The study explores the work of the English choreographer and Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, David Bintley. Particular reference is made to Bintley’s ballet Still Life at the Penguin Café (1988) and the extent to which he has drawn from English Cotswold Morris dance in the Humboldt’s Hog-nosed Skunk Flea section of the ballet. The comparison between Bintley’s selection of movements and their traditional Morris dance counterparts is based on findings from extensive fieldwork conducted with Morris dance teams and in particular the Ravensbourne Morris Men of Keston in Kent, as well as a study of Bintley’s creative practice. The research draws from ethnographic modes of study including participant observation, embodiment and notions of reflexivity. Following an analysis of the results from the creation and performance of a more authentically ‘Morris’ version of Bintley’s dance for eight female dancers, entitled Still Life at the Folk Café, the study offers a series of recommendations for the translation of English Morris into a theatrical setting. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first explores the methods involved in the development of the analytical model for the study, including those of the Hungarian scholars György Martin and Erno Pesovár during their folk dance research in the Upper-Tisza region of Hungry, and the categorisation of the various aspects of Morris dance using Morris dancer Lionel Bacon's motif catalogue, A handbook of Morris dances. It also reviews the work of folk dance theorists such as John Forrest and Chris Bearman. The second chapter discusses the concept of Englishness to define the importance of the English ballet tradition as advocated from 1926 by the founder of the Royal Ballet, Dame Ninette De Valois. It looks at Bintley's influences, ideological inheritance, creative process and place as a protector of the English ballet tradition. Chapter three focuses on the fieldwork conducted with the Ravensbourne Morris Men, and compares Bintley’s movements in Humboldt’s Hog-nosed Skunk Flea dance with their counterparts from the Cotswold Morris tradition. Chapter four details the practice based element of the research and analyses the findings from a series of Morris dance workshops in which the eight female dancers representing the field of professional dance were introduced to the Morris dance form. It also investigates the results from the creation and performance of Still Life at the Folk Café. Chapter five discusses the benefits of conducting a workshop with the Ravensbourne Morris dance team and some of the dancers involved in the performance process. Finally chapter six explores the conclusions drawn from the research and explains how choreographers or dancers wishing to work with Morris dance should immerse themselves in the source language of its practitioners, and draw from aspects of the tradition in rehearsals and performances in order to extend their choreological and physical vocabulary and attain the stylistic and social qualities associated with the dance form. These aspects include working with live musical accompaniment, using the performance space informally to maintain close interaction with the audience and challenging the dancer’s personal response to their own movement style.

No description available.

Der französische Choreograph Jérôme Bel setzt in seinem biographischen Zyklus von 2004-2009 das Verhältnis von Werk und Autor, von Choreographie und Choreograph in Szene, vor deren Hintergrund die Geschichten und Namen des Tanzes anders lesbar werden: Die Stücke Bels tragen als Titel die Namen der Tänzer, die in ihnen auftreten. Die Geschichte der Namensgebung in der Arbeit Bels ist auch eine Geschichte, in der sein Name als Choreograph und Autor verschwindet, wenn er erscheint und erscheint, wenn er verschwindet. Von diesem Grenz-Ort aus wäre jene Geste zu befragen, die Jérome Bel vollzieht, wenn er den Stücken, für die sein Name steht, als Titel den Namen der Tänzer gibt, die in ihnen auftreten.

Although the benefits of exercise are well documented, the risk of injury as a result of exercise is also documented. The undertaking of exercise in the form of sport or dance carries a risk of injury. This risk is increased in the professional ranks where increased intensity of exercise coupled with greater exposure periods are noted. Two published systematic reviews of the literature pertaining to musculoskeletal injuries and pain in dancers (up to 2008) indicated that there are still major scientific limitations and biases in the literature reviewed and indicated the need for explicit criteria on injury definition and methods of injury reporting. The reviews did comment on the evidence that musculoskeletal injury is an important issue for all dancers and that there is preliminary evidence that comprehensive injury prevention and management strategies may reduce injuries. The purpose of this single cohort observational study was to document injury incidence and severity in professional ballet dancers over three years including any changes as a result of changes within their medical management. While it is recognised that a randomised control trial would be advocated for an interventional study, due to the demands of this high performance environment this was not feasible. As such, steps were taken to improve the reporting of findings through the utilisation of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement. To date there are two publications in peer reviewed journals as a result of the data collected in this study. In the absence of international consensus on injury data collection in dance the methodology employed in this study was consistent with the International Consensus Statements on injury data collection from sport. Although the incidence of injuries in Year 1 was lower than that in other sports, the results were higher than other studies that have been reported in dance. The reason for this may be due to the use of a more encompassing injury definition. In response to the data and details obtained through the injury audit process changes in the comprehensive medical management of the dancers were implemented. The pre-participation screening was extended and the individual conditioning programmes were structured using the developed Hybrid Intervention Model. The result of the injury auditing indicated a significant reduction in injury incidence in the Year 2, with a further reduction in Year 3. These findings support the results of the systematic reviews in that there is growing evidence that comprehensive injury prevention and management strategies may reduce injuries in dance and that in the absence of stronger evidence there is a strong recommendation for those charged with caring for professional dancers to implement comprehensive medical management programmes.

This project is concerned with exploring the relationship between postconceptual dance and its state as object. As a practice-led research project it aims to do so both through the written thesis and through artistic practice, which is here presented as a series of video projects that extend representations of dance. Over five chapters I trace the permutation of the ‘object’ from choreographer to spectator, participant, editor, collector and ‘reframer’, arguing for the multiplicity of roles that choreographers, and by extension dancers, take on at the beginning of the 21st century. My interdisciplinary research draws from a variety of theoretical discourses including performance theory, visual cultures and critical theory, and is therefore both relevant to the field of dance studies and beyond the discipline. Given the practice-led nature of the project, my aim has been to expand choreographic performance practices and to increases the range of ‘objects’ that can be considered dance. Therefore, the project resides in the gaps and tensions between practice and theory, performance and documentation, language and dance, text and movement, choreography and objecthood. Throughout I argue that post-conceptual dance operates within an extended field in which dancers and choreographers are expanding the boundaries of the art form, making dance relevant to a broader artistic, cultural, political and social context.

This practice-as-research project (a) invents, examines and self-reflects upon two techniques - 'Whirling in Pain' and 'Neurobreathing' - that the author has developed for dealing with pain in performance, (b) creates a framework for the qualitative analysis of pain retraining techniques by conducting an interdisciplinary study of the parameters that describe Somatic Practices and the psychology of Altered States of Consciousness, (c) establishes a taxonomy and classifications for describing and assessing techniques of pain management in the performing arts, (d) qualitatively assesses the training techniques of three practitioners —Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski and Marina Abramović—who have used Somatic Practices and Altered States of Consciousness in their techniques, and draws out patterns and themes in their practice, (e) distils generic principles of practice that are essential for training pain perception and could be used by other practitioners for developing their own techniques, or to better embody the techniques that the author has developed. These transferable principles are: reinforcement, exhaustion of pain-processing resources, inquisitive modes towards otherness, embodied knowledge, surrendering, Sisyphean reiteration, and music’s capacity for fascination. This dissertation considers the issue of dealing with pain in performance beyond the limited area of theatre pedagogy, suggesting an interdisciplinary approach and expanding its scope into the wider realms of theoretical discourse around culture and pain. This dissertation argues that since pain is not only a biochemical process but one that is culturally constructed, it is therefore possible to retrain or un-train the perception of pain through the facility of Somatic Practices that induce Altered States of Consciousness. Such retraining of pain perception has wider socio-political ramifications that challenge the pervading modern and neoliberal culture around pain, which understands it only through a reductively biological model and relies heavily on the use of exogenous analgesics to alleviate pain. Finally, this dissertation proposes that dealing with pain is possible not only by transcending and moving attentional focus away from pain, but also by entering a plane of immanence, achieved through working synergistically with pain in order to find the coping mechanisms and hidden reserves that lie dormant within the individual. The practical element of this submission consists of: (a) a Manual for Practitioners that describes the techniques step-by-step, and explains the principles behind them, and, (b) two performance videos that exhibit how the author has used the two techniques to create and manage pain within performances.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop and understand dance balance characteristics on various kinds of dance, related positions and shoe types which contribute to dance performance and to understand different balance controls in various groups. The first study was conducted to examine balance into ballet 2nd position between Ballet shoes and Pointe shoes. Eight dancers performed five different conditions in ballet 2nd position (Ballet Flat, Ballet Demi, Pointe Flat, Pointe Demi, and Pointe Toe) and Centre of Pressure (COP) was used to assess balance. The second study was testing balance control and response to perturbations whilst standing on double leg stance dance positions using a moving platform. Four dance positions were performed by eight subjects (Normal Flat, Turnout Flat, Normal Demi and Turnout Demi) and the platform was moved in two different directions (Forward and Backward) at two different speeds (slow and fast). Kinetics, Kinematics and EMG data was taken from this study. The third study was taken to compare balance control and response to perturbations in single leg standing dance positions between eight dancers and eight gymnasts. The subjects performed static single leg balance in Normal Flat, Turnout Flat, Normal Demi and Turnout Demi. Also, perturbed stance trials were collected in anterior, posterior, right and left directions for two dance positions (Normal Flat and Turnout Flat) at two different speeds (slow and fast) on the moving platform. The results from the studies indicate that dancers move in Medial - Lateral direction more than in Anterior - Posterior direction on Demi-pointe and Toe standing by performing plantar flexion during ballet 2nd position. Demi-pointe position may cause longer delay of EMG latencies because CNS is probably sending information already to keep correcting balance on Demi-pointe. Dancers and Gymnasts have different balance controls due to their ways of training in their performance. Dancers generally reacted faster with slow perturbation in Turnout stance than Gymnasts because this is the particular condition which Dancers are training in.

Corpographies en Danse est une recherche complexe et « indisciplinée ». Développée entre les domaines de la Science de l'information et des Sciences du langage,l'investigation se lie fortement aussi au terrain de la Danse et s'appuie, principalement,pour des fondements philosophiques, débordant et conjuguant donc, différentes frontières disciplinaires. Cette trame théorique est développée afin de rendre visible la présupposition qui déplace notre quête, que ce soit: l'hypothèse que le corps éprouve,sensiblement, l'information et qu’à travers la gestualité nous pouvons mettre en évidence cette relation sous-jacente. Ainsi le début de notre argumentation est orienté par une réflexion philosophique sur le corps, en vue de souligner la complexité de notre objet principal et également, de proposer une approche qui réfléchit ce corps en communion constante avec le monde. Nous nous référons à l´ontologie de la chair chez Merleau-Ponty, que nous plaçons à l’arrière-plan du jeu entre les éléments que nous avons mis en lumière afin d’intégrer et composer le tracé souhaité. Parmi ces éléments,l’information est le premier à être déployé, révélant ses aspects sensibles et qualitatifs qui seront appelés infosignes. Dans cette direction, l’information trouve son devant et son envers, son visible et son invisible, et avant tout elle devient puissance, qui doit être actualisée devant un corps qui est son dispositif. Ensuite, le geste est révisé dans une revue de littérature qui va de l’anthropologie et la philosophie à la perspective somatique et la danse. Face à ce qui est présenté, le geste est saisi en tant que médialité pure, ayant dans la gestualité son côté le plus apparent. Quant à l’approche sur le terrain de la danse, nous proposons un bref panorama historique qui inclut l’émergence de la danse moderne au tournant du XXe siècle. Partant du schéma de François Delsarte qui cherchait à indiquer les associations entre les gestes et les émotions humaines, nous avons examiné quelques réflexions artistiques parmi lesquelles on peut souligner les systèmes élaborés par Rudolf Laban, qui nous serviront partiellement dans les analyses.De ce point de vue nous appréhendons l’improvisation en danse comme un exercice créatif capable de provoquer l’agencement des altérités imaginaires qui peuvent pointer le caractère sensoriel et émotif de l’information. De là nous nous questionnons les spatialités, ici centrées sur le corps. Intervient alors la notion de corpographie, à partir du point de vue de Britto et Jacques, d’où est avancée une conception du lieu, de l’espace et de l’ambiance - à des fins analytiques – comme des temps distincts de l’expérience corporelle dans l’entité physique. A partir de cette cartographie théorique nous passons à l’analyse des corpographies en danse, qui constituent notre objet empirique. Pour cela nous avons créé une méthodologie de recherche dans laquelle desdanseurs volontaires de plusieurs parties de l’Amérique du Sud et de l’Europe ontenregistré des vidéos d’improvisation en danse, dans des espaces publics, avec des consignes données en préalable. Le travail développé comprend l’information, le geste et l’espace comme des éléments d’une seule chair qui opèrent en synergie et pour lesquels il faut déterminer un méta-point de vue, qui permet de les déployer et de les conjuguer.L’apport de notre recherche apparaît dans le traçage d’une ligne invisible de sens entre l’information et la gestualité, qui suscite déjà son désassemblage dans le corps, toujours en mouvement continu. / Bodygraphies in Dancing is a complex and “undisciplined” investigation. It has been developed in between the fields of Information Sciences and Language Sciences, and it hasbeen deeply rooted to the Dance Field and is essencially fundamented by philosophical grounds, conjugating therefore distinct disciplinary boundaries. Such theoretical weave isdeveloped in order to make visible the presumptions that move our issues, which are: the hypothesis that the body experiments information quite much, and that gestures make thissubjacent relation evident. The principle of our argumentation goes somewhat around the philosophical reflection about the body so as to point out the complexity of our main research object and to equally suggest an approach which considers it in constant communion with the world. This way we investigate the onthology of the flesh by Merleau-Ponty to make it the background for the game among the elements we point out to integrate and shape up the desired design. Among such elements, information is the fisrt one to be unfolded, unraveling its sensitive and qualitative aspects which will be named infosigns. In such verticalization, information gets its right side and its inside out, its visible and its invisible sides, and above all, it becomes potency, to be updated before a body which is its trigger. Further on, the gesture comes to be revised with views of a literature that ranges from antropology and philosophy to the somatic perspective and the dance. Due to what is presented, it is taken as pure mediality and has in gesturing its most aparent side. Concerning the dance field approach, we promote brief retrospective which compromises the urge of modern dance at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Having François Delsarte’s schematic as a starting point, who attempted to show associations between gestures and human emotions, we glide through some artistic reflections such as the systems elaborated by Rudolf Laban, the most outstanding ones, which are important references ground to our analysis demands. From that being done we could consolidate our understanding of improvisation in the dance, as a creative exercise able to provoke the acting of imaginary alterities which may point to the sensorial and emotional character of information. We have therefore dedicated ourselves to the debate over the spacialities which are here focused in the body. In such scope, the notion of bodygraphy has been included – under Jacques and Britto’s points of view – and from this notion, our conceptions of place, space and ambience – elaborated for analytical ends - have also been included, as distinct times of the bodily experience in the physical entity. Up to this point, we conclude our research cartography and go towards the analysis of our bodygraphs in dancing, which conform with our empiric objective. With that in mind, a research methodology was developed in which volunteer dancers from various parts of America and Europe made videos of dance improvisation in public spaces according to previous orientation. That way the elaborated work encompasses the information, the body, the gesture and the space as elements of the same flesh which operate in sinergy and demand a complex point of view that can unfold, tighten and conjugate them. Such efforts and contributions of this research design an invisible thread of sense between information and gesturing which untangles as it is built since the body is an ever moving (meaningful) entity.

Der französische Choreograph Jérôme Bel setzt in seinem biographischen Zyklus von 2004-2009 das Verhältnis von Werk und Autor, von Choreographie und Choreograph in Szene, vor deren Hintergrund die Geschichten und Namen des Tanzes anders lesbar werden: Die Stücke Bels tragen als Titel die Namen der Tänzer, die in ihnen auftreten. Die Geschichte der Namensgebung in der Arbeit Bels ist auch eine Geschichte, in der sein Name als Choreograph und Autor verschwindet, wenn er erscheint und erscheint, wenn er verschwindet. Von diesem Grenz-Ort aus wäre jene Geste zu befragen, die Jérome Bel vollzieht, wenn er den Stücken, für die sein Name steht, als Titel den Namen der Tänzer gibt, die in ihnen auftreten.