituality”. This presentation examines the affective energy at the core of Jackson’s immense popularity as a performer. Employing the work of scholars working in the field of dance studies, religious studies, and popular culture, this paper examines theories of presence in performance, liveness as mediated through televisual and audio media, and the religious and spiritual dimensions of Jackson’s work as a performer.
About the presenterElizabeth June Bergman
Elizabeth June Bergman is a dancer, interdisciplinary scholar, and educator who researches the cultural history and production culture of the U.S. commercial dance industry. She holds a Ph.D. from Temple University (2019). Elizabeth received an MFA from The University of Iowa (2009) and has subsequently taught at UI, Temple, and Bryn Mawr College. She currently serves as Chair of Pop Moves Americas, a node of the international research group for popular dance and performance.