Title:
|
Site-specific dance performance : The investigation of a creative process
|
This thesis presents the findings of a practice-led investigation which explored relationships
between the site and the author's choreographic process through the creation, performance
and analysis of three site-specific dance works performed in different locations. Site-specific
dance performance is defined here as dance performance created and performed in
response to a specific site and location. The research contributes new knowledge to the
field through the articulation of methods for site-specific choreography developed through
practical experimentation. The thesis references key debates from the field of site-specific
performance and explores how phenomenological theory was employed as a key
framework throughout the research process. The research investigation is further informed
by theory and practice drawn from the fields of choreography and performance, site-specific
practice and theory, human geography and spatial theory.
The investigation examines how a pathway through the site-specific creative process was
navigated, and explores methods through which the choreographer created site-specific
performance aimed at actively engaging the audience member with the work and its
location. Through this process, this research proposes that choreographed site-performance
can invoke an increased sense of awareness, engagement and a heightened sense of
'being-in-the-world' for the choreographer, performer and audience member.
The thesis contains both a written component and DVD documentation of the practical
work. Through discussion and analysis of the performance works and their creative
processes the investigation provides an insight into how creative choreographic processes
operated within each site-specific dance context. The investigation identifies and articulates
creative, processes employed within the practice and aims to contribute new knowledge to
the fields of site~specific dance discourse, choreographic studies and site-specific
performance practice and theory.
|