Dreaming the Impossible: reimagining Blackness through dance improvisation

这个实践研究博士将研究如何通过即兴舞蹈来重新想象黑暗。“黑舞”一词暗示了一种与其他舞蹈不同的独特风格或流派，正如Adair & Burt（2018）所指出的那样，这使得人们很难认识到黑人舞者所发展的广泛方法。研究问题：重新想象黑人如何在当代舞蹈实践和学术中支持对黑人身体的（重新）定义？-作为一种获取祖先和文化内涵知识的工具，即兴舞蹈能提供什么？-黑人女性的经验知识是什么？-即兴舞蹈如何促进（重新）在该领域内对“黑人”一词的概念化？该项目涉及不同学科的几个当前问题，并借鉴了当代舞蹈、社会科学、性别和性行为以及黑人研究领域的主要学者，包括Hay（2016）、Gottschild（2018）、Hall（1990）和Andrews（2016）。它也受到女权主义讨论的影响，并将质疑这些学术领域，以促进对黑人的广泛表达。在自我民族志、社会互文探索的基础上，创造性的方法包括一系列集中体现（我的）黑人女性身体的具体和生活经验的独奏运动表演，并辅以一篇书面论文。黑人女性身体的生活经历通常是过度性化的：对性行为的监管是一种殖民违规行为，在那里，表达肉体感官肉欲的身体被认为是不雅和可鄙的（Carey 2016）。该研究将引导（我的）黑人女性气质，并将身体的位置性作为包含多种存在的具体知识的容器，探索如何通过运动访问一个人的档案，使舞蹈成为“文化记忆”的展示（Patten 2018）。该研究的潜在影响：-对当代舞蹈学术中当前术语和黑人身体定义进行（重新）语境化；特别是（重新）考虑对黑人的先入为主的看法和“黑色舞蹈”的分类。-（重新）在表演的瞬间定义黑人身体，以产生其自身的另类历史：通过获取黑人祖先的具体化知识，使其在生活的空间和时间中变形。-（重新）通过拒绝在实践中对女性身体的殖民观点来概述黑人女性身体的参数，这种观点涉及到性化的运动词汇；将身体从客体转移到积极地恢复性欲。最近围绕“黑人的命也是命”、种族主义和不平等的全球对话见证了其他团体要求空间和（重新）谈判他们的存在。这一调查是社会政治变革行动的延续，通过当代即兴舞蹈的结构和实践来庆祝黑人身体，并以黑人文化及其生活经历为基础的方式应用这些身体（Adair & Burt 2018）。因此，（重新）定义黑人，通过拒绝殖民的目光，并提出新的方式来阅读黑人的身体在当代舞蹈和超越。1 -4年级-参加适当的研究研讨会/会议-发展即兴舞蹈实践研究-案例研究-撰写论文章节-在第4年完成。2-4年级-独奏练习的创作和表演-每年一次或多次

This practice research PhD will investigate how blackness can be reimagined through dance improvisation. The term 'Black Dance' suggests a singular style or genre of movement that is separate from others, and as Adair & Burt note (2018) this makes it difficult to recognise the broad range of approaches developed by dancers who are black. Research questions:- How can reimagining Blackness support a (re)definition of black bodies in contemporary dance practices and scholarship?- What can dance improvisation as a tool to access ancestral and culturally embodied knowledge offer?- What is Black feminine experiential knowledge?- How can dance improvisation facilitate a (re)conceptualisation of the term 'Blackness' within the field?The project engages with several current issues in different disciplines, drawing upon key scholars in contemporary dance, social sciences, gender and sexuality, and Black studies including Hay (2016), Gottschild (2018), Hall (1990) and Andrews (2016). It is also informed by feminist discussion, and will interrogate these areas of scholarship to facilitate an expansive articulation of blackness. Underpinned by an auto-ethnographic, socio-intertextual exploration, the creative methodology consists of a series of solo movement performances centralising embodied and lived experiences of (my) black female body, supported by a written thesis.The black female body's lived experience is often hyper sexualized: the policing of sexuality is a colonial infraction, where bodies that articulate a corporeal sensuous carnality are deemed as indecent and contemptible (Carey 2016). Navigating (my) black femininity, and taking a positionality of the body as a vessel of embodied knowledges containing a plurality of presences, the research will explore how accessing one's archive through movement allows dance to become a display of 'cultural memory' (Patten 2018).Potential impact of the research:- A (re)contextualisation of current terminology and of definitions of Black bodies in contemporary dance scholarship; specifically (re)considering preconceived viewings of blackness and the categorisation of 'Black Dance'. - (Re)defining the black body in the moment of performance to produce alternative histories of itself: through accessing Black ancestral embodied knowledge, allowing these to transfigure in live space and time.- (Re)outlining parameters of Black female bodies through a refusal of colonial viewings of the female body in practice which engages with sexualised movement vocabulary; moving the body from an object to actively reclaiming erotic agency.Recent global dialogues around 'Black Lives Matter', racism and inequality witnessed othered bodies demanding space and (re)negotiating their presences. This enquiry is a continuation of socio-political actions for change, celebrating black bodies via structures and practices from contemporary dance improvisation and applying these in ways which are informed by black culture and their lived experiences (Adair & Burt 2018). Therefore (re)defining blackness through a refusal of the colonized gaze and proposing new ways to read the black body in contemporary dance and beyond.Years 1 - 4- Attend appropriate research seminars/conferences- Develop dance improvisation Practice Research- Case studies- Writing of thesis chapters - finalising in year 4Years 2-4- Creation & performance of solo practice - One or more per yearYear 4- Preparation and delivery of viva