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Home » For and about students » Techne Community » Techne Students list » TECHNE Students 2018-19 » Elizabeth Fort

 

Elizabeth Fort

AHRC Techne funded doctoral student

Caring and Sharing: Rethinking Community Dance as a Curatorial Practice

University of Roehampton, London

Year of enrolment: 2018 -  


Supervisor:  Efrosini Protopapa

Institutional email: forte1@roehampton.ac.uk

Dance in the public sphere and the phenomenon of dance in galleries and museums are changing the way dance artists and cultural institutions make, present and archive ephemeral, performative art, blurring lines between ‘dance as art’ and ‘dance as participatory activity’. This multidisciplinary practice‐as‐research enquiry investigates the practice of community dance as a type of ‘curatorial practice’, questioning what new knowledge and possibilities arise if the craft of thecommunity dance artist is approached as artist‐curator. For the field of community dance, a visionary practice that emerged in the 1970s, this innovative way of thinking re‐situates the practice away from ‘art as product/object/performance’ that defines much theatrical dance, giving it a fresh identity as a participatory art. To date, it has not been considered from a curatorial perspective, so this research offers original scholarship in the field of community dance and connected fields of participatory arts and curatorial practice. Situated in the new Creative District in Woolwich, South East London, identified as an Arts Council England ‘Cultural Destination’, one aim of this part‐practical enquiry is to curate a community dance project towards a public ‘event of knowledge’. This intends to represent the practice’s dynamic, affective, kinaesthetic and relational characteristics and experiences, alongside the theorisation of two connected themes ‐ creative leadership (caring) and modes of presentation (sharing), questioning: What approaches to facilitation and collaboration effectively drive and support community dance as a curatorial practice? How do these approaches impact the role of the community dance artist? How can symbolic curatorial acts (performance) be supported with relational practice? What modes of presentation best characterise the identity of community dance? This research draws on my 15‐year portfolio career as an artist‐educator‐researcher, harnessing opportunities within TECHNE for collaborative, multidisciplinary connections with artists, institutions andcommunities.

logos for techne partners with clickable links   Arts and Humanities Research Council   Royal Holloway, University of London   Brunel University, London   Kingston University, London Loughborough University, London    Royal College of Art, London       University of Brighton   University of Roehampton, London   University of the Arts, London   University of Surrey    University of Westminster  

techne is an arts and humanities Doctoral Training Partnership offering PhD funding beginning 2019/2020

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