Dr Laura Griffiths

This article explores one aspect of a doctoral research project concerned with dance, ephemerality and the archive. It draws upon notions of embodied knowledge, memory and lived experience in order to negotiate their value as archival sources within the context of dance reconstruction. Considering the work of a living contemporary dance company, the discussion illustrates the redundancy of ‘extant’ archival materials in a live reconstructive context. In a time of increasing possibilities for digital documentation, the discussion highlights the value inherent in the somatic and spatial qualities of dance and problematizes their absence from the archive.

This paper considers the value of the knowledge inherent in the dancing body. This paper recognises the limitations of documenting and archiving performance practices, in particular dance. Diana Taylor’s notion of the Archive and the Repertoire (2003) is employed in this research in order to consider the value of the dancing body itself as an archive. The paper raises questions about the active role of the archive and ethical concerns with regards to how we extract and engage with the embodied knowledge of the ‘expert practitioner’ (Melrose, 2006) . It will do so in relation to the following questions: − How can the tacit knowledge of the dance practitioner be transmitted, and how is it of value in archival terms? − How can we understand the 'Spirit' of Phoenix Dance Theatre through engagement with the body as an archival source? These questions are considered through the work of contemporary dance repertory company Phoenix Dance Theatre. It presents an important aspect of current collaborative doctoral research (University of Leeds/Phoenix Dance Theatre) which strives to evaluate the role of the dancing body as an archival document.

The ephemerality of dance practice and performance impacts upon our ability to successfully ‘archive’ the subjective/ lived experience of dance practice when considering archival principles and processes. Traditionally, the archive as ‘documentary evidence of events past’ (Millar 2009: 24) does not account for the inherent/embodied knowledge of the lived body (practitioner) or elements considered as the ‘Repertoire’ (Taylor: 2003). This presentation explores one aspect of current collaborative doctoral research facilitated by the University of Leeds and Phoenix Dance Theatre. As a contemporary dance repertory company, Phoenix is committed to reviving historic works to be included in their tour of current/new work. This is a process which implicates the archive by way of aiding the learning of choreography and understanding performance context. The company also often rely upon dancing bodies who encountered the original work to pass on the repertory which raises issue with memory and age in relation to the execution of embodied knowledge. The presentation will draw upon Phoenix Dance Theatre, its performers and its archive as a case study. I will discuss the ways in which my research implements new ways of thinking about capturing and engaging with practitioner knowledge and explore its role in future dance making and revival processes.

In this paper, I argue that the gaps in knowledge available through the dance archive are manifest in the dancing body as an archival source in its own right. Traditional archival principles are rooted in ideologies that aim to fix or lock down knowledge in the sense that the act of fixing information is what constitutes the record (Petersen, 1984), a perspective that Derrida reinforces through his observation that the archive takes place under ‘house arrest’ (1995:12). The impermanence of time based activities and events such as performance disrupt the conventional frame of the archive and dance as an ineffable, ephemeral phenomenon is particularly difficult to ‘fix’ or pin down conceptually. Diana Taylor’s notion of the repertoire alludes to the fact that archival knowledge may be manifest in embodied and ephemeral traces of performance (2003). Considering this, I explore the ‘archivability’ of the documents of dance, recognising that live performance as a meaning-making experience (Fensham, 2009) also leaves embodied traces which may be considered to constitute ‘archival knowledge’. The archive and performance work of contemporary dance company Phoenix Dance Theatre, as a collaborative partner in this PhD research project, provide a lens through which to hypothesise the gaps in archival knowledge. The dancing body itself, as an alternative archive, may function as a bridge between the ‘Archive and the Repertoire’ (Taylor, 2003). I will speculate about the nature of knowledge that is ‘lost’, ‘absent’ or ‘disappearing’ and make suggestions for where ‘archival value’ may reside in dance practice and performance.

This chapter will explore the integration of audience feedback via a digitally mediated platform during the creative process of two new pieces of dance. It will consider how attempts to forge empathetic relationships between artists and audiences through digitally mediated interactions intersect with and intervene in the dance-making process. These themes will be explored through analysis of data gathered during the development of respond (February 2014-15); a digital adaptation of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP) (2002). The respond platform mediates interaction between audience and artist, taking them on a structured journey of critical enquiry to deepen their insights into the development of creative and artistic projects. This was explored through the process of adapting CRP, an established technique of soliciting feedback designed to support the needs of the artist/maker of work and develop effective modes of critical enquiry.

The mobile app, TikTok originated as a social network with an emphasis upon video sharing (formerly known as “Douyin”, created in China 2016 where Facebook and Instagram were banned). It has been described as ‘a compelling site of contemporary performance’ (Blanco Borelli & Moore 2021: 299) and the videos shared on the app understood as ‘micro-performances’ of ‘daily life, imagination, pleasure and ways of coping with Covid-19 lockdowns happening across the world (ibid, 2021: 300). This article is concerned with how online spaces such as Tik-Tok provided a means for connection between people during a time where physical proximity was severely disrupted. Susan Kozel’s work (2008, 2010, 2017) around telepresence, ‘spacemaking’ and the recognition that human understanding of proximity and physical connection can exist through mediated spaces supports the overall argument; that Tik-Tok became more than a performative platform and instead functioned as a virtual conduit for social connectivity during the pandemic. The suggestion that mobile media challenges conventional uses of devices through applied elements of performance can be seen in the way in which I understand Tik-Tok and ‘dance challenge’ videos to replicate the social proximity and ‘togetherness’ that dance more traditionally encompasses. The overall premise of this article is that TikTok is representative of a historical shift in the way in which social communities are constructed, social capital gained and where multiple modes of gratification are achieved. Through exploration of viral trends, I analyse the content of dance-based videos and the characteristics of dance practice and performance that enable modes of social connection to exist. The discussion places dance as a central catalyst for relational closeness via TikTok and its subsequent success in recent years (Vaterlaus and Winter 2021).

This chapter responds to recent innovation into the documentation and preservation of dance. Examples such as Siobhan Davies Replay, Motion Bank, Synchronous Objects and Digital Dance Archives make inroads into the knowledge available in the dancing body through incorporating aspects of movement exploration and selection, which enable the tracing of the dance-making journey. These examples still depend upon the physical body as a means for grounding the technology but as these components remain video based and do not capture the traditional context of space and collectivity associated with dance-making and performance, they remain incomparable to the lived, experiential processes of the body. This chapter re-considers modes of preservation and the expansion of knowledge tropes that are now frequently preserved in alternative archival platforms via the digital. Through scrutiny of archival principles and processes that are rooted in ideologies of knowledge value and hierarchy, this contribution explores how new modes of documentation bring new meaning to archives of performance.

Archival processes are rooted in principles that consolidate the original conditions of their existence. The National Archives as a governing voice for the sector uphold that amidst the many challenges facing the archive in the 21st century, including digital innovation, it remains that: ‘The archival record is [...] the direct, uninterpreted and authentic voice of the past: the primary evidence of what people did and what they thought’. With this in mind, this paper will re-consider archival notions of ‘primary evidence’ through recognising that the dancing body might be understood as an archive of such evidence. Ideas surrounding the notion of the dancing body as a ‘container for knowledge’ (Melrose 2007), as a source of ‘dancerly’ expertise (McFee 2012), and as a product of the repertoire (Taylor 2003) highlight its role as a potential archival source. I will draw upon recent research undertaken in collaboration with contemporary dance repertory company, Phoenix Dance Theatre to further illuminate the valuable knowledge that can be traced, re-experienced and evidenced by and through the body, bringing new meaning to key archival principles such as ‘provenance’ and ‘appraisal’. I will argue that ‘provenance’ as an archival concept when applied to dance revival can be understood in new terms because of the layers of knowledge accumulated in the dancing body as the site where movement is first conceived, constructed and executed. This is also a problematic notion considering the potential of the body to deceive itself, to recall movement through haptic and tacit domains that create an experiential truth that has the potential to destabilise archival materials that exist outside of but in relation to the dancing body. These tensions will be addressed, indicating how otherwise invisible or ineffable sources of information can be mined through the body to reveal layers of sensory, collective and spatial knowledges capable of contributing new evidence to accompany an otherwise objective and ephemeral past.

This special issue brings together a collection of research essays, interviews, performance documentation and provocations that interrogate notions of ‘the contemporary’ in twenty-first-century British dance. The issues, themes and cultural trends addressed in these articles are brought forward from the inaugural Questioning the Contemporary in 21st Century British Dance Practices symposium held at Leeds Beckett University in July 2014. These themes are key to the current and future landscapes of British dance practices as this volume illuminates.

BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants SRG (2024) Supporting the researchers with Technical and Creative Surround and Binaural soundscapes for a Podcast. My Personal Research Output is a study of movement and sound and where the audience might listen from and why, in immersive podcasts.

Participant in an international dance writers workshop, hosted by academic lead Franz Anton Cramer within the frame of the Vienna International Dance Festival.