Dancing Dialogues: Networking research with traditional English and diasporic dance groups practising in South West, South East and Midlands England.
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: Drama, Theatre and Dance
Abstract
Dancing and dancers are at the heart of this proposed practice-based network that seeks greater understanding of traditional/folk/national dance forms currently practiced in England. Engaging key current research trajectories of diaspora, community, regionality, and urban cultures and identities, this project recognises and values the breadth of dance practices taking place under the headings of 'traditional', 'folk', 'regional' and 'national', and will foreground their complex, often contested, associations and histories.
Our network will develop research with traditional dance groups active within three selected areas of England (South East, Midlands and South West). There are many such groups operating in halls and community centres throughout these regions that are currently under researched. These include largely amateur companies based in England from a range of diasporic communities maintaining their cultural identities such as Polish, Ecuadorian, Irish, Spanish and South African groups, together with local regional dancers of, for instance, Cornish step, Morris, sword and clog dance.
As national borders close, and with increased global interdependence, we ask: what role do distinct traditional and national dances play for diasporic communities in negotiating embodied identity in England today? How are notions of regional location, site, and geography central to extending our understanding of dance as contextual to the idea of 'Englishness'? How have groups adapted, created, and survived during and post the Covid 19 pandemic? How do traditional dance groups actively contribute to creativity and community?
The project will develop research in three stages. Initial questionnaires circulated widely to traditional dance groups active in each of the three regions will invite inclusion on an interactive online map supported by tech and software company IN2. With this we aim to locate the number and range of dance groups operating in each of the selected areas. There has been no systematic attempt to capture this information in England previously, nor how it relates to understandings of 'Englishness'. Dance groups will be able to upload their online profiles to support group interaction and further research engagement. Working with our partners and supported by an experienced advisory group the website details will be circulated through dance festivals and associations and linked to related websites.
In the second stage researchers based in each of the regions will lead visits to self-selecting groups that have expressed interest in sharing their practices. Libby Worth (PI based in SE region), Jerri Daboo (Co-I in SW region) and Midlands consultant Rosemary Cisneros will extend the network through face-to-face interaction, interviews and discussion with groups. This will culminate in an online symposium that addresses the project aims through dancer panels, video analysis, presentations and keynotes. We will invite academics' contributions from related disciplines such as, ethnomusicology, material culture, memory studies, heritage studies, religious studies and social cultural geography.
The final stage will trial an original methodology in a workshop hosted by EFDSS at Cecil Sharp House in London. Two to three dancers from self-selecting groups in each region will be invited to meet to show and share steps and dance experiences. This day of 'dancing dialogues' is envisioned as trialling an embodied process that could be developed and offered regionally and internationally. It will provide an opportunity for dancers to share their steps and the stories of their dances to better understand how creative activity contributes to regional, national and diasporic cultural identity. This both fulfils dancers' expressed desire to meet with each other and supports greater academic research in this terrain. The project will complete with an open access web report and co-written research article.
Our network will develop research with traditional dance groups active within three selected areas of England (South East, Midlands and South West). There are many such groups operating in halls and community centres throughout these regions that are currently under researched. These include largely amateur companies based in England from a range of diasporic communities maintaining their cultural identities such as Polish, Ecuadorian, Irish, Spanish and South African groups, together with local regional dancers of, for instance, Cornish step, Morris, sword and clog dance.
As national borders close, and with increased global interdependence, we ask: what role do distinct traditional and national dances play for diasporic communities in negotiating embodied identity in England today? How are notions of regional location, site, and geography central to extending our understanding of dance as contextual to the idea of 'Englishness'? How have groups adapted, created, and survived during and post the Covid 19 pandemic? How do traditional dance groups actively contribute to creativity and community?
The project will develop research in three stages. Initial questionnaires circulated widely to traditional dance groups active in each of the three regions will invite inclusion on an interactive online map supported by tech and software company IN2. With this we aim to locate the number and range of dance groups operating in each of the selected areas. There has been no systematic attempt to capture this information in England previously, nor how it relates to understandings of 'Englishness'. Dance groups will be able to upload their online profiles to support group interaction and further research engagement. Working with our partners and supported by an experienced advisory group the website details will be circulated through dance festivals and associations and linked to related websites.
In the second stage researchers based in each of the regions will lead visits to self-selecting groups that have expressed interest in sharing their practices. Libby Worth (PI based in SE region), Jerri Daboo (Co-I in SW region) and Midlands consultant Rosemary Cisneros will extend the network through face-to-face interaction, interviews and discussion with groups. This will culminate in an online symposium that addresses the project aims through dancer panels, video analysis, presentations and keynotes. We will invite academics' contributions from related disciplines such as, ethnomusicology, material culture, memory studies, heritage studies, religious studies and social cultural geography.
The final stage will trial an original methodology in a workshop hosted by EFDSS at Cecil Sharp House in London. Two to three dancers from self-selecting groups in each region will be invited to meet to show and share steps and dance experiences. This day of 'dancing dialogues' is envisioned as trialling an embodied process that could be developed and offered regionally and internationally. It will provide an opportunity for dancers to share their steps and the stories of their dances to better understand how creative activity contributes to regional, national and diasporic cultural identity. This both fulfils dancers' expressed desire to meet with each other and supports greater academic research in this terrain. The project will complete with an open access web report and co-written research article.
