ResDance S3: Episode 3: Dance in Primary Education with Eilidh Slattery

In this episode, Eilidh shares her thinking on dance and creative movement in primary education. She explores her research interests in arts-based pedagogy, arts-based research methods and practices of learning and teaching theory. We explore ideas around the wider value of dance in educational settings, possible barriers and considerations for those delivering dance and the need for the individual voice of the teacher to be heard and brought to the fore. Eilidh’s refers to her recent research report: Dance in the Primary School Scotland (2022).during the episode.

Eilidh Slattery trained as a dancer and dance teacher gaining teaching qualifications in multiple disciplines with the ISTD & RAD and taught in the UK and Ireland. She has experience teaching dance and choreographing productions for all ages in dance schools, community settings, nurseries, primary & secondary schools and in FE & HE settings. Eilidh later qualified as a GTCS registered primary school teacher and continued to explore dance and creative movement with learners alongside the rest of the school curriculum whilst also delivering CLPL dance events for staff and guest lecturing on several Initial Teacher Education programmes.  Eilidh held roles of class teacher, specialist teacher, principal teacher and acting headteacher before moving into the position of Lecturer in Teacher Education at the University of Dundee working on both the undergraduate and postgraduate initial primary teacher education programmes, as well as the BA Childhood Practice, TQFE and MEd programmes. 

Eilidh currently works full-time at RCS on the PG Cert & MEd Learning and Teaching in the Arts programmes, working with arts educators from all educational and community settings. Eilidh’s research interests focus on dance and creative movement in primary education, with wider interests in arts-based pedagogy, arts-based research methods, inclusive practice and diversification of learning & teaching theory. She has been awarded funding from the RCS Athenaeum Award to support the Dance in the Primary School in Scotland project.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @EilidhSlattery

Learn more about Eilidh’s research on her RCS Portal page

Other social media links:

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: @RCStweets

RCS Research and Knowledge Exchange: @RCS_TheExchange

PG Cert and MEd Learning & Teaching in the Arts programme at RCS: @RCSpglta

Recent resources:

Dance in the Primary School Scotland (Research Report)

https://pure.rcs.ac.uk/portal/files/17063011/Dance_Education_in_the_Primary_School_in_Scotland_Slattery_Rae_2022_RCS.pdf

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ResDance Series 3: EP2: Experimental Approaches to Dancing-Writing and Indisciplinary Collaboration with Alys Longley

Alys Longley offers insight into her ways of working and approaches employed in her research and practice. Through exploration of approaches to her ‘dancing-writing’, she discusses ways of working with language and fostering a physicality with language -taking space to the page. In situating her ideas in her past and present research interests and indisciplinary collaborations, we discuss ideas relating to geopolitical borders, translation studies and materiality of practice.

Aly’s Longley is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and teacher, Alys’s work exists as live performance, artist-book, installation, film, education curriculum, poetry, performance writing and lecture-demonstration. Over the last decade, Alys has been exploring mistranslation studies, working across languages and disciplines to explore the spill of ideas beyond conventional systems of meaning, through a series of international artistic-research projects in Berlin (Germany), Santiago (Chile), Coimbra (Portugal), NYC (US), Chicago (US), Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland (NZ), Poneke/ Welllington (NZ), Vienna (Austria) and Stockholm (Sweden). Her books include The Foreign Language of Motion (2014), Radio Strainer (2016) Let Us Drink the New Wine, Together! (2022) and alys & pavle (2020), Life is A Sting on the Bicep of the Fabric of the Universe (2021) and Time Does This For You (2022) all with pavleheidler.  Alys has been based in the Department of Dance Studies, University of Auckland, since 2006, where she is currently an Associate Professor.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Website: alyslongleymoving.com

Social Media:

instagram.com/alyslongley

instagram.com/humattering

https://www.beberemoselvinonuevojuntos.com/

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ResDance Series 3: Episode 1: Personal experiences, reflections and thinking on dance with Sondra Fraleigh

Professor Sondra Fraleigh reflects upon her journey in dance and offers rich insights into her experiences and thinking as a theorist, writer, choreographer, teacher and practitioner. Sondra describes the phenomenological approaches and thinking used in her work and draws upon key writers, theorists and practitioners who continue to inform her practice. In this thought-provoking episode, we discuss ideas around phenomenology, truth, considerations around the subjective and inter-subjectivity and the potential for dance and somatic movement practice to be used as a means of fostering environmental awareness and change.

Sondra Fraleigh is an international leader in dance, yoga, and somatic healing arts. She is a Fulbright Scholar and professor emeritus of the State University of New York, College at Brockport, where she chaired the Department of Dance and was later head of graduate dance studies. Her innovative choreography based in somatics and inspired by butoh has been seen on tour in America, Germany, the UK, India and Japan. She served as president of the Congress on Research in Dance (renamed, Dance Studies Association) and was selected as a University-Wide Faculty Exchange Scholar for the State University of New York.

Sondra is a Registered Feldenkrais® teacher, and certifies Registered Somatic Movement Educators and Therapists through ISMETA, International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association. She has been a professor of dance and somatics for over forty years, now retired from the Department of Dance at the State University of New York at Brockport. Sondra continues to teach through her institute and is a mentor to dancers and somatic practitioners in the USA, Europe, Japan, Mexico and India.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Social Media: Sondra Fraleigh, Eastwest Somatics, and Eastwest Somatics Network

Website: www.eastwestsomatics.com

Publications and sources:

https://www.eastwestsomatics.com/sondra

Somatic lessons:

Walking on Air: https://www.eastwestsomatics.com/walking-on-air

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ResDance S2: Episode 11: Considerations around risk-taking and 'newness' in practice-based research with Josh Slater

Josh Slater shares insight into his creative process and the role of collaboration in his practice making and research. Through situating his thinking around his current PhD practice, Josh discusses his interests in choreographic practise, risk-taking and collaborative practices, more widely. In this episode, Josh reflects upon the approaches he employs and raises points of interest concerning self-reflexivity as a researcher and ways of documenting.

Josh Slater is programme leader for dance and senior lecturer at De Montfort University in Leicester, as well as a contemporary dance artist, theatre maker and performer. He is a part-time Ph.D. student at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University and assistant editor for the Intellect Choreographic Practices Journal.  He has created, and toured dance and theatre works, nationally and internationally, funded by the Arts Council England. Josh’s research interests are focused on choreographic practices, risk-taking, Dance Theatre, improvisation and collaborative practices. Josh is a mentor for emerging dance and movement practitioners and is a Director on the Board of Trustees for Exim Dance Company CIC in Devon and Cheshire Dance in Cheshire.

Contact details:

E-mail: [email protected]

Twitter: @joshsla

Other social media handles:

@DMUdance @DMUcirid @CDaRE_CU @dmuleicester

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ResDance S2: Episode 10: Reflections on dance-making and the creative process with Naomi Lefebvre Sell

Dr Naomi Lefebvre Sell shares insight into her choreographic practice, exploring ways of dance-making and the approaches she employs. Through exploration of her creative processes, Naomi highlights the need for openness when considering the body and the richness of working cross-discipline to empower drawing upon a range of perspectives when viewing the body and throughout the dance-making process, more generally.

Naomi Lefebvre Sell is a Reader of Choreographic Practice within the Faculty of Dance and Programme Leader for the MA/MFA Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Naomi lectures across the BA and MA/MFA programmes within the fields of choreography, performance and research methods as well as supervises Practice as Research PhDs. Originally from Canada, Naomi’s background as a professional dancer includes work with both Butoh and Cunningham-influenced companies. Naomi holds a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University and a MA Choreography and PhD in Creative Practice (Dance) from Trinity Laban. She is also a Higher Education Academy Fellow.

Naomi’s professional choreographic work has been commissioned and presented across Canada and Europe (since 1998) within festivals such as TanzArt (Germany), Brighton Fringe (UK), Dancing of the Edge (Canada) and Chutzpah! (Canada). Naomi’s practice-led research is published in academic journals and book chapters (Intellect, Frontiers and Routledge), she presents regularly at national and international conferences and is a reviewer for the Frontiers in Psychology Journal. Naomi’s artistic work and teaching is informed by her doctoral research which examined the effect of mindfulness meditation on a creative process of dance making. Naomi’s current research is funded by Arts Council England.

Contact details:

Twitter: @naomi_sell

Staff page: https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/study/teaching-staff/dr-naomi-lefebvre-sell/

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ResDance S2: Episode 9: ResDance S2: Episode 9: Choreography and Improvisation with Seke Chimutengwende

Seke Chimutengwende shares insight into his practice making as a choreographer and performer. Through exploring the notion of collectivity and approaches to authorship, he reflects upon his making experiences and working collaboratively across disciplines that more widely inform his practice. Seke shares insight into his latest work It begins in darkness (premiered in September 2022) and the processes involved in the making and dissemination of the work.

Seke Chimutengwende:  www.sekechimutengwende.com

Seke is a choreographer, performer, movement director and teacher. In his practice,

Seke uses choreography to experiment with collectivity and alternative approaches to authorship and governance; playing with form to shift and question hierarchies. His new work It begins in darkness premiered in September 2022, a group choreography looking at ghosts and haunted houses as metaphors for how histories of slavery and colonialism haunt the present. Seke has also recently choreographed a new group work for Candoco Dance Company, In Worlds Unknown, which premiered in October 2022.

Alongside his choreographic work Seke is currently exploring long solo improvisation performances of 50 to 60 minutes and is working as a performer with Forced Entertainment in a new work which will premiere in 2023. He is also working as a dramaturg on Sue MacLaine’s new work, I Maybe Sometime. As a lecturer and teacher, Seke is a visiting lecturer in improvisation and composition at London Contemporary Dance School.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Social media: twitter

facebook

youtube

instagram

Useful links

Tom Cornford (2022) It begins in darkness: https://www.tom6.space/blog/messing-up-mes

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Glenna Batson and Susan Sentler share insight into their 10-year collaboration, honing a practice-based language on bodily folding. Through discussion of their shared thinking and practices rooted in a inter/trans-disciplinary approach, they share insight into their ways of working and reflect upon their processes of making. They discuss their on-going collaborative research rooted in the concept of ‘the fold’ titled: the f/ol\d as somatic/artistic practice and offer thoughtful consideration around the ideas of languaging and the wider value (and power) of what making can offer. Glenna and Susan are currently writing a book entitled: Embodied Practices in Art Making: The Fold (Intellect Books 2023).

Glenna Batson is a Professor emeritus of physiotherapy, Glenna has drawn from multiple sources both within and outside of the academy as catalysts for teaching, research, advocacy, and artistic growth.  Glenna has worked at the intersection of dance, movement science and somatic education honing a trans-disciplinary approach to embodied cognition. She has lectured and mentored in higher education within dance, bodymind disciplines and neuro-rehabilitation. She currently teaches Somatics as faculty of dance at Peabody Institute for Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD USA), and is a guest dance educator at Duke University and University of Limerick. Clinical investigations offer fresh insights into integrative medicine, including dance improvisation for Parkinson’s, Alexander Technique & balance and mental imagery in stroke rehabilitation, research pathways underscoring mind-body methodologies. Written scholarship includes chief author of Body and Mind in Motion: Dance and Neuroscience in Conversation., a convergence of somatics, dance and neuroscience, and co-editor/contributor to Dance, Somatics and Spiritualities: Contemporary Sacred Narratives (2014). 

Contact details:

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Website: https://www.glennabatson.net/

Susan Sentler, (she/her), is an independent artist rooted in the field of Dance/Performance working as educator/lecturer, maker/choreographer, researcher, director, curator, dramaturg and performer. She has practiced globally for over 30 years and began teaching in Higher Education since 1992, in early 2000’s meriting Senior Lecturer status from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. As performer, she danced with the original second company ‘The Ensemble’ of the Martha Graham Dance Company in the 1980’s and has returned to performing in the past 10 years with artists such as Tino Sehgal, Xavier le Roy, Dora Garcia and Jerome Bel. Susan’s practice is inter/trans-disciplinary, anchored by a honed expanded somatic relationship to image, interested in ‘dissolving the indexical’, yielding greater potential of sensorial materiality.  In 2013, she received an MACP (Masters in Creative Practice, Dance Professional Practice) from Trinity Laban in collaboration with Independent Dance, London/UK. Susan was on faculty from 2015 to 2020 at LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore expanding the somatic and creative environment. Susan focuses on gallery/ museum contexts creating/collaborating on ‘responses’ or ‘activations’ within exhibitions as well as durational installations orchestrating moving/still image, objects, sound and absence/presence of the performing body. 

Contact details

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @susansentler 

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user9690001 

Kathryn Stamp shares insight into her current research interests in the areas of dance, dance in education and the wider value of dance participation. Alongside exploring her research experiences and dance advocacy work, we discuss ideas relating to researcher identity and the sense of value as a dance researcher. Kathryn offers insightful, honest and thought-provoking reflections concerning the questions she asks herself around the value of dance research and emphasises the need to bring voice to the dance sector.

Kathryn is a dance research and educator, specialising in inclusive dance practice and research methods. Her interests span inclusive dance, dance in education and exploring the value and impact of dance. Kathryn graduated with an MA in Education (Distinction) from University of Brighton (2016) and holds a first-class BA (Hons) in Dance Studies from Roehampton University (2010). In 2020 Kathryn completed her PhD at C-DaRE and her AHRC-funded research focused on photography-based interventional approaches that sought to change public perceptions about disabled people who dance. Currently, Kathryn's postdoctoral research explores the lived experience of isolated working for disabled dance artists, considering modes of communication, use of technology and change in working practices in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kathryn is enthusiastic about transdisciplinary research and has worked for the Centre for Computational Science and Mathematical Modelling on the Energy REV project, exploring stakeholder perspectives on Energy, AI and Ethics. She is one of the project team members for Gap_E[thics], which seeks to explore the concept, understanding and practice of ethics in technological from different disciplinary perspectives.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter:  @kathrynstampy

@DanceResMatters

Other useful links:

https://danceresearchmatters.coventry.ac.uk/

https://makinggood.design/thoughts/tasty

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ResDance S2: Episode 6: Reflections on a person-centred approach in a PhD process

Louisa Petts shares insight into her current PhD research at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University. Her research advocates for improved access to dance that is meaningful for older populations, whilst questioning whether dance genre and style offer entirely unique experiences of belonging for participants. Through discussing her PhD process, she shares the varying research approaches, methodologies and methods employed in her research and on the wider reflections she has concerning her role and positionality as a researcher. Providing honest and considered reflections on her PhD journey thus far, Louisa highlights the need for continued advocacy for a person-centred approach throughout the research process.

Louisa is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University. She is the recipient of the Arts and Humanities Research Council studentship award offered by Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. Louisa studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she graduated with an MSc Dance Science with Distinction in 2019. Prior, Louisa studied at the University of Roehampton, achieving First Class Honours and receiving the prize for Best Dissertation in BA Dance Studies in 2018.

Louisa has worked as a community dance artist delivering dance classes to those living with dementia in assisted living homes and people living with Parkinson’s. She currently works as a lecturer at De Montfort University and bbodance and is an editorial assistant for the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices. Louisa is also part of the site-specific research project ‘The Shape of Sound’ in collaboration with artist-researcher Petra Johnson and researchers at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), which explores the embodied technologies of the human inner ear through movement practice.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lou_petts/?hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-petts-1702/

Resource links:

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ResDance S2: Episode 5: Reflections on the research process and greater support for dancers’ mental health with Erin Sanchez

Erin Sanchez shares insight into her current PhD research - in the area of dancers’ mental health and psychological skills development during the talent development process. Alongside exploring her current research, we discuss ideas relating to barriers around participant recruitment, the need for a person-centred approach in all research, ethics of care throughout the research process and a greater need for mental support within the dance sector. Erin offers insightful and honest reflections concerning her researcher journey thus far, the questions she finds herself asking herself about the dance sector and poignantly highlights the need for continued advocacy and support in the areas of mental health for dancers.

Erin is the Manager of the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, and Manager of Health, Wellbeing, and Performance at One Dance UK. Erin holds a BA (Hons) in Dance and Sociology from the University of New Mexico and an MSc in Dance Science from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Sport, Physical Education, and Health Sciences from the University of Edinburgh investigating the nature, development and deployment of psychological skills in the pursuit and attainment of high performance in dance. Erin is a registered provider for Safe in Dance International, a member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science and holds the qualification in Safe and Effective Dance Practice. She has lectured in dance science and taught dance technique in the United States, UK, Egypt and Malta

Biography: https://www.dancersmentalhealth.co.uk/about-us

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @ Eirinn_sanchez (twitter)

@ Eirinnsanchez (Instagram)

Organisational socials:

Resource links:

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