Experience together: a live visceral sense of dance performance across the internet

The project develops a Network that brings a multi-disciplinary team to explore aspects of capturing process in performance, and dissemination across platforms:
- Making a case for sustainability by reducing touring.
- Creating access points for diverse populations outside contemporary dance audiences.
- Democratising the viewing experience.

The Network includes researchers from psychology, sociology and anthropology, media and entertainment, computing, choreographic practice, dance scholarship, musicians and designers.

This application addresses the call's theme of Digital Humanities, Cultural Heritage and the Creative Industries, in particular the strands of creative industries and technological development and cross - sectoral collaborative partnerships and creative exchange.It addresses one of the key themes of the facilitator's report, that is, Contemporary/disruptive approaches in the digital humanities: How to create and sustain new knowledge from outside traditional canonical epistemic biases - through creativity, critique and transdisciplinary collaboration. In particular, the application addresses the areas of sustainability, widening of access and creativity. It proposes to develop a network that brings together a multi-disciplinary team of experts to explore aspects of capturing process in performance, and dissemination across various platforms, making a case for sustainability through reducing touring, creating multiple access points for more diverse populations outside of contemporary dance audiences and democratising the viewing experience

The inclusion of industry representatives, Bruno Martelli, Liz Roche Company and the Crash Ensemble will ensure that the research exploration will maintain relevance and currency beyond the academic context. Through their ongoing interactions with artistic collaborators, venue personnel and audiences, they will disseminate the findings across a range of contexts and to the benefit of the industry at large. These artists disseminate their creative work through various outlets - performance, websites/blogs, social media, and mainstream media and therefore, will ensure that discoveries made throughout the Network will be highlighted to a range of potential audiences. Furthermore, their work is circulated across national and international professional networks, so the impact will extend beyond the UK and Ireland.

The Dazzle 2020 (UK) and Demos (Ire) Events will give opportunities for engaging with industry professionals through social media and in Limerick, through a public showing. The network members involvement with Dublin Dance Festival, through the Modes of Capture Symposium (Ireland) and with Gazelli Art House through the 5-year celebration of 'Enter Through the Headset' (UK) provide two ancillary events that offer the possibility to disseminate this research in an industry context. Dissemination through professional networks in Ireland, such as supported by the Dublin Dance Festival, Dance Limerick and the Irish World Academy will ensure that knowledge of the network activities will reach industry professionals as well as academics.

The Irish World Academy regularly publicises the performance and research activities of faculty, artists in residence and students to a wide audience through social media, mainstream media and marketing. Spanning practice and research, the Academy interacts with a broad and diverse audience including the local Limerick community and the local, national and international art community of all ages. The activities of the network will be accessible to this broad and diverse audience through initial dissemination across the Academy's public platforms and subsequently through curated events arising out of the network. Coventry University also publicises research activities undertaken by faculty through the Centre for Dance Research (C-DARE) to professional networks in the UK and further afield.

The website/blog will be used to disseminate research findings, visual recordings and descriptions of the exercises used in the workshop laboratories. Martelli and Gibson will ensure that the materials are accessible and useful for industry audiences. Facebook and Twitter will be used to engage non-academic audiences during Network meetings and highlight blog postings throughout the project.