Centre for Ideas - Theses

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Subject: dance × Subject: choreography ×

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    Locating the trace: an exploration of tracing and the choreographic process
    Parker, Sandra Joy ( 2010)
    A practice-led, studio based research project investigating the creative process of ‘tracing’ as a choreographic methodology, Locating the trace examines the notion of ‘trace’ in choreographic practice. By drawing on theoretical and philosophical notions of ephemera, disappearance, repetition and temporality, and by questioning what is trace in relation to choreographic practice, the project develops a conceptual and practical approach to choreography as a ‘traced’ act. Informed by theoretical propositions that challenge the assumption that choreography is ever fixed, or repeatable, the research investigates the implications of approaching choreography as a permeable and unstable form. Within the context of this thesis the term trace can best be defined as an experiential attribute located in the body, which may include physical and psychical sensations, and as source material, can be tracked and shaped through a choreographic process. In shaping this material through processes of generation and regeneration, the research examines how choreography can retain ‘traces’ of movement action/and or experience in the final form. The research is undertaken through four phases of the choreographic process: locating experiential sensations in the dancing body; the creation of movement material; the development of choreography through processes of re-composition; and the dancer’s performance of the choreography. Through these four phases of the research, Locating the trace analyses the choreographic and performance practice of ‘tracing’ in motion. The outcome of the research, a solo performance work, The Very Still, created with and performed by dancer Phoebe Robinson, draws together the research experimentation in six sections of choreography. At the intersection between the choreographic form (traces), and performance of the choreography (tracing), The Very Still invites a detailed exploration of the research themes, where minute and subtle traces within the performing body are closely observed. Locating the trace, considers the creative possibility of tracing as the means to evoking that which remains traced and never fully present, and as a creative process offering alternate representations in choreographic practice.