School of Performing Arts - Theses

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    Bodies of influence: contemporary dance in Melbourne 1995 – 2005
    Miller, Sarah Elizabeth ( 2016)
    In the 1990s, prompted by the widely held view that the contemporary Australian dance sector was struggling, the Australia Council began a process of policy change aimed at ensuring the sustainability of contemporary Australian dance. The changes enacted by the Australia Council had a profound effect on the make-up of the Australian dance sector and dramatically changed the nature of contemporary dance practice in Melbourne in particular. In this thesis I examine choreographic works produced in Melbourne in the period 1995 – 2005. Focusing on selected works by key choreographers from this period, I argue that the period 1995 – 2005 marks a clear and fundamental change in the status of the contemporary choreographer. Shaped by an increasing trend towards professionalisation and the requirements of recurrent funding models, the craft of choreography during this time came to rely upon the language of business and mainstream culture to justify its value. At the same time, because contemporary dance became further ensconced within the university sector, it became a critical practice that provided a performance based model for exploring and critiquing social issues and ideas. I present a case study analysis of five Melbourne-based choreographers from which I demonstrate how individual choreographic works reflect the institutional and organisational demands placed on choreographers within this landscape as much as they reflect each choreographer’s personal narrative, formal enquiries, or experiments in embodied expression. I argue that during the period 1995 – 2005 there is an underlying tension between a critique of mainstream culture and the utilisation of its resources, institutions and technologies.
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    The embodied imagination: choreographic practice and dancing our way into being
    Lay, Paula ( 2016)
    ‘The Embodied Imagination: choreographic practice and dancing our way into being’ is a practice led research project completed between 2013 – 2016 at the Victorian College of the Arts. The thesis comprises a performance outcome and a dissertation. This dissertation examines the scope of the imagination and looks at the way we imagine which includes image making but is not exclusive to the realm of mental images. The premise is that the imagination is a vital synthesizing force that animates the world and which can be appropriated in choreographic practice. A wider definition is proposed that attempts to capture the totality of the imaginary as a continuously emerging potential. I will build towards a discussion on the interplay between the real and the imaginary and develop the idea that through performance we open the possibility of perceiving and imagining in new ways. Through this we create the possibility for tiny shifts in how we can be in the world.
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    Choreographic imagination
    ROBINSON, PHOEBE ( 2014)
    This research explores the role of the imagination in choreographic practice. More specifically, the research has looked at how imagination contributes to the creation, performance and memorisation of movement in ‘set’ choreography. Drawing from established discourses between dance and somatic practices, philosophy, anatomy, visual perception and the moving image, this research explores the imagination as a phenomenon that is anchored in the body’s sensations and perceptions.
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    Dancing the threshold: liminal space and subjectivity in practice and performance
    Ferris, Michelle ( 2013)
    ‘Dancing the threshold: Liminal space and subjectivity in practice and performance’, is a practice-led research project undertaken between 2011-2013 at the Victorian College of the Arts as a Master of Animateuring by research. There are two components of the research: a performance outcome and an exegesis. ‘The Blue Hour’ (30min) was performed in December 2011 and documented in July 2012, and is available for perusal via video format. It is accompanied by this exegesis of 15,000 words. The practice-led inquiry seeks to illuminate the relationship between vivid imagining and the dancing body and to determine how liminal spaces can act as sites for the emergence of character states whereby fixed notions of identity are transcended. The inquiry incorporates both a personal account of practice through dancing and writing and a critical reflection on the relationship of the research material to the fields of anthropology, psychology and psychoanalysis. Rather than critically analysing the content of these writings I instead reflect on the connection they have to the studio practice and how they may extend the depth of meaning that emerges from it.