So what am I doing....

Basically for uni I have to come up with a dissertation or PaR (Practice as Research) which is the option I have chose. As well as being a Dance student I’m an associate artist with Symbiotic Dance Theatre Company. We are currently reworking a piece called ‘Breathe Me’ which will tour next year, it’s about the relationship of the two characters one of which (me) suffers from anxiety disorder. So I thought why not combine the two in some way so my research can feed into the work I’m doing in the real world.

As an artist I’m really interested in work that can really connect with its audience and this has been something that has really driven all of the practical and theoretical work I have done over the first two years of my degree. After researching into the work of Pina Bausch in my first year I came across a shot section in Lorna Marshall’s book The Body Speaks about the recent discovery of Mirror Neurons in the brain. This really sparked an interest for me and so I decided to use this and other psychological and cognitive research to drive my artistic practice in creating the solo sections for Breathe Me I have to choreograph and perform. These sections are where my character has a panic attack something that you could very easily get so wrong!

So because I’m not a psychologist I managed to find a professor, Jon May from the University of Plymouth Psychology school to help me out and two lovely fellow dance students Jess Mcmunn and Sarah Buckingham to help me out with the choreography. It was really important to get them both onboard as I am going to be creating two pieced. One will be a representation of a panic attack and one will be more of a presentation ie more true to life. So because of this it would be impossible for me to do it all myself without it being really similar.

So these are my research aims...

·                To improve and develop my choreographic practice using cognitive and neuropsychological theory to help me create work that is able to really connect to an audience.

·                To explore through academic and practical research the link between dance and cognition in two parts. Firstly in the creation of movement/ choreography and secondly how the dance then communicates to the audience.

·                To explore the connection between what the dancer feels when creating choreography and what the audience sees and feels when watching post modern dance.

·                To explore and research into how recent discovery in neuropsychology can inform artistic practice.

My questions...

·                Is there a connection between what we feel when creating movement and what the audience see when watching it?

·                As a performer how can I connect with an audience on an empathetic level using neuropsychology and cognition research?

And my main methodological steps...

·                Research into neuropsychology and cognition- relate this to dance

·                Research into devising methods

·                Create the two pieces with the help of two choreographers

·                Perform both pieces in front of a live audience and find out reactions through filming (facial expressions and body language), Thermal imaging cameras and questionnaires.

·                Analyse the results and compare it to what has been previously written on the subject.

 I decided to do this blog for two reasons, firstly because I have to record everything anyway and secondly because I would love to get feedback and suggestions from anyone that is interested in the project, so please get in touch!