Over the past few decades, archival practices in dance have been the subject of substantial scrutiny and innovation. With new technologies affording opportunities for archival material to be housed in web-based platforms, questions surrounding notions of ‘archive’ and documentary practices in dance have occupied debates across academia and industry. The function of an archival source in dance as an ephemeral phenomenon is something that remains ambiguous because of the complexity of capturing the multiple aspects of dance-making processes and performance. In this thesis I address this issue by considering the role of the dancing body as a site where knowledge that can be considered as ‘archival’ is stored as a result of embodied dance-making processes and experience. Within the broader discussion of dance and archiving, I refer to the dance reconstruction practices of contemporary dance company, Phoenix Dance Theatre to illustrate new ideas about archiving dance. The discussion will focus upon notions of embodiment, memory, archives and dance reconstruction, and ideas surrounding the role of dance knowledge and its transferability to archival formats that are considered ‘tangible’ or ‘enduring’. The limitations of traditional understandings of the archive are addressed and expanded by re-considering the role of the body as an archival material. This research contributes new knowledge regarding dance archival practices through recognition that valuable information can be triggered through the re-living of historic movement action in the dancing body. In summary, the overall investigation makes a case for the role of the dancing body within the broader archival spectrum of materials relating to dance practice. I argue that the body captures some of the original essences of dance practice and performances that cannot be captured by more traditional materials and modes of archiving in dance.

The thesis explores Rudolf Laban’s practice-inspired theory through an understanding of temporality and spatiality in terms of the productive tension between movement and form. This repositioning of Laban’s work allows us to appreciate his importance for contemporary media philosophy and performance studies. The key claim is that Laban’s contribution highlights a co-dependency between, on the one hand, rhythm, intended as formed time and, on the other hand, the diagram, intended as dynamic space. It is argued that the dynamism of the visual diagram originates from the intensity of rhythm before this settles down as meter and form. Rhythm unfolds as an oscillation between flow and meter made visible in Laban’s freehand drawings. The thesis considers these drawings as diagrams, in that they are graphic inscriptions partaking of the dynamism of rhythm and of the act of drawing. Rhythm emerges from the process of research as the leading concept of Laban’s work from the early 1920s throughout his life. Evidence to support this claim is uncovered largely in unpublished material both visual and textual, in German and in English. This was found in the course of research in the largest and virtually overlooked collection of Laban’s work in England (National Resource Centre for Dance, University of Surrey) representing Laban’s latest production (1938-1958). The material highlights the way in which Laban was thinking of both rhythm and of his drawings in terms of the relation of movement to structure. The thesis’s understanding of this relation in Laban’s work is afforded by a ‘diagrammatic methodology’, that is, a reflective re-organisation of the archival material deriving from the theories of the diagram of C.S. Peirce, Gilles Deleuze and Gilles Chatelet explored in the thesis.

The thesis focuses on the concept of neutrality in the works of contemporary European (post 1990s) choreographers. While broad ideas around neutrality are considered, the thesis primarily engages with Roland Barthes’ definition of neutrality as a structural term: 'every inflection that, dodging or baffling the paradigmatic, oppositional structure of meaning, aims at the suspension of the conflictual basis of discourse'. I argue that the minimalist work of Judson Church, New York City, is anticipating the interest in the neutral that will more strongly formulate itself in dance theatre after the 1990s. In the first chapter on Jérôme Bel, the concept of neutrality is introduced as a general idea, together with its inherent problem. The 'problem' is not that this or that element that Bel chooses cannot be perceived as neutral, but that neutral or stage zero can never be neutral enough. The second chapter, dedicated to the work of Thomas Lehmen, explores the idea of 'neutralization' in relation to the notion of the self in Lehmen's performance, where 'It is not I or you who lives: 'one' (une vie) lives in us' (P. Hallward). In the third chapter I argue that in Raimund Hoghe’s performances, love is conceived essentially as a balance between narcissism and pure object-love – as a neutral state. The fourth chapter, on Croatia’s BADco., gravitates around the ways in which group processes function, arguing that the idea of the neutral is located in the ‘invisible hand’ of emergence. The thesis shifts academic performance analysis towards a more concept-based approach, unpicking and/or constructing timeless, abstract and broad concepts and ideas that the work of these choreographers resonates with.

This thesis explores the complex relations between subjective perception and dance movements, mainly exemplified by drawing on two short extracts from Merce Cunningham's choreography BIPED (1999). The central aim of the study is to formulate a performative phenomenological inquiry, which moves beyond an identification of essences, and towards an understanding of the lived experience of a dance performance as being grounded on iterations of the "abstract". The concept of the abstract primarily signifies an alternative mode of understanding Henry Bergson's notion of duration. Considering Gilles Deleuze's reading of Bergson's intuition as a method to divide the experience of a lived present into a temporal difference in kind between the virtual and the actual, this thesis suggests a complementary division of duration into virtual and actual kinds of abstraction. In addition to Bergson's method of intuition, the discussion is phenomenologically rooted in Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concept of the body image and Gaston Bachelards idea of non-causal reverberation. As with the case of intuition, those phenomenological concepts are applied unconventionally. Rather than serving as a pre-objective ontological basis for an analytical and scientific understanding of subjective embodiment, the notion of a reverberating body image is here treated as a form of mimesis, performatively constituted through symbolic and representational practices. Hence, in phenomenological terms, the rationale of the thesis is predominantly sustained by the philosophy of Ernst Cassirer, arguing that reality cannot be approached directly, but only through the concept of the symbol. The viewpoint from where I speak has performative cybernetic characteristics, continuously and dynamically transgressing boundaries and reconstituting itself through iterative and citational practices. Additionally, as I move between the analytical and the intuitive, as well as between the virtual and the actual, the formal structure of the thesis corresponds to a liminal transformation of the speaking subjectivity.

This practice-based research project aims to weave together the data generated through a dance making process, with a reflective, critical analysis of the data, to argue that incorporating meditation in the creative process can have a profound impact on a creative practice. dharmakaya, the dance work I choreographed for the purpose of this investigation, was developed in collaboration with four dancers, who were at the time, students studying on a BA (Hons) Dance Theatre programme. The process of creating the work involved a deep engagement with the principles and practices of meditation in order to consider critically the impact this had on my own creative practice and on dancers’ creative endeavours in the choreographic environment. Integral to this research project is consideration of the implications of this process for practice-based research and practices within the art form. The written thesis provides the analysis of the creative process of making dharmakaya. It seeks to understand if a creative environment can be established which incorporates the principles and practices gained from meditation to support and enhance dancers’ creative processes as co-creators of dance work. I discuss how my approach results in changes in how movement material is generated by the dancers, in the direction of the rehearsal process and in my engagement with the dancers. Importantly, the thesis makes clear how a method of analysis can be established which allows the results of the practice-based research to be sympathetically transformed into written form. As a whole the study contributes to the current field of research through the development of a dance making methodology that incorporates mindful meditation and enables the dancers’ verbal and embodied engagement. This methodology incorporates data collection and analysis in order to facilitate a critical reflection on the efficacy of the process. The thesis argues that adapting principles from meditation teachings offers a choreographer a means to engage dancers in a process of ‘letting go’, to stimulate their creativity and their capacity to generate material in the process of dance making: it offers them a language – an embodied language – with which to articulate and contribute ideas in verbal form. This practice-based research contributes to the continuing debates about training methods for contemporary dancers and choreographers, the leading/direction of creative dance making processes, and the different ways in which dancers engage with the preparation and performance of choreographed work.

The aim of this research was to understand why some young talented dancers stay in dance training while others decide to leave. In order to meet this aim, commitment, adherence and dropout among young talented dancers was investigated in five studies using a multidisciplinary mixed methods design. Participants were from eight of the UK Centres for Advanced Training (CATs) in Dance, nationwide talent development schemes that provide high quality part-time training to young people aged 10-18 years. The first study was a review of the literature on talent identification and development in order to understand the nature of the cohort and the type of environment in which the young people trained. The second study investigated multidisciplinary characteristics of 334 students to gain a descriptive understanding of the participants. Thirdly, nineteen committed students were interviewed to understand their experiences in dance and reasons for staying in training from their own perspectives. In the fourth study, ten students who had dropped out from a CAT were interviewed about their experiences and reasons for leaving; this data was triangulated using demographic information gathered from the CATs. Finally, a set of multidisciplinary characteristics was used to predict adherence to the CATs in the fifth study (N = 287). Results revealed that commitment to the CATs was underpinned by enjoyment, social relationships with peers and teachers, the opportunities available on the scheme and parental support. Adherence was positively predicted by harmonious passion, a love of dance characterised by a flexible type of involvement, and negatively by ego-involving motivational climate perceptions. This means that students were less likely to stay in training if they perceived their learning environment to emphasise other-referenced learning, competition among peers, objective success and punishment of mistakes. The main reasons for dropping out of the scheme according to the participants were having conflicting demands, change in aspirations, course content, difficulty making friends, and lost passion. Injury, financial factors, low perceived competence, and teacher behaviour emerged as minor reasons. Younger students were more likely to cite course-related reasons for dropping out than older students, while older students were more likely to cite change in aspirations and lost passion than their younger counterparts. Although participants were involved in a talent development scheme, aspects of physical competence, as identified in the first literature review study, did not appear influential in adherence and dropout. Overall these studies address a complex and under-researched area in dance. Results indicate that commitment can be maintained or enhanced by maximising enjoyment and passion, minimising elements of ego-involving motivational climates, facilitating positive peer relationships, ensuring training incorporates appropriate challenge and encouraging parental support.

This study examines the social conditions for the nature and development of theatrical dance as a historically constructed field. The first part consists of a sociologically informed narrative of the making of dance from its initiation as a courtly practice (court ballet) to its contemporary form (ballet and modern dance), with an emphasis on the social, political and aesthetic contexts in which it was shaped. This narrative outlines the logic of symbolic negotiation, focusing specifically on conflicts over the content, bodily forms and techniques of dance, which take place in different spaces and modes of production. These symbolic negotiations are conceived as reconfigurations of social and political struggles but they are of course expressed through the practices of specific individuals within the field. This historical analysis sets the scene for an examination of the particular logic or rules that govern dance production in contemporary Britain and Greece. Although ballet in Greece has been relatively dependent on the development of the from in Britain, the two countries are approached as separate cases. The experience of thirty working dancers and choreographers (twelve in Greece and eighteen in the UK) is charted within very divergent conditions, namely training and performing as institutionalized in each country. These dancers and choreographers shape their bodies and tailor their practices in relation to ideal types of performers. They form highly diverse dance styles, especially given their interest in differentiating their own practice from current dance forms. Such styles stand in competition to each other, resulting in conflicting definitions of dance – and of course – dancing experiences. These particular meanings of dancing and dance making are highlighted by artists’ various trajectories within the fields or subfields. The interviews reveal the interdependency of the British and Greek systems of dance production. As will be shown, the individual dancers’ and choreographers’ trajectories depend on their possession of capitals (economic, social, cultural). It is claimed that the “talented dancing body” in each society is shaped with reference to the particular aesthetic and technical components promoted by the different dance styles.

This thesis constitutes a performative research enquiry the outcomes of which are three live ensemble choreographic works by the author, Shrink’d (2005-2007), Doing, Done & Undone (2007-2009) and The Living Room (2010-2011). These have been documented and are presented on DVDs and online. The written thesis serves as an exegesis of these works by examining the notions of in-between contained within an aesthetic of ‘everydayness’ as manifested in the works and the ways in which these works intersect and dialogue with performance and dance theory, phenomenological, feminist and post-colonial theoretical perspectives. The writing begins by outlining the key choreographic concerns and ideas driving the research, specifically the notion of in-between and the works’ everyday aesthetic. It continues with a contextual framework charting the practice-led research methodologies employed, the key phenomenological metaphors and theoretical notions underpinning the enquiry as well as situating the works within a historical trajectory of choreographic practice. The main part of the thesis (Chapters Two to Four) serves as an analysis of the primary output of the research project – the works themselves, bridging distinct strands of critical theory. This section of the written thesis journeys from the ‘outside’, via an analysis of theatrical framing, to the core of the practice in an exploration of the choreographic concerns and processes that drove the research. The examination of theatrical framing discusses the dramaturgical methodologies employed in the submitted works, including the reconfiguration of theatrical space in Shrink’d, the compositional use of space, in Doing, Done & Undone and the referencing of the temporal frame in The Living Room arguing that by pointing to the performance frame and fraying the fourth wall the works facilitate an in-between embodied and reflective mode of viewing between performers and audience members. The investigation of the core of the practice examines portraiture via textual address and the interface of text with moving body, and then moves on to discuss the body as a parallel corporeal form of address, ‘a body that speaks’.

This project explores the practice of copying as a choreographic methodology raising the issue of illegitimacy despite the use of copying by choreographers for the creation of their works. Thus, my intention is to shed more light on various aspects regarding the practice of copying in order to provide a study and initiate a discussion around this issue. In total this project: • Situates and contextualises copying as a methodology within dance and performance discourses. • Identifies and examines the reasons that induced its disavowal as a legitimate choreographic methodology. • Provides a study in copying as a choreographic methodology both through the creation and analysis of new work as well as through the discussion of other artists’ pre-existing works. • Discusses the role of copying in relation to the establishment of the choreographer as author and to the inclusion of choreographic works in the dance canon. • Unravels the ‘modes’ and ‘networks’ produced through the creation of choreographic works that use copying as a methodology. • Unpicks the values that copying as a methodology puts forth. As practice-based research, this project exists both in a written thesis and in artistic practice. The practice includes the production of original video works, included here in the DVDs as well as the presentation of performances, the documentation of which is presented in the appendices. In support of my practice-based PhD research I submit a written thesis and three pieces of work. The thesis is developed in four chapters: 1) The first chapter touches upon theoretical concepts relating to the analysis of the practice. Thus, it aims to provide a theoretical context of concepts and terms that are later used for the analysis and the discussion of the works in the other three chapters. The main three subject areas discussed here are: copying, the author function and the canon. These constitute the main topics for the next three chapters. In the first chapter, the topics discussed are copying as a creative tool in dance and the issue of copyrights, the emergence of the choreographer as author and the writing of history. The analysis of the practical works is discussed separately in chapters 2, 3 and 4. 2) The second chapter discusses copying as a methodology asking which are the values expressed through copying. Acknowledging the rising importance of video and copying mechanisms proposes copying-via-video as a tool of access to knowledge and looks further into the potentials of this methodology. It also proposes the idea of the ‘poor copy’ to discuss the values that this methodology puts forth. The main works discussed here are: Rosas danst Rosas (1997) by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Repeat After Me (2008) by Martin Nachbar and Frauen danst Frauen (2011) by Stella Dimitrakopoulou. 3) Acknowledging copying as an integral part for the creation of a signature, the third chapter discusses whether it can also become a tool for its rupture. Here copying is proposed as a useful tool in a contemporary choreographers toolbox to disrupt a choreographer’s status as author-genius. More specifically, remix is discussed as a creative methodology and a critical tool that leads to authorship as a mode of performance within an artistic network. The main works discussed are: The last performance (a lecture) (2004) by Jérôme Bel and The last lecture (a performance) (2011/2016) by Stella Dimitrakopoulou. 4) Having linked copying to the creation of value, to the circulation of dance works within the market and to canonisation; the fourth chapter questions whether copying can also be a tool for the rupture of the canon. Copying is an integral methodology for the formation of a canon, therefore also for the legitimisation of a work. Through the works Trio A (1966) by Yvonne Rainer and without respect but with love (2012 / 2015) by Stella Dimitrakopoulou, this chapter examines how copying, as part of an illegitimate process, influences the formation of a canon and the attribution of values to propose copying as act of love. Generally it is argued that copying is not a methodology that produces illegitimate artworks but rather that ‘(il)legitimacy’ is a status externally attributed to an artwork, depending on its position within a historical and artistic context.

This PhD thesis presents a thorough investigation of the relevance and importance of cardiorespiratory fitness in contemporary dance training and performance. Through an initial introduction and literature review, gaps in the current understanding of, and challenges presented by, dance training and performance practices are highlighted, as are five commonly presented conclusions of previous research. Firstly, it is often stated that dance activity predominantly consists of intermittent work periods of varying intensities, secondly that significant differences exist in the cardiorespiratory demands of class, rehearsal, and performance, thirdly that class and rehearsal intensity is insufficient to elicit an aerobic training response, fourth that the aerobic capacity of dancers is relatively low, and, lastly that high injury rates in dancers are often attributed to fatigue and overwork. However methodological limitations of previous research put into question the accuracy and validity of these statements. In order to develop understanding and overcome some of these limitations, five research studies were designed as extensions and enhancements of previous studies in this area. Three aims of the PhD were stated: 1) to investigate cardiorespiratory demands of contemporary dance performance repertoire, 2) to investigate cardiorespiratory adaptation to contemporary dance training and performance, and 3) to critically appraise methods commonly used in physiological investigation into dance and propose recommendations for future research. The main findings are that cardiorespiratory adaptation in relation to dance training and performance is highly specific and only detected through relative change in the demand of dance activity itself. Findings suggest that measures of cardiorespiratory fitness related to aerobic capacity (VO2peak) and anaerobic threshold do not change over time and are not correlated to dance performance competence. It is emphasised throughout that current methodological limitations restrict our ability to accurately document the relative cardiorespiratory demands of dance performance and change in these across a period of extended training and/or performance. The highly varied nature of contemporary dance performance is discussed throughout, including fluctuations in demand experienced by individuals, and it is emphasised that this needs to be taken into consideration in future research. Potential implications of findings from the perspective of both the researcher and the dance educator are postulated as are the contributions made to the knowledge base.