8 research outputs found

    Danscross: dancing in a shaking world. The Danscross papers, Beijing 2009

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    This collaborative, six month project was co-directed by Christopher Bannerman, Head of ResCen Research Centre and Xu Rui, Associate Professor and Vice-Chair, Department of Dance Studies at the Beijing Dance Academy (BDA). It focused on the creation of eight dance works by western and Chinese choreographers which were created to a specific brief, testing Stravinsky's proposition that the imposition of rules sets the artist free. The creative processes were observed by teams of academics from the BDA; the China National Academy for Arts Research; University of California at Los Angeles, Center for World Arts and Cultures; University College Falmouth, Dartington College; Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; National University of Singapore; International Institute for Education and Research in Theatre and Film Arts, Waseda University; University of Washington. The researchers contributed to an online record of the project as well as presenting papers at the subsequent conference and for publication. The project's premise was that the empathetic, catalytic space of creative practice offers a unique way of encountering and understanding the other. The examination by international and Chinese academics of the creative strategies of UK and Chinese choreographers, each working with dancers trained in Classical Chinese Dance and/or Asian Folk Dance, provided a metaphor for other acts of translation and adaption. While key challenges today (the pervasiveness of climate change, financial instability and viral infections), are unconfined by national boundaries, the research premise tested the hypothesis that by examining the particular, the panoramic becomes open to speculative enquiry

    Yes, no, maybe The practice of illusion in dance theatre performance

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    SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN020340 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

    Distilling principles – an investigation of the role of consciousness in butoh training

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    This essay provides a personal and critical approach to the Japanese contemporary performance expression of butoh through an investigation of the role of physical consciousness in contemporary performance training. Butoh is presented here as a performing entity containing its own existential movement aesthetic as well as reflecting social, political and cultural debates which surround the body in performance. In aligning butoh to certain initiatives within contemporary western dance theatre pedagogy, the article considers the shift from a range of contemporary form-based movement techniques which can be copied and accurately replicated in the body of the student, towards a conscious expression of movement that is cultivated out of a dialogue existing between internalised sensibilities and externalised movement forms. In comparing the author's own performance training experiences in Decroux Mime technique and contemporary dance with those in butoh, this paper aims to locate the distinct relationship between physical and aesthetic consciousness in the interface between butoh training and performance practice
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