Beyond the intercultural to the accented body : an Australian perspective

'Beyond the intercultural to the Accented Body’ foregrounds contemporary choreography as a multi-modal practice which is increasingly interdisciplinary and engages with interactive technologies. These concepts are explored in the context of intercultural dance and performance practices particularly in relation to issues of identity, hybridity, the diaspora and transformation. Four models of intercultural choreography are proposed: in-country immersion; collaborative international exchanges through sharing of culturally diverse practices; hybrid practices of diasporic artists; and implicit intercultural connections. The latter model is investigated via a case study of an interactive, multi-site and interdisciplinary collaboration Accented Body.

Dance dialogues : conversations across cultures, artforms and practices

These Proceedings, arising from the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit, reflect both its spirit and diversity, re-appraising what dance is and might be in the 21st century. Through 53 papers from 14 countries in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, the authors — ranging from seasoned scholars to emerging artists publishing for the first time — span the perspectives of academics, educators, performance and community artists, health professionals and cognitive scientists; predominantly from dance but also from film, visual arts, science, performance and philosophy. The papers are grouped under the five Summit themes: Re-thinking the way we make Dance; Re-thinking the way we teach Dance; Mind/body connections; Transcultural conversations and Sustainability

Inertial motion capture and live performance (with a focus on dance)

3D Motion capture is a fast evolving field and recent inertial technology may expand the artistic possibilities for its use in live performance. Inertial motion capture has three attributes that make it suitable for use with live performance; it is portable, easy to use and can operate in real-time. Using four projects, this paper discusses the suitability of inertial motion capture to live performance with a particular emphasis on dance. Dance is an artistic application of human movement and motion capture is the means to record human movement as digital data. As such, dance is clearly a field in which the use of real-time motion capture is likely to become more common, particularly as projected visual effects including real-time video are already often used in dance performances. Understandably, animation generated in real-time using motion capture is not as extensive or as clean as the highly mediated animation used in movies and games, but the quality is still impressive and the ‘liveness’ of the animation has compensating features that offer new ways of communicating with an audience.

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.

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.

Evaluation of Australian Performing Arts Market 2014-2018: APAM inter-year report 2015

In the awarding of the tender for APAM by the Australia Council to Brisbane Powerhouse for the delivery of the market in 2014-2018, a requirement is that a formal evaluation of the three iterations of APAM be undertaken by the Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Faculty, under the leadership of Associate Professor Sandra Gattenhof. The agreed research model delivers reporting on outcomes not only in the year in which APAM is delivered (2014, 2016, 2018) but also in the years between (2015, 2017). This inter-year report focuses on the domestic and international touring outcomes resulting from engagement in the 2014 Market and responds two of the three key research foci for the evaluation that are articulated in the Brisbane Powerhouse Tender (2011) document as: • Evaluation of international market development outcomes through showcasing work to targeted international presenters and agents • Evaluation of national market development outcomes through showcasing work to national presenters and producers. The reporting for mid-year 2015, a non-APAM year, collects data from two key sources – six identified case study productions that have been tracked for eighteen months, and an online survey delivered to all APAM 2014 delegates. This inter-year report is a six month follow-up with delegates and identified case studies companies that track the ongoing progress of market outcomes and levers for ongoing improvement of the APAM delivery model that was tabled in the Year One Report delivered to Brisbane Powerhouse in October 2014.

Dance for Parkinson's in Australia

Imagine entering a dance studio and seeing a group of male and female dancers hard at work creating a complicated pattern of concentric circles, moving gracefully to the strains of the Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Or perhaps the dancers are tapping their toes, stretching their arms and smiling to the beats of Big Band classics. Concentration and joy fill the studio, yet for many of the participants this is their first experience in a dance class...

Dance therapy collections : number three

This collection of articles by keynote speakers, Australian and overseas practitioners, developed out of presentations at the third Australian Dance Movement Therapy conference, ‘Weaving The Threads’, held in Melbourne in 2007. This volume includes 22 articles from Australian and international dance movement therapists and colleagues on a wide range of topics, from dance therapy's origins and directions, research and evaluation in dance-movement therapy to therapeutic applications and skill development for therapists.

Dancing habitus: the formation of a group (dance)

This article discusses how six individual dancers came to belong, stylistically, to a group, in a project that did not aim explicitly to create or bring about that belonging. The studio-based research project tested the creation of a group improvised dance through practising over a significant period of time with ‘scores’ or verbal propositions, usually relating to physical, bodily or movement notions such as tangling and untangling or being subject to gravity. This article looks at one question within the research: namely, whether the dancing individuals came, over time, to belong to a group, and if so, what enabled that belonging and what made the dance a group dance? The project did not centre on an objective to direct the creation of a ‘groupness’ or stylistic consistency but, rather, it supported the investigation of how this ‘groupness’ might come about.

National dance forum report

 The National Dance Forum aims to foster the artistic development of dance in Australia by providing a platform for discussion and engagement across the dance sector. Through a series of panels, keynote speeches, open forums and networking events, the 2013 National Dance Forum sought to increase the profile of Australian dance and to celebrate diversity and innovation across the industry.

The 2013 National Dance Forum was held at the Footscray Community Arts Centre, having moved from its 2011 location, Arts House. As in 2011, the participants for 2013 National Dance Forum included choreographers, dancers, independent artists, artistic directors, educators, researchers, dance producers and students. 177 individuals attended the 2013 Forum, with many traveling from interstate/overseas to participate in the Forum and to attend Dance Massive events.
This evaluation for the 2013 National Dance Forum has been developed to evaluate the success of the event against its stated aims and to assist in targeting new opportunities and directions for future Forums.

This evaluation has undertaken an analysis of the relevancy and effectiveness of this forum for participants using evaluation questionnaires developed by the National Dance Forum and issued to all participants on the final day of the Forum. This evaluation collates and analyses the responses of 64 respondents in the areas of their own individual professional focus, their experiences as participants in the 2013 National Dance Forum including the strengths and weaknesses of the event, and the relevancy and effectiveness of the Forum for the Australian dance sector.

What’s the score? Using scores in dance improvisation

This paper explores the use of scores or verbal propositions inimprovising dance. Examining my use of scores in my own improvisationpractice it discusses what scores might be and might do and how theyrelate to the real time composition of dance in the present of its making.To help explore these ideas I refer to the theory of Nelson Goodman anddiscuss the use of scores by other dance practitioners including StevePaxton, Yvonne Meier and Anna Halprin.

Navigating control and illusion: functional interactivity versus ‘faux-interactivity’ in transmedia dance performance

Interactivity – a networked loop in which a performer’s live data feeds a digital system – can bridge the divide between live performance and digital entities in transmedia dance performances. In the ‘entanglement scene’ of Australian Dance Theatre’s Multiverse (2014), choreographer Garry Stewart and the creative coders and animators at the Deakin Motion.Lab utilise ‘faux-interactivity’, or a perceived relationship between the dancers and digital entities that exists only from the perspective of the audience. The spectre of ‘faux-interactivity’ challenges the spontaneity in live, embodied performance art because it both integrates live performance with prerendered digital content and offers a potential structure for a shared, dispersed creative and choreographic process across numerous and shared artistic and technological platforms. This paper investigates the concept of ‘faux-interactivity’, suggesting that its use can be a catalyst for moving beyond the limitations and values of ‘real’, or functional interactive systems within a theatrical context, and positing that definitions of ‘interactivity’ might be further expanded to accommodate the shifting timelines inherent in the disparate creative processes of human performance and coding.