Dance Research Matters Networks events
10th September 2024: ‘Contouring dance research legibility’: The Dance Research Matters Networks mid-point hybrid event
Venue: St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry
For venue and travel information, please visit: https://www.stmarysguildhall.co.uk/visit-attraction-in-coventry-2/
In May 2021, communities and networks of dance researchers, educators, artists, and practitioners came together at the Dance Research Matters event which was hosted by the Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University, in partnership with the AHRC. The campaign has grown into a strategic programme to develop and support dance research networks, encourage collaboration, identify the research and investment needs for dance, and to provide targeted and impactful investment in this area. An advisory group of dance researchers from across the UK was created to support the programmes purpose, development and delivery.
Continuing the momentum created by the campaign that led to the AHRC launching the Dance Research Matters Networks programme, the DRM Networks programme is holding an event in celebration of the networks and connections created through dance research in the UK.
With the theme of ‘Making dance research legible in the Creative Industries and beyond’, the event aims to facilitate knowledge exchange beyond the Networks and dance sector/dance research sector and make the dance research ecosystem more legible in relation to the Creative Industries. It also creates a space and platform that shares the journeys of the Networks thus far.
Further, the event aims to disseminate learning about the impact of dance research in a way that is accessible to the public, catalysing the spontaneous unearthing of undiscovered network potentials and niches, and identify offshoot research areas arising from groups with a connection to or informed by the Dance Research Matters Networks.
This hybrid event will:
- Bring together the Dance Research Matters Networks, dance research community, users of research and wider groups and communities to exchange ideas, current projects, and points of entry into each other’s spaces in-person and virtually
- Create discursive spaces for dance communities and connected sectors to share and co-develop new ideas, approaches, and activities
- Provide an update to the Networks, dance research community, dance sector, the AHRC, and the public on developments from the Networks and the mapping work
- Highlight emergent and urgent issues in dance research for highlighting in public discourse
- Disseminate information through knowledge exchange network, including media, third sector, and policy makers
Schedule
Provocation: UNBOXED by Linden Dance Company
UNBOXED is a physically explosive Contemporary and Afro fusion dance duet exploring the different lived experiences of a mixed race male and white female, drawing on the judgements and bias they have experienced. The work was created in close collaboration with chartered psychologist Helen Frewin of Totem Consulting to explore how to address systematic unconscious bias in our current society. The duet presents the emotional struggle that individuals feel when they are misunderstood or misrepresented and the impact this has on relationships.
Biography
Linden Dance Company was formed by Christopher Radford and Sara Macqueen in 2020, after over 10 years of artistic collaboration and successful individual performance careers. Based in Birmingham, Chris and Sara draw on their different backgrounds and cultural identities to bring a diverse voice and perspective to the productions they create and the spaces they occupy, rooted in positivity, individuality and empowerment. Linden Dance creates exciting, physically explosive professional works that have toured nationally alongside a strong community strand, including Linden Youth, a weekly training programme for young people ages 10 – 21 years. Co-Director Sara Macqueen was awarded the Health and Wellbeing in Dance One Dance UK award in 2024 in recognition of Linden Dance’s strong commitment to providing safe and inclusive spaces for all who engage with the company.
UNBOXED Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA2X2WdVDxM
Website: www.lindendc.com
Keynote speaker
Kate Elswit is a scholar–artist whose research on performing bodies combines dance history, performance theory, cultural studies, medical humanities, experimental practice, and technology. For the past decade, she has been collaborating with Harmony Bench to bring dance and the experimental digital humanities into conversation, including through the AHRC-funded projects Visceral Histories, Visual Arguments: Dance-Based Approaches to Data (2022-25) and Dunham’s Data: Katherine Dunham and Digital Methods for Dance Historical Inquiry (2018-22), which won the ATHE-ASTR Award for Excellence in Digital Theatre and Performance Scholarship. They are also currently working on dance history data visualizations commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art for the upcoming exhibition Edges of Ailey(opening September 2024). Her print publications include the award-winning books Watching Weimar Dance (2014) and Theatre & Dance (2018). She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge, and is now Professor of Performance and Technology and Head of Digital Research at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she is co-Director of the Centre for Performance, Technology, and Equity.
Panel speakers
Professor Angela Pickard (First Professor of Dance Education)
Professor Angela Pickard is a dancer, teacher, artist and academic. She is the first Professor of Dance Education in the UK and Director of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, at Canterbury Christ Church University. Angela is Principal Investigator for the AHRC Dance Educator’s Network: Critical Dance Pedagogy through Discourse and Practice.
Angela wrote the first BA Hons Dance Education degree that began under her leadership in 2009. This has provided a workforce of around 300 teachers and community practitioners who are sharing their passion for dance with others, across the UK. She is a PhD supervisor for practice-based, practice-led, by portfolio, publication and the traditional thesis. Angela has held several leadership roles across Canterbury Christ Church University.
Angela’s dance evaluation and research brings together sociological, psychological, and pedagogical aspects, and various industry partners and organisations. Although she conducts mixed method studies, her specialism is particularly in qualitative and creative/Mosaic methods and analyses. She is widely published. Recent work has been in ‘Schooling the Dancer’ ‘Widening Participation’ and ‘Sense of Belonging’, with adolescents, in projects with The Royal Ballet School, Northern Ballet, Dance Centres of Advanced Training, and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Cygnet School. She has also been researching responses to dance with babies and young children under 5 years old and the development of artistic practice with this age group with South East Dance’s Little Big Dance project. In addition, she is researching with professional contemporary dancers to understand challenges and barriers to continuing a career in dance in pregnancy, returning to work post-partum and as a parent/carer, with Parents and Carers in Performing Arts, Dance Mama and the International Parents in Dance Network.
Angela is Editor in Chief of the international journal Research in Dance Education, and a member of the Research Committee and a Dance to Health champion with the International Association of Dance, Medicine and Science. She also has visiting Professorships in Switzerland and Malaysia.
Professor Michela Vecchi (Professor of Economics)
Michela Vecchi is Professor of Economics at Kingston University. Her main areas of research are skills, productivity and technological change and her work in these areas has been published in several international journals. Next to her interest in Economics, Michela also devotes time to her other passion: dance. She regularly takes classical ballet classes, and she is part of Counterpoint contemporary dance company, a dance company for dancers aged 55+. In recent years, Michela has joined her love of dance with her economic expertise and has studied the relationship between dance, wellbeing and performance in the workplace. The first paper in this innovative research project, “Shall we dance? Dance, wellbeing and productivity during Covid-19” was published in the Journal of International Marketing in 2022. A summary of a new study was published in The Conversation early this year. Future work will involve a workplace intervention focusing on women in the menopause transition, with the objective of understanding how dance can improve their wellbeing and their working life. Michela holds a visiting fellow position at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), she is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Royal Economic Society (RES).
Assistant Professor Kate Marsh (Dance, Disability, and Leadership)
Kate Marsh is a disabled/crip artist researcher and Assistant Professor at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University. Kate’s practice–research is focused on nurturing spaces for disabled and crip artists to develop and realise their ideas and practice. She is interested in re-imaging leadership in the arts in a way that truly makes access for everyone. Her PhD (2016) focused on leadership in the context of dance and disability and drew strongly on the voices of artists to interrogate questions around notions of leadership, perceptions, and the body. Explore Kate’s research projects and outputs here.
Session Lead
Professor Vicky Hunter (Professor in Site Dance)
Vicky Hunter is a Practitioner-Researcher and Professor in Site Dance and formerly head of the MA Choreography and Professional Practices programme at the University of Chichester. She joined Bath Spa in October 2023 and leads the AHRC ‘Dancing Otherwise: Exploring Pluriversal Practices’ network and is a member of the Ecotones research project led by Professor Amanda Bayley.
Her research is transdisciplinary and includes site dance practice and theory, embodied research methods and post human feminism, eco-somatic awareness, environmental choreography, practice-research methods, dance and new materialisms.
Vicky convenes the ‘Creative Practice and Embodied Knowledge’ research group with Michelle Elliott at Bath Spa and the cross-institutional ‘Environment and Experience’ research group. She has previously led the BA Dance programme at the University of Leeds; taught on the MA Choreography programme at LIPA; contributed to the delivery of the MA Choreography programme at Fonty’s Academy in Tilburg, Holland; and the BA Dance and Culture programme at the University of Surrey.
Her writing on site dance has been published in Literary Geographies, New Theatre Quarterly, Performance Research, Choreographic Practices and Contemporary Theatre Review. Her edited volume Moving Sites: Investigating Site-Specific Dance Performance was published by Routledge in 2015, and she is co-author of (Re) Positioning Site-Dance (Intellect, 2019) with Melanie Kloetzel (Canada) and Karen Barbour (Aotearoa New Zealand).
Vicky’s monograph Site, Dance and Body: Movement, Materials and Corporeal Engagement explores human-environment synergies through material intra-actions and was published by Palgrave in 2021. Her practice-based research includes Dance Site and Body (Barcelona, 2018) and A Holding Space (Kingley Vale Nature Reserve, West Sussex, 2021).
[N.B. Vicky’s photograph and personal statement are sourced from https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/vicky-hunter/]
Critical Dance Pedagogy Network events
12th and 13th January 2024, 10am-5pm: The Dance Educator’s Critical Dance Pedagogy Artist Lab at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Details below:
1st March 2024, 10am – 5pm: Intertextualities, identities and inequalities
Venue: Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) and online.
For additional details, click here.
11th July 2024, 9.30-4.30pm: Equality, diversity and inclusion
Venue: Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University and online.
This symposium event will delve into the themes of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion related to Critical Dance Pedagogy thinking and practice. The symposium aims to connect academics, dance educators working in secondary, FE and HE, researchers, artists, and industry stakeholders, to foster networking, collaboration and knowledge exchange through discourse and practice.
20th September 2024 9.30am-5pm: Pedagogy(ies) and practices
Venue: St Cecilia’s Concert Room & Museum, University of Edinburgh (and online).
Register to attend: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=2rIgA90iq02MIW5kS6FPE26yqC3dJa1LobXhSm74dp1URDFMSTM0MkZNWkNXQ0dVTEs3TkxYSzI2Ui4u
This hybrid event seeks to foster networking, collaboration, knowledge exchange, and exploration of some transformative practices in Critical Dance Pedagogy. The symposium will include a day of discussions and workshops around addressing social assumptions, structural power relations, and inequities within dance and dance education.
Schedule:
| Time | Activity |
| 0930-1000 | Registration |
| 1000-1015 | Welcome with Scottish Step and vocal artist Evie Waddell performing with BSL in partnership with Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland |
| 1015-1020 | Welcome: Dr Wendy Timmons, University of Edinburgh. |
| 1020-1030 | Critical Dance Pedagogy and summary of Symposium 1: Professor Angela Pickard (PI), Canterbury Christ Church University. |
| 1030-1035 | Summary of Symposium 2: Dr Kathryn Stamp (Co-I), C-Dare, Coventry University. |
| 1035-1045 | AHRC Dance Research Matters: Helen Weedon, Arts and Humanities Research Council. |
| 1045-1130 | Session 1 – Interactive presentations Reflective Practice: Dr Gaby Allard |
| 1130-1200 | Break and refreshments |
| 1200-1300 | Session 2 – Panel discussion: ‘Pathways to dance in Scotland, student-centered practices’ Panelists: Kenny Burke (Artistic Director, The Dance School of Scotland, Knightswood Secondary School), Kerry Livingstone (Head of Dance, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Scottish Ballet TBC, Dance Base, Emma Smith (Health & Wellbeing Development and Widening Participation officer, DanceBase) |
| 1300-1400 | Lunch and networking |
| 1400-1445 | Session 3 – Keynote: Dr Rosemary Martin, Nord University, Norway. |
| 1445-1530 | Session 4 – Introduction to knowledge Café: ‘Using Learning Typologies to Reimagine Space and Learning in the Dance Studio’ with Professor Do Coyle |
| 1530-1615 | Refreshments and networking together, engage in themed groups and discussions around Pedagogies and Practices |
| 1615-1645 | Plenary, reflections, action plan and evaluation |
| 1645-1700 | Film screening of ‘United Nations?’ Directed by Jonzi D and Wendy Timmons, performed by Pomegranates 2024 dance artists, Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland |
Dancing Otherwise Network events
24th January 2024, 3.30pm: ‘Mapping the Dance Pluriverse’ [online event]
More details and booking here.
12th and 13th April 2024: ‘Choreographing the Pluriverse’ an event at Bath Spa University hosted by the Network. (Invitation only)
19th April 2024, 10.30am-7pm: ‘Dancing the Pluriverse – Dancing Otherwise’. The event comprises two workshops led by Anna de Clayes from Communitas dance company and Charlie Ashwell, followed by a round table discussion.
This will be a day of workshops, talks and exchanges on choreographing of the dance pluriverse, co-creating with a multiplicity of bodies and voices. This event is open to the public, dance artists, students and researchers.
Venue: South East Dance
More details and booking here.
13th, 14th, 15th June 2024: ‘Examining Pluriverses: Learning from Nature, Coalitions Kinship and Care’ at the Hawkwood Centre. (Core participants)
14th June 2024, 3-5pm. ‘Learning from Nature’: A workshop with Canadian artist Melanie Kloetzel and Chilean artist Marisol Paulina Vargas.
Venue: Bath Spa University
Join this free event by emailing info@juliapond.com to reserve your spot.
6 November 2024, 4.45–7.30pm: ‘Enacting the Dance Pluriverse: Strategies for Organising Otherwise’. Online webinar.
This online event gathers presentations and discussions on how a dance pluriverse – a more horizontally organized industry with space for many, divergent voices to coexist – can be organised. What structures bring artists together, what frameworks support marginalised practices, and what production and distribution practices could be developed to create plurivocal development?
The aim of the event is to build dialogue with different voices engaged in ‘curating’ this type of pluriversal space. Presenters will talk about how, in practical terms, they have employed strategies in their work aimed at acting and ‘being otherwise’ (working differently). They will offer insights into tools and techniques that they have found useful in their work, and reflect on particular modes of relating ‘otherwise’ which they have employed with individuals, collectives and organizations to bring about change.
The network is interested in perspectives and experiences that help understand how the dance industry in the UK can become more inclusive in a real sense (not just to tick boxes). What frameworks do we need? What structures? What understandings of power? What models of distribution of resources?
Register to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/enacting-the-dance-pluriverse-strategies-for-organising-otherwise-tickets-1026761359867?aff=oddtdtcreator
Digital Black Dance Ecologies Network
22nd May 2024, 5-6.30pm: A workshop ‘Exploring Black PhD Pathways in Dance’
Venue: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
6th June 2024, 5.30-7.30pm: A workshop ‘Exploring Black PhD Pathways in Dance’
Venue: Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds
Join the Digital Black Dance Ecologies Network for a specialised PhD workshop designed for Black artists and postgraduate students interested in the intersections between Black Dance, digital technologies, environmental justice and racial equity. Facilitated by Dr Tia-Monique Uzor from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins from the University of Nottingham, this workshop offers an introduction to PhD essentials. Explore and refine potential PhD topics, engage in a Q&A session on the Black PhD experience in the UK, and gain valuable insights into research funding opportunities and avenues for potential collaborations.
To Attend:
Please complete the Google form via this link to express your interest in attending the workshop. Forms should be completed by Wednesday 18 May 2024, 5pm
Travel Bursaries:
We have ten travel bursaries available for those needing support attending the workshop. If you would like to apply for one of these bursaries, please indicate so on the application form with the necessary details.
For questions, please email the project coordinator Amelia at dbde@cssd.ac.uk
Call-out for commissions
The Digital Black Dance Ecologies Network is offering three seed commissions to support innovative projects that explore and celebrate Black dance cultures through digital technologies.
Seed Commission #1: In collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society, Milkit Studio and Antoine Marc
Application deadline: Wednesday 19th June 2024 (17:00 GMT)
Digital Black Dance Ecologies is commissioning a digital dance piece that delves into the connection between Blackness/Black identities and the environment. We envision this piece as an installation featuring virtual and live elements using digital screens, projections, or live performance.
Seed Commission #2: In collaboration with Serendipity, Unwired Studio, and Clémence Debaig
Application deadline: Monday 24th June 2024 (12:00 GMT)
Digital Black Dance Ecologies in collaboration with Serendipity, Unwired Studio, and Clémence Debaig are commissioning a digital dance piece that explores the relationship between traditional and embodied technologies and digital technologies.
Themes of the commission could include but are not limited to:
- Spiritual Realms
- Journeying
- Time Travel
- Ancient and future dance forms and practice
- Myths
- Folk music
Seed Commission #3: In collaboration with the Unwired Studio and Clémence Debaig
Application deadline: Monday 24th June 2024 (12:00 GMT)
Digital Black Dance Ecologies in collaboration with Unwired Studio and Clémence Debaig are commissioning an immersive piece that explores a theme of the successful artists choice in relation to the Digital Black Dance Ecologies Project and its aims.
4 November 2024, 5.30pm [online]: ‘Navigating Teaching, Mentorship, and Supervision in UK Higher Education as Black Faculty’ with Professor Patricia Noxolo
Sign up: https://www.digitalblkdance.org/get-involved/
The programme launches with a session by Professor Patricia Noxolo on ‘Navigating Teaching, Mentorship, and Supervision in UK Higher Education as Black Faculty’.
Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (FE:PDN) events
24th November 2023: FE:PDN Network meeting + open forum event + Yorkshire Dance annual meeting of artists + scratch event (at Yorkshire Dance in Leeds). More details to follow. Details of the open forum can be found below:
7th February 2024, 2-3.30pm: the first meeting of The Early Career Group of the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (FE:PDN) will take place via Zoom.
You are warmly invited to join the group via the Zoom link here.
The group’s aim, at this time of unprecedented challenges, is to contribute to the future-proofing of dance as a profession and a discipline. Your queries, insights and activities will be of great value in setting a new horizon. Envisioning a future for the Dance sector will be approached as a form of collective action. The group is for all practitioners who self-identify as Early Career: this might be in all or any aspect of their work. We also welcome practitioners who are invested in supporting Early Career dance professionals or initiatives. Considering the layered and complex nature of dance as a profession as well as practice research, we are using an expanded notion of producing which goes beyond job roles or descriptions.
The group will be applying an ecological approach to jointly investigate a range of questions.
The four main questions are:
- What is the nature of the present eco-system(s) for producing dance?
- What kind of mechanisms will make resilient the eco-system(s) of dance?
- How might producing dance be conceptualised as a form of academic research?
- How might practice research both inform and be enhanced by expanded notions of producing?
The group will hold three to four main meetings over an 18-month period. Sub-groups might be organised to focus on specific issues. The group will run a blog and produce an end-of-project report. We look forward to meeting you.
The Early Career Group lead is Dr ‘Funmi Adewole (De Montfort University, Leicester). She can be reached at oluwafunmilayo.adewole@dmu.ac.uk
18th April 2024, 2-3.30pm [online]: The second meeting of The Early Career Group hosted by the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (FE:PDN).
You are warmly invited to join the group via the Zoom link here
The group’s aim, at this time of unprecedented challenges, is to contribute to the future-proofing of dance as a profession and a discipline. Your queries, insights and activities will be of great value in setting a new horizon. Envisioning a future for the Dance sector will be approached as a form of collective action. The group is for all practitioners who self-identify as Early Career: this might be in all or any aspect of their work. We also welcome practitioners who are invested in supporting Early Career dance professionals or initiatives. Considering the layered and complex nature of dance as a profession as well as practice research, we are using an expanded notion of producing which goes beyond job roles or descriptions.
The meeting will revolve around two break-out room discussions.
- The question for the first break out room is: What kind of mechanisms will make resilient the eco-system(s) of dance?
- The question for the second breakout room will come from the attendees.
The Early Career Group lead is Dr ‘Funmi Adewole (De Montfort University, Leicester). She can be reached at oluwafunmilayo.adewole@dmu.ac.uk.
15th May 2024, 2-3.30pm [online]: The third meeting of The Early Career Group hosted by the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (FE:PDN).
You are warmly invited to join the group via the Zoom link here
Meeting ID: 973 1518 0520
Passcode: FEPDN
Discussion topic 1: How might producing dance be conceptualised as a form of academic research?
Discussion topic 2: What shall we talk about? (Suggested by participants)
At this time of unprecedented challenges, the group’s aim is to contribute to the future-proofing of dance as a profession and a discipline. Your queries, insights and activities will be of great value in setting a new horizon. Envisioning a future for the Dance sector will be approached as a form of collective action. The group is for all practitioners who self-identify as Early Career: this might be in all or any aspect of their work. We also welcome practitioners who are invested in supporting Early Career dance professionals or initiatives. Considering the layered and complex nature of dance as a profession as well as practice research, we are using an expanded notion of producing which goes beyond job roles or descriptions. The group will be applying an ecological approach to jointly investigate a range of questions.
The Early Career Group lead is Dr ‘Funmi Adewole (De Montfort University, Leicester). She can be reached at oluwafunmilayo.adewole@dmu.ac.uk.
The group will run a blog and produce an end-of-project report. This is an 18-month project which will end in March 2025.
5th June 2024, 2-3.30pm [online]: The fourth meeting of The Early Career Group hosted by the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network (FE:PDN).
You are warmly invited to join the group via the zoom link here
Meeting ID: 991 4878 5963
Passcode: FEPDN
The group’s aim, at this time of unprecedented challenges, is to contribute to the future-proofing of dance as a profession and a discipline. Your queries, insights and activities will be of great value in setting a new horizon. Envisioning a future for the Dance sector will be approached as a form of collective action. The group is for all practitioners who self-identify as Early Career: this might be in all or any aspect of their work. We also welcome practitioners who are invested in supporting Early Career dance professionals or initiatives. Considering the layered and complex nature of dance as a profession as well as practice research, we are using an expanded notion of producing which goes beyond job roles or descriptions.
Discussion topics:
- How might practice research both inform and be enhanced by expanded notions of producing?
- What subjects do you think we should be researching for the producing of dance?
The Early Career Group lead is Dr ‘Funmi Adewole (De Montfort University, Leicester). She can be reached at oluwafunmilayo.adewole@dmu.ac.uk.
7th June 2024, 12.30-5pm: ‘Producing Dance Forum’
Venue: Dance Hub space, Thorp Street, Birmingham
In partnership with FABRIC and Birmingham Dance Network the next FE:PDN hybrid event will take place on 7th June at the Dance Hub space, Thorp Street Birmingham. This is less than a 10 min walk from New Street Station. Parking is available (at a charge locally).
The event will host presentations from: Raidene Carter (Artistic Director, artsadmin), Mark Mallabone (Creative Producer Freelance) and Genevieve Say (Artistic Director, Birmingham Dance Network).
Provisional Schedule
In-Person: 12.30-1.30
Arrivals and lunch 12:30–1:30
Online: 1:30-5.30 Presentations and Interactive Sessions
To attend please sign up here
https://fabric.wufoo.com/forms/x1a2pv580rdrl88
18th July, 2-4pm: ‘The Producer and Society Forum’
Venue: Taipei Performing Arts Center and online
This is an ArtsCross international event exploring the social impact of the work producers & managers do, including equity, diversity and inclusion.
This event is organised by ArtsCross in collaboration with the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network, The Place, University of Taipei and Taipei performing arts centre. It is produced by Jih-Wen Yeh.
The forum’s keynote speaker is Yi-Wei Keng (Board Member, TPAC). The forum will also include a discussion between Eddie Nixon (Artistic Director, The Place, London), Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo (Independent Curator) and Daniel Yeung (Director, Hong Kong Dance Exchange). The discussion will be chaired by Chris Bannerman (Founding Director, ArtsCross) and Jih-Wen Yeh (Founding Director, Step Out Arts). The forum is hosted by Yunyu Wang (Taipei Director, ArtsCross).
To attend, register here:
31st July 2024, 2-3.30pm: ‘Social Choreography: A presentation and a provocation’
Online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82256324869?pwd=3BtMwOercr5aEus4aoMs3Ul3tLyNbv.1
This event comprises a presentation by Jen Stokes entitled ‘A Light in the Darkness: Where Can Community Dance Take Us Now?’
Jen Stokes, Ph.D Candidate, CEO and Artistic Director of Reside Dance C.I.C. and Early Career group member will be sharing how social choreography has been key to her work over the past ten years and how it is informing her thinking as she finds her way forward. This article, first published in the Summer 2024 edition of Animated, is reproduced by permission of @people_dancing_uk All Rights Reserved. See www.communitydance.org.uk/animated for more information.
Jen’s talk will be followed by a Q and A facilitated by ‘Funmi Adewole Elliott.
Provocation by ‘Funmi Adewole Elliott: What Does Social Choreography Offer Dance Practitioners During This Time of Change?
Provocation followed by breakout room discussions.
Jen Stokes is a PhD candidate in the Department of Film, Theatre and Television at University of Reading and CEO and Artistic Director of Reside Dance C.I.C.
‘Funmi Adewole Elliott is the early career group lead for the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network. She is a senior lecturer in Dance at De Montfort University, Leicester.
19th September 2024, 12-5.30pm: ‘Crip Ecologies of Producing Dance’ in partnership with The Work Room and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
This event invites disabled and non-disabled artists, producers, researchers, and anyone interested exploring alternative models of producing dance to join either in person or on-line.
• What kinds of ecologies of producing dance exist, and are emerging, when disability and crip are the focus?
• How do crip ecologies influence practice and approaches to making and producing dance?
• What crip models of producing are currently being practiced?
• What might future ecologies of crip producing look / sound / feel like?
With crip, different ways of knowing, experiencing, and doing, are embraced. The emphasis is on the normality of different bodyminds doing things differently. Crip relates to the affirmative model of disability and has emerged from disability arts and disability pride. An activist term and politicised identity, crip embraces an individual’s impairment as a crucial aspect of their identity and place within disability or crip culture.
If ecology is about relations and systems, with crip ecology we are interested in what kinds of relations and systems support producing crip and disability dance. Are there particular kinds of relations between those involved in producing dance that emerge in the context of crip? What are crip dance practices, artistic forms, rehearsal structures, ways of touring, performer-audience relations etc? And how do crip approaches influence and relate more widely to current ecosystems of producing dance?
‘Crip Ecologies of Producing Dance’ will be a relaxed, creative and accessible event with artists presentations, discussions and reflections. The event will be hosted by Dr Sarah Hopfinger (RCS) and Anita Clark (The Work Room) with guest contributions:
Dr Aby Watson
Laura Fisher
Salma Faraji
It is open to anyone interested in contributing to these conversations around crip dance producing.
To register, sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BO0sCXRrxpTsFeSOk-Kc6m_ReukatYsDLVdmXsvFvQY/viewform?edit_requested=true#settings
30 October 2024, 2.30-4pm: ‘Producing dance and critical world building – Through a Butoh lens’ [online]
Zoom link for the event: https://lcds-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/97674385354?pwd=uvJmRc30ekvPWc1O91QiDxfuMTXEky.1
The Early Career Group of the FE:PDN are hosting a presentation and provocation on the theme of producing dance and critical world building through a Butoh lens.
Presentation: Critical world-building and Butoh by Elspeth Chan.
Elspeth Chan’s presentation will discuss how the unique corporeality of Butoh creates ruptures to ontological hierarchies, producing a decolonized embodiment as a means of critical world-building. Elspeth is a member of the Early Career Group whose academic pursuits delve deeply into the realm of Butoh, where she not only explores its potential for critical world building but also its therapeutic potential. Elspeth ventured to the UK to pursue her passion for dance, earning a Master’s degree in Dance Research with distinction. In 2023 she performed in a number of Butoh performances including ‘Collapse London’by Dominique Savitri Bonarjee and this year she organised her first Butoh movement workshop at Goldsmith University. Elspeth’s presentation will include a reflection on Fagaala (2004), a choreography created through Butoh and African contemporary dance by Germaine Acogny and Kota Yamakazi. The Q and A will be facilitated by ‘Dr Funmi Adewole Elliott.
Provocation: If dance is approached as a transdiscipline what would it mean to produce dance?
by Dr ‘Funmi Adewole Elliott in discussion with Elspeth Chan and attendees.
Elspeth Chan graduated with a degree in Cinema & TV from Hong Kong Baptist University before moving to the UK for a Master’s degree in Dance Research. During a 10 year stint as a full-time art administrator she served as a Project Manager for the Hong Kong Dance Federation (HKDF) where she managed educational, training, and outreach programmes. Her writings have been featured in various publications, including the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong), dance journal/hk, and Dance News. Her passion in Butoh was shared at the University of East London’s academic conference in April 2024, and the Global Dance Conference on ‘Dancing with Decolonisation’ in August the same year.
‘Funmi Adewole Elliott is the Early Career Group lead for the Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network. She is a senior lecturer in Dance based at De Montfort University, Leicester.
South Asian Dance Equity (SADE): The Arts that British South Asian Dance Ignores Network events
19th January 2024, 2-4pm: SADE will have their Project Launch and session on “South Asian Dance and Decentring India/Hinducentrism”. The webinar is hosted by Akademi.
More details and booking here.
29th April, 3-5pm: Webinar ‘South Asian Dance and LGBTQi+ Identities’. Hosted by Baithak, UK, and co-curated by Jaivant Patel Company
Webinar speakers: Nikhita Devi, Komal Gandhar, Raheem S. Payne, Shiva Raichandani and Fazle Shairmahomed
30th April, 11-3.30pm: In-person event (invitation only) ‘South Asian Dance and LGBTQi+ Identities’/ Hosted by Baithak, UK, and co-curated by Jaivant Patel Company
SADE-Baithak-flyer_small-1Download
24th June, 3-5pm: ‘South Asian Dance and Caste’ [online]
The SADE Network has organised a webinar event hosted by Sampad Arts, Birmingham. The event will be chaired by Dr Brahma Prakash and includes contributions from: Shireen Azam, Hanne M. de Bruin-Rajagopal, Meena Dhanda, Manish Harijan and Gowthaman Ranganathan
To attend register here
https://ucr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l-ecZQrLT96ainp1tp3c8Q#/registration
