This essay is one part of my Bachelor's degree project, the other part being the work LOOPAR that was premiered in January of 2021 at Stockholm University of the Arts. The text expands and articulates the thinking processes and conversations in relation to the work. The aim of the text is to acknowledge and reflect the thoughts around the work with other people, dancers, and thinkers, and to scrutinize the main questions of the work: How can we think of repetition in relation to subject formation? And how does repetition and looping construct and affect world making? The essay begins by introducing the main concepts of the work such as 'performativity’, ’subject’, ‘storytelling’, ‘branding’, ‘repetition’ and ‘looping’. In the text, loops can be seen as actions, habits, repeated thinking processes, understandings of norms or different kinds of interactions, which change and transform our perception and understanding constantly about ourselves and the world we live in through persistent repetition. The essay observes how our experiences of ourselves and the world are affected by multiple contexts and felt-sensed experiences and interactions. It further explores the potentialities to decentralize the focus of the individualistic point of views of world making and it moves towards relational ways of thinking. The main references and conversation partners to many of the topics discussed in the essay are Argentine feminist philosopher and activist María Lugones, American professor of Feminist studies, Philosophy and History of Consciousness with a Ph.D. in Physics Karen Barad, and American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler. Further the essay reflects the work and methods used in praxis in relation to the thinking processes introduced in the text. At the end the essay asks the two following questions: How we can practice active consciousness and responsibility towards a subject’s positionality and interactions in dancing? And how can dancing together and alone be understood as entangled and overlapped? 

A growing number of neuroscientific studies use films as experimental stimuli, making filmmakers partners in investigations of the brain. The author provides his perspective as a filmmaker who has been conducting neuroscience experiments in collaboration with a team of neuroscientists at the Brain and Mind Laboratory of Aalto University, Finland, over the last five years. This collaboration led to the development of a novel method of investigating the subconscious brain using films as well as insights on how to create more empathy-evoking films. Finally, the author discusses the relationship between social bias and boundaries of collaboration between filmmaking and neuroscience.

Within the frame of an MA, we know from the start that there will be a specific ending; we call it final project, degree project or final presentation and this essay is meant to accompany the journey of the degree project.

In my case, I want to mention and reflect upon that for me the MA has been a framework for developing and experiencing different types of projects. So not only the project of presenting work at the end of the final semester but long term projects with a broader sense of choreography. Projects that includes social relations and are community based like P0$$€ dance and reading group a weekly extra-scholarly dance and reading group that shares texts and dance material, in a spontaneous and laid-back way, hosted by a different practitioner each time. The invitation from END FEST where I proposed to do a P0$$€ session in a public swimming pool. The future project of proposing slime workshops at cultural centers and youth-clubs, which comes from the experience and the research on the work that will be presented as the degree project called FIEBRE.

These projects are important for me to highlight because the way I work with choreography is not only about creating final products.

There are different ways to create a screenplay – freewriting from a spontaneous idea, or more planned with a determined end. I and three other screenwriters write two short screenplays each. I document the process and compare the screenplays. Based on a critical analysis of some classical dramaturgy handbooks I explore prospective versus retrospective writing practices, focusing on processes as well as results. The results will be of value for both the practice and teching of screenwriting.

Nonverbal communication in dance teaching - How do students experience and interpret the nonverbal communication of a dance pedagogue?

The purpose of this thesis is to further the knowledge about how a dance pedagogue's nonverbal communication could be interpreted by dance students. The thesis focuses on four semiotic resources; placement in the room, facial expression, usage of voice, and body language.

A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used. A practical workshop was executed where demonstrations of various ways in using nonverbal communication within a dance class context was shown. A questionnaire was based upon these demonstrations. A group interview was conducted. In the process of making the content of the demonstrations, video filming was used. The theoretical framework is based on theories of social semiotics and multimodality.

The results show that small details in the dance pedagogue's usage of nonverbal communication have great influence on students' experiences of the presence of a dance pedagogue, the clarity of the instructions from the dance pedagogue, and the power dynamics between dance pedagogue and student. The study shows that these components are crucial for students' comprehensions of the content of a dance class and their experiences of the social climate of the classroom. The study advocates the importance of consiousness among dance pedagogues about their usage of nonverbal communication in teaching.

Hela året på svarta speglar har varit en lång resa. En lång resa som tog mig vidare och djupare inåt mot min kärna. Det är något jag längtat efter och velat komma till, men inte vetat hur jag skulle ta mig till själv, på den konstnärliga arenan. Svarta speglar lämnar avtryck i mig.  För mig är vetskapen om att denna utbildning finns ett landmärke i sig. Att det finns en holistisk utbildning där både kropp och själ får vara med och där misslyckandet är en gåva och där undersökandet tas till sin spets varje dag.

För mig har det här året känts som en gåva. En gåva jag inte trodde fanns. Svarta speglar innehåller så många djup och öppningar och som visat sig tydligt under tid. För mig har utbildningen handlat om att våga öppna sig och möta sig själv som människa och konstnär.

Det finns många teman som kommer igen i min underökning kring mitt uttryck och konstnärlighet. Ett tema är skam. Skammen dyker upp i många former, både personligt, i konsten och kring konsten. Att skapa är ett personligt uttryck och de strukturer vi bär på följer med oss in i arbetet. Jag har skapat starka föreställningar men samtidigt skämts över mig själv, vilket har lett till att jag hållit mig själv tillbaka. Jag har använt mig av en del av mig men inte hela. Min resa fortsätter mot att använda hela mig. Det är viktigt för mig att reflektera och förstå mig själv, vart jag kommer ifrån och vem jag är. Det är en del av min drivkraft att fundera, läsa och samtala kring existentiella frågor. Min förståelse för mig skapar djupare förståelse för andra. Och att jag som regissör vill använda min kropp, kasta mig in i leken med lust, känns viktigt.

”Det djupa samband som finns mellan psykiskt liv och uttrycksfull kroppsrörelse är grunden till varje direkt förståelse av andra människors tillstånd”. (Dropsy, 1987, s. 19)

Egen erfarenhet och förståelse av andra hänger ihop. Jag behöver vara i min kropp för att kunna vara grundad och använda mig av hela mitt instrument, eftersom jag jobbar fysiskt med skådespelarna och värnar om den processen. Jag påstår att det inre i mig är viktigt. Jag påstår att jag är min kropp. Jag vågar tro att kroppen leder mig rätt. Känna att jag är i min kropp med tillgång till att jag känner mig starkare, kan gå in i mitt center och behålla mig.  Jag vill tro att jag kan vara känslomässig och jobba, och att det finns utrymme för det.  Och att vi inte kan glömma bort att vi är människor med bagage och liv som skall gestalta andras liv.

Jag vill säga att jag förstår att skammens motsats är kärlek. Att ett öppet hjärta inte bär på en skuld i sig, och jag längtar efter att få njuta av arbetet och kunna återkomma till teatrar med en kärlekskänsla istället för att inte våga gå dit, för att skammen tar över. Jag vill släppa in mer kärlek. Och jag vill öppna upp för styrkan och passionen inuti. Jag har tittat in bakom rädslan för att se vem jag är där. I rädslan mötte jag de starka kvinnorna. De med kraft, passion, ilska och egen stark drivkraft framåt Kroppens historia går vid sidan om och ihop med feminismen, och all annan kamp mot förlegade strukturer som stått/står under olika typer av förtryck. Den disciplin som lagts på kroppen, med förbud och tvång, har skapat en rädsla som sitter i, omedvetet, som skapat en rädsla för det mest naturliga vi har, kroppen. Det finns många lager av strukturer som ligger på den här kroppen, som bojor, från barndomen, inre kritiker till yttre förtryck.

”Förkvävandet av friheten och tvånget till anpassning börjar inte på kontoret, i fabriken eller i partiet utan redan under livets första veckor” (Miller, 1999, s. 138)

How can Dance keep evolve and expand as an art form and at the same time, be attainable in itscontent to general audience?There are many ways to answer this question.I attempt answering this unsolvable question in one way through my practical presentation bychoosing to make a dance piece in which tents are the dancers\ In which tents are dancing.As it usually happens in artistic processes, the questions and problems reshape themselvesaround the artistic material that is developed along the way.In this case another question aroused in the research process: How can a tent dance?I see these two questions as the two edges of my researchprocess spectrum.The first question addresses a large-scale problem in relationto Dance as an art form in our society and the second one triesto be the concrete manifestation of the first through practice.Another way to observe these two questions is to see the firstquestion as a theory-based question, taking underconsideration the time, place and filed in which it is being questioned. The second question canbe seen as a practice-based question which emerges from the physical explorations of the artisticprocess.In this essay I will attempt to bring these two questions closer together through sharing andanalyzing the creation process in the field and context in which I amacting\working\creating\choreographing\dancing. 

What are you investigating in your research and why? We want to investigate the border between the rehearsed and the spontaneous expression in the art of the opera singer. How can musical improvisation provide energy and creative impulses to singers, and what does it require of the practitioner? Is there some essential quality for the music's dramatic expression that the singer can contribute if the written composition is in parts dissolved by free improvisation by the singer? What we are looking for is the keys to the singer’s creativity to bring them into our teaching. What will we experience during your presentation? We will discuss our work and show a small piece of our newly written elaboration-opera.

Ett undersökande i hur skådespelarnas kroppar kan användas i en designprocess för att fördjupa kostymdesignen och karaktärsgestalltningen. 

Denna essä är en inventering, en sorts överblick och sammanfattning av de teman och ämnen som jag funnit särskilt intressanta utifrån det arbete jag gjort under detta läsår. Jag kommer i denna essä beskriva hur jag genom utbildningens gång arbetat med att förstå mina egna kreativa processer i olika moment som utbildningen erbjudit. Jag försöker se närmare på vilka resultat det gett och hur det påverkat mig i mitt arbete. Jag kommer göra vissa nedslag på utvalda moment som särskilt påverkat mig i mitt arbete och jag kommer lyfta olika teman som väckts genom de olika momenten. Jag försöker se närmare på nya strukturer och mönster i mitt kreativa arbete som jag fått syn på, samt den möjliga utveckling som det gett mig i mitt kreativa arbete.  

This study examines questions about the opera singer’s learning techniques. What happens when I, as a singer, only focus on the text or only on the music in the early stages of learning new material? Through interviews with other stage performers and my own experience, I developed two extreme methods of learning, one text-based and one music-based. To test them, I learned parts of two different Händel-roles, and examined how my methods changed my work in portraying the characters. I discovered the importance of joy while learning and practising, as well as pros and cons with separating the text and music from one another in such an extended part of the process.

This thesis is based on my own experiences of dancing Halling, a type of folk dance. Halling is commonly referred to as a male or masculine dance. This has been entangled in the problems I have had with the dance, as I have felt uncomfortable performing all the movements to their full extent. Therefore, I have researched my experiences of this dance through a practical study with a focus on specific movements that I have struggled with. Combining the findings of my practical study with theories about feminism, gender and masculinity has shown me that, while my problem is complex, it is nevertheless possible to structure into two parts of my own understanding. The first part concerns the movement that make up the dance. Through my research I was able to deal with some of the problems that I had with specific movements, and this led me to the conclusion that the movements of Halling in themselves do not have to be problematic in a gendered way. The second part concerns Halling within its context, and the way that its representation and the expectations surrounding it affect me and my dancing. The study has also shown me that being a pedagogical role model is a very complex situation where it is not only important for me to be aware of the choices I make but also the person I am in the teaching situation. 

This paper will present a study concerning teachers’ assessments of dance knowledge. The aim is to explore and analyse the phenomenon of assessment of dance knowledge in Swedish upper secondary schools from a teacher’s perspective. What goals for knowledge development, and thereby assessment, appear? What value assessments could be seen? In what ways do teachers motivate their choices of assessment? A starting point for life-world phenomenology is to be adherent to the phenomenon. To be able to grasp the phenomenon material was gathered through observations of grading conversations and one teacher´s written reflections. The observations took place during dance education and separate grading conversations in the course Dance techniques 1. The method used for analysis was inspired by Spiegelberg's stages of analysis. In the analytical process the phenomenon was seen and broadened out, varied and condensed, aiming to find the essence of the phenomenon. Assessment in dance can be seen as a complex phenomenon where embodied dance knowledge constitutes the basis for what should be assessed. Two dimensions in assessment will be presented. It is necessary for the teacher and student to be in agreement about the meaning of the assessment, though the communication has implicit meanings, goals and intentions.

This presentation mediates a study that is a part of a larger study about teacher’s assessment of dance knowledge in upper secondary schools in Sweden. The purpose of this specific part- study is to define how dance knowledge is seen and valued by teachers teaching in dance and how teachers are assessing dance knowledge based on current syllabuses. There is a need for scientific research about curriculum assessment in dance (Blumenfeld-Jones & Liang, 2007). Assessment in dance in Swedish upper secondary schools is a non-researched area and is important to increased requirement upon assessment.Theoretical and methodology frameworkThe study is based on phenomenological philosophy. A phenomenological way of thinking allows that human beings are inter-subjective linked with and within the world. According to this theory there are no distinguish between body and soul, but they form an entirety. According to Merleau-Ponty (2006) the only way to gain insight of the world is through human experience of it. A basic rule and the starting point for research within the philosophy of life-world-phenomenology is to turn towards the things themselves and to be adherent to the things.The tacit knowledge of dance can often be difficult to verbalize. To make visible the tacit knowledge of the phenomenon data is gathered in this sub-project through methods as observations that are documented using field notes, video documentation, teachers' notes and conversations with teachers about their reflections upon assessment of dance. The different methods will constitute base for the analysis of the study and create the unity of purpose an opportunity to capture different perspectives of the phenomenon. The observations are taking place in three selected schools in the course Dance technique 1.The expected findings from this research are how dance teachers use assessment of dance knowledge in their teaching in the Swedish upper secondary school. So far the study can show different ways to approach current syllabuses and how assessment is based on steering documents.

The aim of this study is to illuminate and discuss assessment within dance education in Swedish upper secondary schools through teachers’ reflections. The study investigates how teachers reflect upon the range of possibilities explored and difficulties encountered in their assessment practice. In order to be able to comprehend the phenomenon of teachers’ reflections regarding their assessment practice, both written and verbal teacher reflections were gathered by means of seven interviews with four teachers, and one trilateral talk. Four teachers participated in the study. In the analytical process, the phenomenon was seen, broadened, varied, and then condensed into two themes: Conditions for assessment for learning and Making space for assessment. Both themes have aspects, which are intertwined: both include conditions for assessment as seen through various modalities, methods and tools.

The aim of the study is to illuminate a teacher‘s conceptions of quality expressed through verbal and non-verbal actions in relation to summative assessments of dance knowledge. The following research questions are considered in the study: What conceptions of quality emerge during grade conferences? In what ways do teacher’s conceptions of quality reflect knowledge hierarchies? How do the teacher’s and student’s conceptions of quality relate to each other? To grasp the phenomenon, material was gathered during observations in a Swedish upper secondary school and from the teacher’s written reflections. Individual grading conversations were observed between the teacher and ten students attending a course called Dance technique 1. In the analytical process, the phenomenon was seen, broadened out, varied, and then condensed into two themes: conceptions of quality expressed through the teacher‘s focus on abilities and conceptions of quality expressed through views on the progression of dance knowledge.

This article communicates a study on dance for people over 65 in Sweden. Earlier studies on dance for elderly people have primarily focused on treatment and wellbeing. The current study centers on the right to make oneself heard in and through contemporary dance as an artistic form of expression, regardless of age, gender, or geographical context. The specific aim of the study is to describe and analyze the experiences of women aged over 65 in a rural area, who participated in contemporary dance workshops as a form of arts learning. The workshops, which were observed and documented, constituted part of an EU-financed project, Age on stage. Participants also shared experiences through informal chats and e-mails. The material was analyzed in a narrative manner. The results show that the workshops created a safe space for dance as a dwelling place, where dance was discovered, and at the same time developed, collaboratively. The results also highlighted the importance of this type of artistic participation for elderly women in terms of developing an understanding of themselves and coping with life.

This article examines how dance knowledge is seen through syllabuses in Swedish upper secondary schools. A starting point is life-world phenomenology. A phenomenological way of thinking allows that human beings are intersubjective, linked with and within the world, which influences the view of dance knowledge and how research is elaborated. A basic rule and starting point for research within phenomenology is to turn toward the things themselves and to be adherent. Dance knowledge constitutes the phenomenon studied, as revealed in dance syllabus steering documents. Spiegelberg’s philosophical method is used as a base for phenomenological text analysis. The study is limited to syllabuses from two different curricula, labeled by The Swedish National Agency for Education as Lpf94 and Gy11. The analysis results in two images of how the essence of dance knowledge is manifested. Finally, the different constitutions are discussed and related to a life-world phenomenological view of dance knowledge.

This is me. And this is me as a dancer. This is the best costume in the world. The best light in the world, the best prop in the world.

This is the best dance step in the world.

This is me. But this is not real. This is just you looking at me dancing. You are looking at me, me looking at you looking at me looking at you looking at me (dancing). You are honored to be here. I'm honored that you came. Looking at me dancing while I'm looking at you, honored that you came to look at this dance. It's an honor for you looking at this dance, even if it's not for real. In real life this is just something you look at. But right now. Wow. This is amazing. And you love it.

POWER

PRESENCE

TRIGGER

LIVE

Dokumentationens publiceringsform har tagits fram i samarbete med Dramatiska Institutets enhet för konstnärligt utvecklingsarbete. Syftet med KU-projektet har varit, - att utveckla en publiceringsform för omfattande kunskapsmaterial i rörlig bild, och material bestående av rörlig bild och andra media. En publiceringsform som gör materialet tillgängligt och möjligt att arbete med genom att tillämpa den digitala teknikens potential till interaktivitet och ickelinjär struktur. - att undersöka skillnader mellan linjär respektive ickelinjärstruktur och rörlig bild, när det gäller kunskapsbildning.

Konst har alltid varit ett svar på en längtan. För mig en trevande men outtröttlig längtan efter ett språk. Som översätter från inuti till utanför med oförändrad innebörd, samma känsla och färg. En, på ett sätt, introvert dialog. Under utbildningen har jag hamnat på en ny väg och frågat mig; Hur öppnar jag upp den här dialogen till en publik? Hur når jag ut? Det är en fråga om riktning, om att behålla leken och om att minnas vad som är viktigt. Vad som är vackert.

Svarta speglar har varit ett sökande efter portaler som tar mig någonstans jag bara undermedvetet visste fanns.

Sanna är poet och bildkonstnär.

I

dici là(from here to there): the expression marks a distance, a gap to be bridged, from one place to another, from one moment to another. A ford, in time and in space: a passage, which opens onto uncertainty

II

the freedom that is given me and that I sense as I move

III

advenio

advenio advenire adveni adventum

[AD+VENIO] to come (to), arrive (at), reach; to come on purpose; to come from outside, be imported; (of ships) to arrive, put in; (of other things) to reach, be brought, come into hands of; (of physical conditions) to set in, arise, develop, supervene; (of dates or times) to come, arrive, to come (in time); […] advenientes ad angulos noctis: reaching to the very corners of the night

IV

I HAVE NEVER KNOWN A CLOSENESS LIKE THAT

V

… where line becomes existence

VI

(p.14) on the other side

This performance is a world-making of intimate space and boundedness. The dancers dwell in the smaller subtle movements of couple dancing, the silent negotiations, the tight embrace and the significance of the hands. They work with materials such as tactile contact, rhythmic footwork, pulsing, affectivity, animation, mood, pleasure, imagination, and voice. They pay attention to the emergent figures of the dancing rather than recognition of pre-established categories of the political or ethics. 

This performance is part of a larger practice and study in social and folk dance. I’m interested in the dancing that one has lived with and that one lives. I am currently focusing on the vernacular of African American jazz and in particular the lindy hop, swing and blues dancing. Engaging in these dances has made me attend to and negotiate the schisms between self and other, culture and art, ownership and theft, and the visibility or hiddenness of race in dance.   

 I’ve been focusing on the ongoing negotiation in these couple dances, which is made up of nuanced yet direct shifts of initiating, listening, responding, supporting, resisting or breaking away while continuing to dance together. Social dancing has been a way for me to practice what Audre Lorde describes as ‘the erotic as power’ because it is a scene where the capacities for joy and pleasure are underlined and encouraged in an explicit way, which I value.

Vulnerability Manifesto is a research where I ask, what does it mean for me to usevulnerability as material for artistic work. In this research, I deal with problems that occur inthe process of materialising emotions, through my interest of transforming emotions into aconcrete material.I will try to answer to a question: How can vulnerability be used as a material for performancewithout it becoming a representation or fake? If I claim that I do honest work withoutrepresentation of vulnerability, or acting/faking, what does that mean practically?The main topic in this research is vulnerability. Vulnerability as a word, emotion and as amaterial for performance. I will critically look upon my process with vulnerability, boththrough my own expectations, and with references from the field of contemporary dance. Todo this, I have chosen Yvonne Rainer’s biography Feelings Are Facts- a life (2013) and AnnaGrip’s physical practice.As a working method, I create a physical practice that later on becomes a performance titled“my heart will go on”. In this process, I deal with questions such as, what is a 21centuryachievement society, and what is my position in it? I will also deal with my personalexhaustion and burnout, and use them as a tool in the process of making this research.Vulnerability Manifesto is an empowering personal research. It’s a personal revolution, and aprocess towards accepting sensitiveness, fear, shame and judgment. It’s self-centred, yetuniversal. 

1980 började jag på mimlinjen på Danshögskolan i Stockholm. Jag hade just fyllt 20 år. Vi var fem studenter som hade kommit in på inträdesprov inför en jury på våren. Stanislav anordnade dessutom individuella, där han ensam utgjorde juryn, och där ytterligare fem antogs. Vi var två som hade gått på yrkesförberedande och en från yrkesutbildningen på Balettakademien, en hade gått på Teaterstudion någon hade ingen erfarenhet av teater, en var musiker, någon hade spelat gatuteater utomlands. Adressen var Blasieholmstorg. Undervisningen bedrevs två trappor upp. Stanislav hade ett kontor och omklädningsrum på gatuplan. Lokalerna hade mer en atmosfär av en gammal våning än en skola. All huvudsaklig undervisning skedde i den enda salen; danslektioner, mimlektioner, akrobatiklektioner samt scenframställning. Det var en sal med stuckatur i taket men den var en aning nergången med sprickor i väggarna, urblekta gardiner, några gamla strålkastare och en balettstång. Stora speglar med guldram satt på väggen och på kortsidan stod en vit träbänk. Den vita bänken som alla mimklasser har suttit på medan de tittat på varandras etyder och våndats inför att stiga fram och visa sina egna alster för den stränga mimläraren. En sal, en lärare i mim, en klass på tio studenter. Mimklassens unga kvinnor och män delade ogenerat omklädningsrum och dusch. Plåtskåp stod provisoriskt uppställda.  Ett rum användes som uppehållsrum tillika matplats, inrett med ett kylskåp, några enkla soffor och ett bord. Det var allt.  Efter den fysiska träningen på förmiddagen med morgonlektion i dans och tre timmar mim var vi hungriga, men det var ganska stressande att äta eftersom akrobatiklektionerna låg direkt efter den korta lunchen. Vi åt vår medhavda matsäck och kastade oss in i uppvärmningen på akrobatiken som var tjugo - trettio kullerbyttor framåt med "tour en l 'air" (en piruett i luften) mellan varje kullerbytta och lika många bakåt.  Inför tredje året på utbildningen (1982), flyttade vår klass till lokaler i Teaterhögskolans hus på Södermalm. Högst upp och längst bort i huset fick vi två nyrenoverade salar för vår räkning samt separata omklädningsrum. Stanislav fick ett eget kontor mellan salarna.  Vi studenter fick skolkamrater och en riktig matsal med servering.  Det kändes skönt. Så kom vi att vistas i Teaterhögskolans hus, men fortfarande höra till Danshögskolan. Skolorna hade inget samarbete.  Drygt tio år senare, 1993, blev Mimlinjen en del av Teaterhögskolan.   

Varför fortsätter man bortom mättnadspunkten? Denna tvåspråkiga exposition diskuterar upprepning och skillnad då man uppträder med träd, och använder som exempel videon Year of the Pig with a Tatarian Maple som uppfördes i Nobelparken i Stockholm under år 2019 som en del av projektet Att uppträda / samarbeta med växter vid Stockholms Konstnärliga Högskola. Expositionen består av en kort version av videon, dokumentation av arbetsprocessen, och en essä med referenser. Avsikten är att visa hur upprepning skapar små (och stora) skillnader och därmed gör skillnad. Och i detta fall ledde till ett nytt projekt, Möten med betydande och obetydliga träd.

Is it possible to respond to the challenge of a philosopher with artistic means, rather than on the one hand by attempting to philosophize, or on the other hand by resorting to illustration or application? Perhaps it is not. This text is nevertheless an attempt at responding to the challenge posed to artists by Michael Marder who, in volume 1 of this journal, challenged philosophers and artists ‘to include the spatiality, movement, and perspective of the vegetal in their work’ (Marder 2015, 192). The artistic research project ‘Performing with plants’ could be understood as a response to this challenge. In this text I will briefly outline the plan for the project, relate it to the current interest in plant thinking, plant theory and new materialist feminist theory and then focus on some works loosely related to the project, which seem to resonate with Marder’s challenge in some sense. The variations of Resting with Pines performed in September 2017 in Nida Art Colony on the Curonian spit in Lithuania will serve as attempts to include and even emulate the vegetal, and as an example of a characteristic common to many performance practices, namely the tendency to go on, to ‘keep growing’.

Whether stretching should be used in conjunction with exercise is a much debated subject. Stretching has in a large part of dance training received a major stronghold. Recent research has shown that some forms of stretching can reduce performance. The purpose of this study is to compare the current research regarding stretching and how stretching is used in dance teaching. Based on the questions:

- What does the current research say about the effects of static and dynamic stretching?

- Which approach to stretching does a chosen group of dance pedagogues in Sweden have?

- What are the similarities and differences regarding stretching in current research and in the chosen group of dance pedagogues?

This is examined by doing a research review of stretching, a questionnaire survey for dance pedagogues and by doing a content analysis of this material, and finally a comparison of those results. Research and dance pedagogues agree about the positive effects of dynamic stretching and disagree when it comes to the effects of static stretching. Research agrees that it is negative for performance, while many dance pedagogues mean it is positive for performance. Just as the research results the dance pedagogues disagree about the effects of stretching. But generally, research do not consider stretching to be needed as much as dance pedagogues do.

If we are being-of-the-world, how can we ever avoid participation? From this question Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_ action) unfolds. It invites to engage in an ongoing continuum of entanglements, where the moment of connection is unavoidable. This invitation demands that we are attentive to our mutual co-constitutiveness, that we take responsibility for what gets excluded as well as what comes to matter.

Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_action) introduces, purposes and explores a specific format, the live dissertation, an academic instance that demands performative responses during the public defense. It is a dissertation in choreography written through space-time-language-matter with and for human and more-than-human bodies, and other discursive-material becomings. By this Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_action) recognizes the force of what Karen Barad conceptualized as ethico-onto-epistemologocial engtanglements through intra-action. It engages a posthumanist and agential-realist reworking of the notion of performativity, in which all bodies (not only human bodies) come to matter through the world’s performativity—its iterative intra-activity. In this framework, knowledge is made as a direct material engagement, a cutting together-apart—a process by which cuts enact violence but also open up and rework agential conditions of possibility.

During Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_ action) diffractive choreographic methods and techniques, which had been developed through diverse intra-active studies—actions, collaborations, and works that span throughout 2010-2016, were re-activated, applied, manifested, and experienced. These practices were made present through specific agential forces that enacted them—such as breath, text, touch, voice, vegetation, spatial proximity, motion, distance, asphalt, material walls and material voids (the reactor hole), pain, and disgust. These practices also enacted processes of queering causality, agency and relationality, and dislocating authority, while (my / the / our) human and more-than-human body / bodies pursued embodied affinities, and a state of becoming-with. Through these re-activated intra-active studies Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_action) examines and articulates choreography and performance as ever-present negotiations of vulnerability, intimacy, force, and power as enactments that are of-the-world.

As part of the choreographic practice Sugar Rush Productions | Maria Åkesson together with Tsomak Oga, Sooz Romero, and Debora Vega were video documenting Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_action). This documentation together with other remains (as a non-representative residue) will be made available after the defense here: dissertationthroughaction.space

In this essay, I document and reflect on a process of creating a twenty-minute performance called That Time I Swam in a Storage Room (2021), with dreams as its source material. The essay is written in the form of a series of log-book-like entries, which offer an insight into how the work developed throughout each week during the nine-week working period. The process described in this essay, is centred around individual explorations, through reading and try-outs, as well as studio-sessions together with a four-person working group consisting of Ane Carlsen, Anton Hedevang, Jane Sievänen and Heta Asikainen. In the essay, I give an account of how the explorations are executed; by using tools and methods derived from Dadaists and Surrealist art movements, such as the cut-up technique and automatic writing. Fragments of methods from other thinkers and psychoanalysts are also applied in order to harvest dream-images and further work with the content of the dreams, such as Sigmund Freud’s dream interpretation and Carl Jung’s active imagination. The essay ends with reflections on the process of creating the performance.

Under vårt examensprojekt “Krisevangelier” dröjde det länge innan vi fick bekräftatvilken studio vi skulle vara i. Under denna ovissa tid var jag tvungen att börja skissautan att veta om vi skulle vara i en av Blackboxarna i D-huset. Eller i en blackbox iT-huset. Samtidigt gjorde jag även ett projekt i turneformat som även där hade ovissspelplats men som slutligen hamnade på Stadsteaterns gästspelsscen Kilen.Jag har i dessa båda processer reflekterat mycket över dessa olika rums möjligheter ochutmaningar. Att börja skissa innan man vet spelplats var för mig väldigt svårt. I deförsta skisserna för Krisevangelier bestämde jag mig därför bara från att utgå från entom box, utan att skissa in gradäng eller plats för entréer eller sortier. Jag upptäckte attutan ett riktigt fysiskt rum att förhålla mig till blev mina skisser mer som platta bildytormed lite djup. (Bild 1-2)Jag insåg då att utmaningen och möjligheterna som det fysiska rummet ger mig redan iskissprocessen är viktig för mig att ha. Och därför bestämde jag mig för att jobba medfrågeställningen Hur påverkas jag av och hur förhåller jag mig till det konkreta fysiskascenrummet/scenen i skapandet av scenografi?Frågeställningen är relevant i förhållande till andras arbeten och i samhället i stort dårummet alltid är något som alla scenkonstmakare måste förhålla sig till. Man skullekunna hävda att det fysiska rummet/spelplatsen faktiskt är det som kommer allra först ien scenkonstproduktion, och den första nyckeln ett team kan få i processen av att skapascenkonst

In this study I investigate differences and similarities between contact improvisation and floor work

within contemporary dance. The aim is to explore whether a floor work class can benefit from integrating

exercises from contact improvisation.

To answer these questions I do literature studies, interviews and let a group of dancers explore it through

movement. The dancers write a self-report in the end where they reflect upon their own experience on

integrating contact improvisation into a floor class. All my analyses are done using a phenomneographical

analysis model.

The result shows that the physical work is quite similar – such as working with the physical laws and the

body’s functionality. The learning environment is different though, where it is more open and

experimental within contact improvisation.

The self-reports show that working with a partner through improvisation can help the dancers to

understand different themes within the floor work in a deeper/different way. It also creates a more playful

and easy going climate. As a pedagogue I experience that I give the participants more space to reflect

together. Difficulties that come up are that the set movement phrases get unclear and that there are many

things for the dancers to focus on.

To struggle in the uncomfortable.

How to find paths from the views / ideas / statements / thoughts to be shaped into artistic expression? How do I proceed to work actively with the ideas from the starting point, while the work continuously find itself in a process and develop into a area of action?

How to find a subject/the subject or questions/the questions that I think I'm searching for. Subjects that are hard to define, point out. Working with the unknown. crossing the limits. To stay in the challenge when I want to leave. To stay and take the chance to understand the feeling of resistance. To become aware about myself and my routines, my prejudices, lack of connection with myself. My own ego that is working with self-fulfilment and in need of confirmation, versus the ego in shape of relieving the conscience through a conclusion of something bigger than the own ego.

Theatrical scenography is developing its methods to address its ecological impacts. This research observes the stages already accomplished by certain theaters and scenographers. Also acknowledges how expertise in sustainable product design can be transferred to scenography design and processes. The results of this research offer insights into how to apply sustainability criteria in relation to scenographic processes analysing how international practitioners work. The study also offers a qualitative assessment tool as a means of estimating the overall sustainability of scenographic practices. This tool monitors the entire scenographic cycle from conception to recycling and helps to visualize and compare weaknesses and achievements.

Mitt arbete har centrerat sig kring gehörsövning och då framförallt prima vistaläsning av en notbild. Jag har gjort vissa observationer angående vad jag behöver öva på, vad som fungerar bäst för mig, hur jag hanterar prima vistasång sångtekniskt och hur jag skulle behöva komplettera min övning. Då jag för min övning använt dels ett digitalt verktyg och dels ett mer traditionellt analogt verktyg i form av en bok gör jag också jämförelser mellan dessa material och de olika arbetsprocesserna som de resulterar i. 

I all konst och musik är det relationerna som är det intressanta och viktiga och som berättar en historia, samma sak gäller i gehör. En ton relaterar alltid till någonting och det är på detta sätt de berättar någonting. Mitt arbete är egentligen att bli mer uppmärksam och känslig för dessa relationer. Lars Edlund skriver i inledningen till Modus novus “Viktigast…är att äga känsla för nyanserna i uttrycket. För de flesta människor betyder väl också känslan för det musikaliska språkets nyanser mera än behärskningen av dess grammatik." (Edlund, 1964)

E R I C is a choreographic work1that treats some areas such as eroticism and meaning,generating multiples others around them.E R I C is the gay future husband of Ariel, the little mermaid.E R I C is a playing field.E R I C is written with E, with R, with I, with C.E R I C is an invitation for flirting.E R I C is a dance.2E R I C is a rhythm box.E R I C is usually loud.E R I C is a good person.These pages contain:The two main interests E R I C has been working around.Three separate writings related to E R I C.E R I C’s choreographic references.A choreographed map around E R I C’s choreographic context.Three visual “imaginariums”3build by and from E R I C.

The doctoral project choreo | graphy is an inquiry into the relationship between thinking through dance and thinking through written language, taking the notion of choreography literally as dancing-writing. Respecting that different media afford different thought processes, ideas, and concepts to be reached, this practice-based artistic research project has unfolded within artistic processes and experiments to explore and develop the relationship between dancing-thinking and writing-thinking. Investigating the media-specificity of thought in dancing together (khoreia) as it relates to the media-specificity of thought in writing (graphia), this project experiments with their relation in a way that serves both art forms and respects their differences, while challenging historical hierarchies between embodied sense-experience and the written word. Cycling through three areas of inquiry, the project asks 1. how dance thinks, 2. how dance writes, and 3. how a (re)considered relationship between dancing and writing might inform choreographic practice. Following these three areas of inquiry, the project’s contributions to artistic research are summarized as follows: articulating what is particular to dance-thought (how dance thinks), practicing and devising procedures for dancing-writing (how dance writes), and pursuing forms of exposition which invite observers to think with and through dance by applying the aforementioned insights to artistic creation (choreo | graphic outcomes). The separation of the word choreography into choreo | graphy signals the project’s intention to open space for consideration and reinvention of the poetics of choreographic practice and discourse. 

Nora the Many is part of Eleanor Bauer's doctorial artistic research project choreo | graphy, a pracitce-based investigation into the relationship between choreo- (from khoreia) as dancing together, and -graphy (from graphia) as writing, pursuing poetically and structurally adequate translations between the two. Created in primary collaboration with the London-based dance collective Nora (Eleanor Sikorski, Flora Wellesley Wesley and Stephanie McMann) with contributions from dancing-writing groups gathered by Bauer's research, Nora the Many invites the reader into a collectively authored universe of characters and events generated by methods of translating experiences of dancing together into writing. The images, logics, felt-senses and life-worlds brought about by dancing have been documented in writing and woven into a narrative, coining a new genre called Sensual Journalism. Swirling between fiction and reality, sensation and imagination, this choreo | graphic novel is a written X-position of how dance thinks.

The point of this research was for me to find a place between dance and choreography, whereI could allow myself to make my own work and do not feel tamed in common structures andunderstandings of dance and choreography. At this point is hard to say whether the results, Icame up with during the working period, are definitive or temporary in relation to my creativeprocess.In my piece, which I created as a part of this project, my goal was to blur line between danceand choreography - to make a dance piece without choreographing. Here comes final questionsfor you, reader, and for them who had a chance to see my piece “Synthesia“, which I askedmyself as well.Was I successful in making a dance without choreographing?Was this research successful?Do we need a choreography to dance?Do we need dance in choreography?Should we split dance and choreography?Is it even important to problematize relation between dance and choreography???My research project brought some answers, which are personal and subjective, connected tomy artistic work and I do not feel that I want to repeat them more then I have already stated inmy essay. Maybe or maybe not you will answer my questions differently and I encourage youto do so! The beauty of art is that you can have a billion individuals observing the same artwork and they all have a billion different opinions.

A review of the book Dance Dramaturgy: Modes of Agency, Awareness and Engagement, edited by Pil Hansen and Darcey Callison, published by Palgrave Macmillan.  

The keynote address discusses the relationship between dramaturgy and artistic research and posits that within many contemporary colalborative devising processes we find interesting examples of artistic research. The address reflects on the different ways in which we may understand dramaturgical practice within these processes of complex research. It argues that it is perhaps in these kinds of processes that we best are able to identify dramaturgical practice as the bridge between theory and practice. 

An introduction and discussion of the term, history and practice of dramaturgy within an international context. The book offers historical examples as well as case studies based on interviews with dramaturgs working in different contexts and practices. 

Paper presented at the international dramaturgy conference (Conferência Internacional de Dramaturgia) at Teatro Nacional São João, Porto (Portugal), Friday 6/12/2024.

In the paper Behrndt outlines some of the current challenges within performance production, collaboration and dramaturgical practice. One observation is that if the conversations about dramaturgy in the last twenty years have been about articulating the nature of dramaturgical practice, increasingly the task for the dramaturg may be to help create the conditions for artistic practice to happen in the first place. The paper goes on to outline possible ways forward and also considers the role that 'cognitive dissonance' plays within contemporary dramaturgies, research and collaboration. 

Behrndt was invited speaker on the panel Dramaturgy: Practices and Processes together with Professor Maaike Bleeker (Utrecht University) and Katalin Trencsényi (University of the Arts Helsinki).