Capturing dance: the art of documentation (An exploration of distilling the body in motion)

This research paper is an exploration of documenting and capturing live dance performance in regards to three artistic mediums, Notation, Photography and Film. This piece of writing discusses practitioners who have contributed to the development of these processes such as: Ann Hutchinson Guest, Rudolf von Laban, Eadweard Muybridge, Lois Greenfield, Ted Shawn, Norman McLaren and Sue Healey. In conjunction with historical and current day research the secondary document provided alongside this thesis describes the practical investigation undertaken. The reflections included define first-hand discoveries of how these three mediums of documenting interconnect to describe a contemporary dance solo. Thoughts, findings and results from the studio are provided and discussed to gain further understanding. The aim of this research is to distil and capture the body in motion, to see if it’s possible to produce a document capable of communicating dance when a live body is absent

Sonic autoethnographies: personal listening as compositional context

This article discusses a range of self-reflexive tendencies in field recording, soundscape composition and studio production, and explores examples of sonic practices and works in which the personal listening experiences of the composer are a key contextual and compositional element. As broad areas for discussion, particular attention is given to soundscape composition as self-narrative (exploring the representation of the recordist in soundscape works) and to producing the hyperreal and the liminal (considering spatial characteristics of contemporary auditory experience and their consequences for sonic practice). The discussion then focuses on the specific application of autoethnographic research methods to the practice and the understanding of soundscape composition. Compositional strategies employed in two recent pieces by the author are considered in detail. The aim of this discussion is to link autoethnography to specific ideas about sound and listening, and to some tendencies in field recording, soundscape composition and studio production, while also providing context for the discussion of the author’s own practice and works. In drawing together this range of ideas, methods and work, sonic autoethnography is aligned with an emerging discourse around reflexive, embodied sound work

Is the World After All Just a Dream?

DocPerform is a multi and interdisciplinary research project based at City, University of London. Led by members of the Department of Library & Information Science, it comprises scholars and practitioners from the fields of performing arts and library & information science. The project concerns conceptual, methodological and technological innovations in the documentation of performance, and the extent to which performance may itself be considered to be a document. The collection of papers in this special issue of Proceedings from the Document Academy are selected from the second DocPerform Symposium, held at City, University of London, 6–7 November 2017. This editorial introduces those papers and provides disciplinary and historical context for DocPerform

Moving Spaces. Enacting Dance, Performance, and the Digital in the Museum

This collection of essays investigates some of the theories and concepts related to the burgeoning presence of dance and performance in the museum. This surge has led to significant revisions of the roles and functions that museums currently play in society. The authors provide key analyses on why and how museums are changing by looking into participatory practices and decolonisation processes, the shifting relationship with the visitor/spectator, the introduction of digital practices in collection making and museum curation, and the creation of increasingly complex documentation practices. The tasks designed by artists who are involved in the European project Dancing Museums. The Democracy of Beings (2018-21) respond to the essays by suggesting a series of body-mind practices that readers could perform between the various chapters to experience how theory may affect their bodies

Exploring Creative Thought in Choreography Together:Process Documentation with the Australian Dance Theatre

Thinking Brains and Bodies brought together a team of researchers spanning cognitive science (Catherine Stevens, David Kirsh), cognitive neuroscience (Mike Nicholls), dance (Kim Vincs, Elizabeth Old, Scott deLahunta)and social anthropology (James Leach)to work in close collaboration with Garry Stewart and the Australian Dance Theater to address research questions concerning embodied cognition in real-world and experimentally controlled settings. To begin the project and prepare for these studies Leach, Stevens, Vincs and deLahunta recorded four 'cognitive interviews' with Stewart, ADT's Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Old, and the dancers working in the company at that time