Remembering British New Dance - New dance and somatics
Free talk: Jonathan Burrows & Ramsay Burt present New dance and somatics
A panel discussion curated by choreographer Jonathan Burrows and academic Ramsay Burt, new dance and somatics with guest panelists Siobhan Davies, Miranda Tufnell and Antje Hildebrandt.
Contact and exchange of artists and teachers between the US and UK during the 1970s and 1980s led to explorations by British-based dance artists of new ways of moving, particularly ones that encouraged a focus on sensitivity to somatic processes. These included (but were not restricted to) contact improvisation, release-based methods of movement exploration, body mind centering, the Alexander technique, Tai Chi, and Aikido. This talk, the last of three at different London venues during June, will start with a historical introduction by Ramsay Burt, from De Montfort University, who will contextualise British new dance and the developing interest in these somatic practices during the period. It will be followed by a roundtable discussion chaired by choreographer Jonathan Burrows which will consider the different ways in which these explorations informed the work of British-based dancers and their practices. The recently published collection ‘The Body Eclectic’ considers ways in which professional dancers in the US have embraced an eclectic diversity of different approaches to their training. To what extent and in what ways was this also happening in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, and if so what if anything is different about the way the approaches are being explored by British-based dancers today?
Chisenhale Dance Space. Wednesday 20th June 6.30-8.30pm
Please contact the office team on 020 8981 6617 to book your place.
This is the last of three talks in this series will take place at Siobhan Davies Studios on 1st June, and Lillian Baylis theatre, Sadler’s Wells on June 7th, each of which will feature different guest speakers and focus on a different aspect of British New Dance.