Research Seminars

Research Seminars take place on occasional Wednesdays, 16.15-17.30, Lecture Theatre, Laban Building and are followed by drinks in the Laban Bar - all welcome!

Wed 23 January 2013

Dr Jonathan Clark (Trinity Laban)

Dance and Intrinsic Significance

This talk will follow on from one given at the end of the Seminar Series in AY 2011/12, which focused on the relationship between aesthetics and phenomenology. It will preview some forthcoming research on the 'intrinsic significance' of expressive human movement, and consists of a reading of the work of Husserl and Sheets-Johnstone on the perceptive modality of kinesthesia. Six Theses are then formulated as to how, prior to any semiotic or hermeneutic clarification of what a dance might 'mean', movement becomes to be meaning-bearing at all. As a consequence, we also interrogate what aesthetic phenomena can say about standard accounts of meaning in philosophy which emphasize the propositional and/or conceptual. The talk therefore also previews those later in the series (13/2; 27/3) that focus on Performance Philosophy, and I will give an interpretation of the aims of this emerging field.

Wed 13 February 2013

Dr Steffi Sachsenmaier (Middlesex University)

Articulating processes of performance-making - towards a philosophy of performance practice

This seminar will discuss issues of theorisation concerning contemporary performance-making, which involves methods of devising or experimentation and works according to a logic of 'discovery'. The enquiry will engage with the problematics of an analytical approach to a theorisation of 'creative processes', and argue for a necessary process-sensitive approach, which takes into account aspects of 'time' and 'duration'. It will draw on theoretical models borrowed from the disciplines of 'process philosophy' and 'practice theory', in order to establish a practice-philosophical model of contemporary performance-making, which will be related to examples from my ongoing collaboration as researcher to choreographer Rosemary Butcher.

Wed 27 February 2013

Dr Liliana Araújo (Superior School of Music and Performing Arts, Portugal; and Leonardo Da Vinci trainee at Trinity Laban)

Pathways for Excellence in Science and Dance: Personal and Social Factors

Interest in people who demonstrate exceptional mastery in their own fields is shared by researchers in the most diverse areas of knowledge, in the attempt to discover which factors are responsible for attaining and maintaining superior levels of performance. This subject has been explored throughout history with particular regard to eminent scientists, athletes and artists, analysing the psychological characteristics (how they are) of these individuals, as well as the strategies (what they do) they use to push through their limits, develop skills and achieve optimal performance. However, much of psychological research on excellent achievement takes a predominant outsider perspective, favoring quantitative inquiry, but actually little is really known about experiences and personal meanings of exceptional individuals. Therefore, a qualitative case study was carried out to explore the insider perspective of being excellent and contribute to deeper understanding the personal and contextual factors in the pathway to excellence. Four dancers and six scientists were consensually nominated by a panel of experts for displaying excellent performance. Participants were interviewed and a qualitative content analysis protocol was constructed to assist data analysis. Results suggest that scientists and dancers stressed the importance of passion, devotion to work and persistence in their paths to excellence. Social factors such as the role of significant others and optimal experiences as well as several psychological skills and strategies were described by participants as crucial to the development and demonstration of superior performance. Data also demonstrates some differences specific to each domain and the individual variability in the development of excellence, confirming the uniqueness associated to excellent performance. Finally, some reflections on this study are presented, some limitations are pointed out, and the main contributions to research on excellence are discussed.

Wed 13 March 2013

Dr Sophie Fuller (Trinity Laban)

 ' "Old, wise and furiously heretical": Women and music after 50'

In 1949 at the age of 42, the Welsh composer Grace Williams wrote to a friend: 'There does seem something revolting - and perhaps a bit pathetic - in the thought of a symphony by a woman of 50'. Over 40 years later, at the age of 47, Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell sang with resignation 'Must I surrender / With grace / The things I loved when I was younger… What do I do here with this hunger… Oh I am not old / I'm told /But I am not young / Oh and nothing can be done …' (Mitchell, 'Nothing Can Be Done' from the 1991 album Night Ride Home).

The worlds Williams and Mitchell occupied, like the world that I am living in today, had, and still has, little place for older women, who are mostly invisible and rarely recognised as artists with creative force and potential. The stories and creations that post-menopausal women tell and make are not ones that anyone, male or female, young or old, seems to want to hear.

But for many creative women, the age of 50 and beyond turns out to be a pivotal moment which ushers in a period of freedom and potential. Scholar Jacqueline Zita has written:

To deconstruct the meanings of menopause in a male gerontocracy is to construct a social and cultural space for the empowerment of crones. … My hope is that more powerful and unruly women will emerge from this conceiving - old, wise, and furiously heretical.

(Zita, 'Heresy in the Female Body' inThe Other Within Us: Feminist Explorations of Women andAginged. Marilyn Pearsall (Colorado: Westview Press, 1997), 110)

In On Late Style (2006), Edward Said explores artistic lateness as 'intransigence, difficulty, and unresolved contradiction' in the works of various writers and musicians - all men. In this paper I will explore and celebrate the unruly and defiant musical creativity of the older woman, including Joan Armatrading, Diamanda Galas, Minna Keal, Madonna, Patti Smith, Maude Valerie White and Grace Williams.

Wed 20 March 2013 (16.15-17.00)

Prof David Kirsh (University of California, San Diego) 

Practicing: Marking vs Full out, Which is Better?

For more information on Prof Kirsh's work go to /research/staff-research/visiting-faculty

Wed 27 March 2013

Dr Laura Cull (University of Surrey)

What is Performance Philosophy?

The talk will reflect on the idea that we are currently witnessing the emergence of a new field: Performance Philosophy. Performance Philosophy, Dr Cull will suggest, is not just a 'turn' within Performance Studies, but potentially a rich interdisciplinary field involving philosophers and researchers from a wide range of disciplines. As well as outlining this recent development, she will also question to what extent we might wish to consider performance as a philosophical activity in its own right: not as the mere illustration of extant philosophy ideas nor according to a predetermined definition of philosophy (such that performance is called upon to produce logical arguments, rational deductions and so forth), but more as a practice that thinks in its own way, and indeed in ways that might equally call upon philosophers to reconsider what counts as philosophy. Drawing from the notion of non-philosophy (or non-standard philosophy) outlined by François Laruelle, as well as from relevant work in the field of Film-Philosophy, Dr Cull will endeavour to articulate some of the myriad ways in which we might say that performance thinks and philosophy can be staged.

 

Recent Events

Symposium: Imagery and creativity in performing arts, 19 October 2012

One year ago Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Wayne McGregor|Random Dance R-Research Department established a partnership to develop a joint dance science research project to study the creative process in dance.
 
Several experimental pilot studies at Trinity Laban have been conducted in the last year, discussions with staff and students organised, and a large grant application is in the early planning stage.
 
As part of the partnership, Trinity Laban and WM|RD co-hosted a one-day interdisciplinary seminar for invited guests only. The seminar: "Imagery and Creativity in Performing Arts: decision making, problem solving and breaking habits" took place at Trinity Laban in London on 19 October 2012. Drawing on a convergence of expertise in three scientific areas of research, the focus of the seminar drew on approaches in clinical psychology, sports psychology, cognitive and neuroscience where the study and applied use of imagery has progressed significantly in the last decade.
 
The aim was to seek synergy in comprehending methods and approaches that might help us to better study, understand and augment the connection between imagery and creativity, particularly in the context of dance-making. In order to optimise the opportunity for this synergy, we invited three experts to give a 30 minute presentation:         

Dr Nichola Callow, Bangor University, Imagery and sport: Research from the repetitive;

Professor Emily Holmes and Dr Martina di Simplicio, University of Oxford, Feeling through the mind's eye; and

Professor Sophie Scott, University College London, Representations and images of the voice.

In addition to the three presentations, there were also small group round table discussions and a final plenary.
 
Trinity Laban and Random Dance hope that this event is the start of a fruitful research exchange between the two partners and the dance community at large that will progress well into the future.

See also Trinity Laban News

Images: Paul Hampartsoumian

Presentation at Cognition Institute, University of Plymouth

As part of this ongoing research strand of the Trinity Laban partnership with Wayne McGregor|Random Dance, Tony Thatcher and Emma Redding were invited  to give a presentation at the new Cognition Institute, University of Plymouth as part of the institute's first symposium on mental imagery and creativity on 20 March 2013. For event details please go here.

The aim of Tony and Emma's presentation was to share a choreographic process which incorporates touch and score in order to pose questions around that process in relation to existing reference on dance imagery.  The Random Dance researchers Professor Jon May, School of Psychology at University of Plymouth, Phil Barnard (formerly at the Medical Institute for Cognition, Cambridge University) and Scott deLaHunta also participated in the Symposium.

Nancarrow in the 21st Century, 21 and 22 April 2012
Southbank Centre / Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
London UK

To mark the centenary of Conlon Nancarrow's birth, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance hosted a conference at London's Southbank Centre to coincide with Perfect Constructions: The Music of Conlon Nancarrow, a two-day festival. The theme of the conference was the exploration of contemporary practice and thinking in relation to Nancarrow's original ideas.

For details please visit the conference website.

Without Warning, 31 January to 11 February 2012

Without Warning is a piece of contemporary live theatre combining dance and live music inspired by Brian Keenan's compelling account of four and a half years in captivity.Following sell-out premier performances at Laban Theatre in November 2010, Without Warning Company is re-siting the work for two weeks at the Old Vic Tunnels. Read more about Without Warning.

Symposium: Passion, Pathways and Potential in Dance

A symposium in October 2011 presented the findings of a major national research project into dance talent development

Are you interested in training the dancers of tomorrow? Do you want to know more about dance talent development? Read more about Symposium: Passion, Pathways and Potential in Dance.

Research Student Showcases

PARALLAX 01

April 2011 saw the first in a new series of annual events curated by and showcasing the work of Research Degree Programme Creative Practice students:

Performances, installations and an open discussion. Read more about PARALLAX 01.

PARALLAX 02 - Body Material

In September 2012 the second of these RDP student showcases took place.  Read more about three students' visual art exhibition PARALLAX 02. 

Banner image: Rachel Cherry

Related links 

Research Student Events