School of Performing Arts - Theses
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ItemNaked peel: 12 twelve hours later: shedding intoxications through durational embodiment( 2015)This practice led research explored the nature of durational performances using a heuristic, self-as-artist approach, with a relationship to the spectator as a central consideration. It investigated multiple states of embodiment in the extended performance and explored how entrancement, gazing, drifting and inattentional blindness could be part of the affective experience. It focused on the corporeal as a site for understanding pre-coded body information, trauma and one’s immanent desires. By using my own experience, I investigated the historical accumulation of coded information through the body’s memory, dreams and lived experiences. I located these as an embodied cultural mythos, the presence of which lies within the body. The solo performer was used as a conduit for somatic methodologies to collect materials based on chance discoveries for solo investigations, for collaboration, and for three live durational performances. Performances of six, eight and twelve hours were drawn from the research, specifically crafted for an art gallery space, an adult night club and a theatre space, to explore the differences in engaging self and audience over extended periods of time. The theatre work consisted of two parts with a seven-hour improvisational performance leading up to a one-hour crafted performance. The research is based on these three performances and the stages of practical experimentation. Theorist Elizabeth Behnke influenced discussions in this inquiry, with findings from psychologist Linda Holler and the references to one’s physical sensations influenced by neurologist Antonio Damasio. This dissertation reports and reflects upon the findings from my practice.
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ItemChoreographic imagination( 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.