Research

The multiple relationships between dance and theatre texts are at the core of my research interests. As a dance practitioner within a drama department, my focus is on the many ways that movement engages with and can expand texts, whether these are scores for performance or written plays. I have published in this area on practitioners such as Anna Halprin (choreographer and dancer), Jenny Kemp (playwright and director) and on the collaborations between Caryl Churchill and choreographer Ian Spink.

I have worked professionally in devising and performing site specific dance projects and maintain interest in this field through both teaching and research projects in conjunction with colleagues in Social Cultural Georgraphy and in Drama. I am currently working with visual artist Julie Brixey-Williams to create a duet 'Sew Feather Step', which draws on scores for embroidery and for social dancing from the early twentieth century. This will be performed in a range of carefully chosen non-theatre sites.

I am a member of the Feldenkrais Guild UK, having qualified as a practitioner in the Feldenkrais Method® in 2010. This has contributed further to my interest in the detail of movement and the connection with the plasticity of the brain and each person's potential for creativity. My forthcoming chapter 'Mining Anatomy: Dancing Naturally' in Dancing Naturally: Nature, Neo-classicism and Modernity in Early Twentiteth Century Dance (see below for details) focuses on one of the pioneers in this field of dynamic and integrative anatomy, Mabel Todd.

I have nurtured strong connections between the department and exceptional professional practitioners, such as Jasmin Vardimon and her company, who teach on the Postgraduate Certificate in Physical Theatre for Dancers and Actors, and Jonathan Burrows (recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the college and Matteo Fargion who perform and occasionally teach in the department.

Current research interests include writing with Jsamin Vardimon on her work, co-editing with Emeritus Professor Richard Cave, the proceedings of the recent conference 'Ninette de Valois, Adventurous Traditionalist' run by the Royal Ballet School and writing on the way that Anna Halprin's Citydance score (San Francisco, 1977) was adapted for Edinburgh this summer and in which I participated. I am on the editorial board of Intellect Journal, Choreographic Practices.