At the core of this doctoral submission is a portfolio of three of my recent choreographic works(all created between 2011-2014), complemented by a text, which attempts to formulate a theoretical approach for explicating the works, through the lens of Theodor Adorno’s theory of the inherent negativity of modernist artworks. Such an approach places Adorno’s ideas at the very centre of the analytical view presented here, albeit via the semiotic (re)articulation of these same ideas in recent work by Christoph Menke. This, in turn, draws on earlier work done within aesthetic semiotics by Viktor Shklovsky, through which it is hoped that insight, clarification, and historical contextualisation will be forthcoming, whilst also casting an eye on the contemporary situation within arts making. The thesis is therefore a theoretical analysis of aesthetically negative philosophical thought within choreographic practice, but simultaneously it is an attempt to point to new knowledge; namely an enhancement of Menke's semiotic reading of Adorno, extended from the field of literature from which it originates, and brought into the field of dance, movement, and choreography. In addition to this, a vital second aspect of my approach will be a consideration of the extra - semiotic aspects of dance, read through a phenomenological understanding of kinaesthesia, and how our understanding of movement and choreography is rooted in basic aspects of our perceptive capabilities. Prior to the introduction, the beginning of this thesis, there is a presentation of factual information regarding the production aspects of the performances in a brief Foreword. The structure of the thesis is then as follows. The Introduction offers a short historic overview of Adorno’s theory of ‘aesthetic negativity’, and this is followed by three Chapters, titled: (1) Object and Subject, (2) Recombination, and (3) Projection. These three notions are not only essential to my work as methodological tools, but they also provide important references, connections and bilateral correspondences to similar concepts within Adorno’s aesthetic theory, thereby clarifying the relationship between theory and practice in my work. Chapter Four aims to re-inspect the works comprising The Urban Series in a similar fashion, while also placing their specific context within external, everyday and urban environments under critical examination.

Volume 1. Portfolio of Compositions: 1. Two Pianos, 2. String Quartet, 3. Chamber Orchestra, 4. Two Pianos and Percussion, 5. Clarinet and String Quartet, 6. Flute and Violin, 7. Two Violins, Two Violas, Two Cellos Volume 2. Portfolio Commentary The commentary outlines some of the compositional processes I have developed, looks at the influences that have shaped the music and attempts to place the portfolio in some sort of context.

Two compositional concerns are prevalent and interrelated in my recent music. The first is an interest in the use of predetermined decisions, and in many cases rule-based systems, to influence the organization of events in a piece. The orientation towards predetermined systems reflects a desire to avoid well-established musical tendencies, which is achieved to the extent that decisions are removed from moment-to-moment compositional activity, thereby evading perceptual intuition and factors of musical acculturation. The use of predetermined systems also reflects a concern for clarity of compositional intention, as processes tend to produce structurally coherent developments due to their gradual and systematic progression. The second characteristic that is prominent in my music is an interest in recurrent sectional forms, which not only divide time but also offer listeners additional opportunities to absorb the musical ideas explored in a piece. These two concerns, predetermined systems and sectional forms, are brought together through the use of interleaved structures, whereby developments with distinct identities are divided, into segments and alternated in succession. Interleaved structures are uniquely continuous; upon the return of each process, the development resumes from the point at which it was last suspended. Consequently, each segment represents just a portion of the whole, and the full development of each process is only revealed over the duration of the piece. When developments are transformed to the extent that their surface qualities are significantly altered then dynamic relationships are likely to arise between them as the piece unfolds. Interleaved structures suggest a shift in compositional concerns from the vertical to those that are oriented horizontally. In my own music this has resulted in a greater emphasis on the relationships between processes, and more specifically, on how those relationships evolve over the duration of the piece.