Beyond Winning | Janet O'Shea | TEDxUCLA
Wouldn’t it be great if there were something we could do that could teach us how to work together? Kinetic play, sports, physical games, and other activities where interacting with each is central to the experience, can unite us and can show us how to disagree with respect.
But there’s a catch: too much attention to winning turns sports from play into work; too much attention to winning can be stressful and can promoted deception and even violence. In this presentation, author, professor, and martial artist Janet O’Shea shows us how physical play shows us to compete without needing to win and how to disagree with respect.
WATCH THE TALK ABOVE
PODCASTS
Broccoli and Ice Cream: A Conversation with Comedian Myq Kaplan
OCTOBER 2023
Managing Conflict through Competitive Play
APRIL 2021
On Martial Arts, Dance and Politics: Martial Arts Studies Podcast
MAY 2020
Conversation with memoirist Carla Sameth
MAY 2019
Conversation with sports sociologist Alex Channon
APRIL 2019
Conversation with poet, activist, and essayist
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo
JANUARY 11, 2019
Conversation with sports sociologist Francesco Duina
DECEMBER 21, 2018
Conversation with Thai fighter, graphic novelist, and rhetorician Stephanie Phillips
DECEMBER 11, 2018
SEASON 4, EPISODE 10 | 2019
Burn It All Down Feminist Sports Podcast
NOVEMBER 27, 2018
Conversation with world champion kickboxer Kathy Long
OCTOBER 15, 2018
Conversation with memoirists and martial artists
Susan Schorn and Cathy Chapaty
SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
TALKS
Risk, Failure, Play:
Sport Beyond the Demands of Competition
NOVEMBER 20, 2018 | UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, EASTBOURNE
NOVEMBER 21, 2018 | BRUNEL UNIVERSITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY PERFORMANCE RESEARCH LABORATORY AND LECTURES
MMA Progressives and Far-Right Fight Clubs:
Martial Arts as a Model for Agonistic Democracy
NOVEMBER 15, 2018 | LONDON THEATRE SEMINAR
UCLA SCHOOL OF ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE
Ten Questions Series: What is Failure?
NOVEMBER 13, 2018
Strange Bedfellows?
Academic Disciplines in an Age of Right-Wing Populism
MARCH 9, 2018 | WILLIAMS COLLEGE
DANCE/PERFORMANCE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE SYMPOSIUM
Making Play Work:
Competition, Spectacle and Intersubjectivity
in Hybrid Martial Arts
JULY 2016 | UNIVERSITY OF CARDIFF, WALES
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: SECOND ANNUAL MARTIAL ARTS STUDIES CONFERENCE
MAY 15, 2016 | TEDxUCLA
INTERVIEWS
THEATRE, DANCE, AND PERFORMANCE TRAINING
Akram Khan in conversation with Janet O'Shea on Brazilian jiu-jitsu
JUNE 20, 2022
Conversation between British contemporary dance choreographer Akram Khan and author Janet O'Shea on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, play, creativity, and being stuck, literally and metaphorically
UCLA NEWSROOM
In new book, professor explores the benefits
of physical play like martial arts
SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
Q&A with Janet O’Shea, UCLA professor of dance, about Risk, Failure, Play:
What Dance Reveals about Martial Arts Training
Martial Arts Studies Interview
DOJO TV
VIDEOS, OP-EDS, PRESS COVERAGE
“Professor wonders what adults lose when they stop engaging in competitive play”
Five Ways Sparring Can Change you as a Person
APRIL 1, 2015