Jumping the fence from dance to cross-disciplinary research

Introduction: reading the signs Inside the dance ethos, knowledge is rarely articulated other than through the experience of dance itself. On the surface, the dancer focuses on practical and specialist skills. However, a closer look reveals that their knowledge does not merely trigger an embodied way of thinking; it enables the dancer to map a trail of metaphors within the body. In effect, dancers acquire a distinct embodied culture with its own language, dialects, customs and traditions. In this paper, I shall firstly examine the way metaphors establish a link between reason and imagination between one set of embodied knowledge and another. It is in regards to this function, where metaphor welds opposites together or when interior and exterior information exist in the same moment that it is most useful for jumping the fence from dance to cross-disciplinary practice. Secondly, I shall discuss how metaphors can help sustain creative practice. For it is only by stepping outside the culture of dance that I could first unravel the experiences, processes and knowledges inscribed through a career in dance and begin to define the quality of my own voice.

Suedehead

An original work by New York-based choreographer Jodi Melnick performed in the Irish Museum of Modern Art. A dance for four. Four individual solos, often seen intersecting, interrupting, invading one another. Coming and going. How to be coming and going at the same time. Starting with a working process with an openness to the performers and their beautiful, sometimes jarring, one step at a time, bird by bird. It has to be like that. A devised choreography that incorporates the creative input of the cast of dancers to produce an original work.

Material traces : reflecting on dance performance and the archive

How dance history should be conserved, like any other human event is problematical. This article refers to the dancer’s embodied repertoire of movement and questions how it might connect with the archive, so that the recording of dance work is not taken as fully representative of the work itself. I propose opening out the multi-dimensional configuring that is part of the creation of a dance piece in order to flesh out the bones of the archive. This could be done through engaging with the choreographer and the performers (who are often co-creators of the work) to draw a range of insights and perspectives together.

Performance psychology applied to dance

The recent interest in the area of performance psychology has included a focus on applied practice within the performing arts. The use of psychology within this field has been occurring for many years, although practice has been observed to originate primarily from within clinical psychology in dealing with ‘problems’ (e.g. eating disorders). During the past 15 years, increased interest and focus has come from the field of sport psychology and its application to fields such as dance. Experience with the application of sport psychology in the dance profession has shown that dancers identify primarily with the concept of performance psychology. The focus of applied performance psychology practice with dancers has been observed to incorporate principles from across sport, clinical and organisational psychology, yet packaged together in such a way that the focus is on performance enhancement – whether that be in terms of dance technique, artistry, creativity, or personal skill development both on and off the stage. This paper focuses upon sharing the practitioner’s experience of the delivery of performance psychology to dancers (both professionals and dancers-in-training), and discussion of the considerations related to this undertaking within this unique population.

Learnings from the implementation of performance psychology as a subject within a university dance program

Similar to the focus on training in the technical, physical and artistic areas of dance, dance professionals, students and educators alike appear to be developing an increased awareness of how important training in psychology is to their success within dance. Over the past 4 years, lectures in performance psychology have been incorporated as part of a compulsory professional skills subject for second and third year students within a University dance program. The following presentation aims to share practitioner experience and learnings regarding the implementation of this subject within this context, its perceived effectiveness, and recommendations for future use.

The art of the positive pas de deux : putting positive psychology into dance!

Performance psychology has more recently included a focus on applied practice within the performing arts, and specifically the dance industry. Whilst the use of psychology within this field has been occurring for a number of years, it has primarily taken its cues from the area of sport psychology or clinical psychology when dealing with ‘problems’ (e.g. eating disorders). What has been evident with the more recent introduction of positive psychology concepts with this population is the observed responsiveness from dancers towards a strengths-based approach. The aim of the inclusion of these frameworks has been to assist in increasing the empowerment, personal responsibility and effectiveness of the dancers’ psychological preparation and skills in the area of performance – whether on stage or off.

The urgent need for career preview: Student expectations and graduate realities in music and dance

Unlike the work available in many creative disciplines, musicians and dancers have the possibility of full-time, company-based employment; however, participants far outweigh the number of available positions. As a result, many graduates become ‘enforced entrepreneurs’ as they shape their work to meet personal and professional needs. This paper first explores the career projections of 58 music and dance students who were surveyed in their first week of post-secondary study. It then contrasts these findings with the reality of graduate careers as reported by five of that cohort four years later. In contrast with the students’ overwhelming focus on performance roles, the graduate cohort reported a prevalence of portfolio careers incorporating both creative and non-creative roles. The paper characterises the notion of a performing arts ‘career’ as a messy concept fraught with misunderstanding. Implications include the need to heighten students’ career awareness and position intrinsic satisfaction as a valued career concept.

Mapping the unmappable

Mapping the Unmappable? the Choreography Shared Material on Dying through the Lens of the Technogenetic Dancer. If choreographic movement is a trace, which is already behind at the moment of its appearance, the impulses that move the dancer could be understood to reside in the virtual. Whether they are the internalized instructions of the choreographer, the inscriptions of concepts on the dancing body which shape how the dancer moves, or movement material that has been incorporated over time, this gestalt is somewhat mapped before is materialized. Erin Manning describes the moment before it manifests as the preacceleration of the movement, when the potentialities of the gesture collapse and stabilize into form. This form is transient, appearing as a trace that is dissolving as soon as it appears. In her critique of some approaches to collaborations between dance and technology she describes technology as a prosthetic that constrains the dancer's movement by inducing this collapse into stability and thus limiting the potentiality of the technogenetic body of the dancer. Thus the technology becomes the focus rather than the sophisticated sensorial skills of the dancer in movement. Using this challenge as a provocation, I have explored methods for mapping a choreographed phrase of movement from the piece entitled Shared Material on Dying by Irish choreographer, Liz Roche. I will explore the virtual space before this dance is materialized, through the frame of a technogenetic body. I will uncover, through phenomenological enquiry, the constituent elements that are embedded in this virtual map, that is, the associations, sensations and spatio-temporal reference points that have been incorporated over time. The purpose is to point to possible directions in mapping the virtual dance space and to understand choreographed movements not just in terms of their material trace but also in terms of the associations, sensations and perceptions that give a specific choreography its identity. This undertaking has relevance for archiving dance. This presentation will involve danced choreography alongside documented material to explore multiple perspectives on the piece and the experience of dancing it.

The ethical intricacies of injury rehabilitation within a dance training context

Exploring the ethical issues present in professional practice within the field of sport, exercise and performance psychology, this case study outlines challenges that may be encountered, ways to address issues should they arise, and the overall ethical considerations of supporting injury rehabilitation within a dance training context.

Dance teaching and learning in context : activating the head, heart and hands

Traditionally, the art of teaching dance has largely been a skill transferred from teacher to student. This master-apprentice paradigm encourages the passing on of technical and artistic traditions associated with the various genres of dance. Whilst this approach supports the passing of the flame of the art form from generation to generation, it has, in part, limited the teaching pedagogy that informs dance as an art form. The future of dance teaching is reliant on teachers’ engagement with the further development of inquiry learning and reflective practice skills within the dance studio. This paper charts one component of a reflective pedagogy, Head, Heart, Hands (Pstalozzi as cited in Rud 2006), developed as a result of an action research project, within a suite of three units across a three-year undergraduate teacher-training course for school, community and studio dance teachers.

Perceiving the interactive body in dance: Enhancing kinesthetic empathy through art objects

Through a consideration of audience experience of embodiment in contemporary dance performance, this project used kinesthetic empathy as a theoretical construct to inform choreographic decision-making. The research outcome challenged the traditional performer/audience relationship through an interactive dance performance work entitled Planets. This acted as a platform that allowed both audience and performer to collaboratively listen to, process and form movement in a shared kinesthetic state. This connection was enabled through the distribution of interactive art objects, which responded to the shifting proximity between performer and audience. The performance was thus experienced through following a shared goal as instigated by the interactive technology. Through practice-led research, knowledge from kinesthetic empathy, embodied cognition and the mirror neuron system were used to develop the project’s aim in encouraging interactive audiences to engage in movement. This aim influenced studio explorations of movement through an enquiry into the kinesthetic self in dance. Investigations used movement quality, tension, mobility and acceleration to access a familiar movement vocabulary appropriate for a broad interactive audience. This informed the role of the researcher as performer. Planets was developed as a collaborative project between Michael Smith and interactive visual designer Andy Bates and performed over three nights at the Ars Electronica Festival 2014 in Linz, Austria. Supported by documented footage from Planets and audience responses to the performances, this paper draws together the theoretical underpinnings behind the development of the work and includes the experiential perspective of the performer.

Sneak peek: Dance audience relationships during open rehearsals

Over the past decade there has been a surge of interest in behind-the-scenes events from mainstream dance companies and audiences alike. Online videos, open classes, open rehearsals, and backstage tours all provide insights for audiences about daily life in a dance company and how dance work is made. This article focuses on the use of open rehearsals in studio sites and investigates audience experience and relationship with dancers during these events. Applying Clare Dyson’s (2010) scales of audience engagement, I analyse two open rehearsal models that I observed as an audience participant in 2013: Friends Open Days with English National Ballet (London), and Inner Workings with Chunky Move (Melbourne). Through this analysis, open rehearsals emerge as an experience with elements reminiscent of both the traditional presentation paradigm and non-traditional presentation models. Elements such as close audience-dancer proximity, authenticity, and experiences in liminal sites, such as staircases and green rooms, present the possibility of new audience-dancer relationship within the mainstream dance company context.

Bangarra Dance Theatre: Copyright law and Indigenous culture

This article considers the artistic and legal practices of Bangarra Dance Theatre in a case study of copyright law management in relation to Indigenous culture. It is grounded in the particular local experience, knowledge and understanding of copyright law displayed by the performing arts company. The first part considers the special relationship between Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Munyarrun Clan. It examines the contractual arrangements developed to recognise communal ownership. The next section examines the role of the artistic director and choreographer. It looks at the founder, Carole Johnson, and her successor, Stephen Page. The third part of the article focuses on the role of the composer, David Page. It examines his ambition to set up a Indigenous recording company, Nikinali. Part 4 focuses upon the role of the artistic designers. It looks at the contributions of artistic designers such as Fiona Foley. Part 5 deals with broadcasts of performances on television, film, and multi-media. Part 6 considers the collaborations of Bangarra Dance Theatre with the Australian Ballet, and the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. The conclusion considers how Bangarra Dance Theatre has played a part ina general campaign to increase protection of Indigenous copyright law.

Creative adaptations: Integrating Feldenkrais principles in contemporary dance technique to facilitate the transition into tertiary dance education

As conservatoire-style dance teaching has traditionally utilised a hierarchical approach through which the student must conform to the ideal requirements of the conventional technique, current discourse is beginning to question how dance training can develop technical acuity without stifling students' ability to engage creatively. In recent years, there has been growing interest in the field of somatics and its relationship to tertiary dance training due to the understanding that this approach supports creative autonomy by radically repositioning the student's relationship to embodied learning, skill acquisition, enquiry and performance. This research addresses an observable disjuncture between the skills of dancers graduating from tertiary training and Australian dance industry needs, which increasingly demand the co-creative input of the dancer in choreographic practice. Drawing from Action Research, this paper will discuss a project which introduces somatic learning approaches, primarily from Feldenkrais Method and Hanna Somatics, to first-year dance students in their transition into tertiary education. This paper acknowledges previous research undertaken, most specifically the Somdance Manual by the University of Western Sydney, while directing focus to the first-year student transition from private dance studio training into the pre-professional arena.