Our Research Interests
The sorts of questions we have been asking ourselves and which we are keen to investigate further fall loosely under the following research areas:
Pedagogy – the practice of teaching dance
We want to unpack and understand the methods and processes that Russell uses to teach, train and create with the dancers he works with and place his particular practice in the context of wider contemporary dance training.
The sorts of questions we are interested in examining around Russell’s pedagogy include:
How does Russell’s way of working enable dancers to find potential in the body?
What is the role of somatic practice and anatomical understanding in this?
How is the dancers’ potential developed over time and what is their embodied experience and understanding of this?
What is the enabling environment needed to facilitate the dancers’ optimisation of movement potential?
(How) do the approaches used by Russell differ or build on prior experiences of dance training?
Appreciation of dance and aesthetic performance
We want to explore how dance performance is perceived (by choreographers, directors, audiences) and how it can be measured in order to better understand what makes up a desired dance performance aesthetic and then how that can be effectively trained for. We are also keen to understand more about how an audience’s appreciation and experience of aesthetic performance differs whether watching live or digitally.
Examples of questions we might examine through this research area are:
What is the Russell Maliphant aesthetic and how is this realised?
How are Russell’s intentions translated into other people’s bodies?
What are the changes in movement quality that are objectively or subjectively seen following Russell’s training?
What are the physical requirements/characteristics for success in contemporary dance performance? Which are generic and which are choreography/style specific? Can they be measured?
How differently are these perceived between different individuals/choreographers?
How are they trained?
“If you [the dancer] can feel it, we [the audience] can see it” is this true? What do audiences see? Can we objectively ‘measure’ what the choreographer / audiences can see in a dancer’s performance?
Physical Fitness, Health and Dance
We want to identify what the physical fitness and health-related outcomes are from using Russell’s approach to training and to study the relationship and interplay between aspects of healthier dance training, (both Russell’s and others’, which may include somatic practice and strength training), aesthetic performance and injury risk in contemporary dancers.
The kinds of questions we are asking include:
What are the implications of a more healthful way of working for career longevity in dance?
Which physical characteristics and training methods are associated with a decreased risk of injury and also with improved fitness and aesthetic performance in contemporary dancers?
What are the physical benefits for people of different ages participating in creative contemporary dance workshops?
How does Russell’s approach to teaching and creating dance enable dancers to push beyond expectations and challenge perceptions of their physical and performance capabilities as they age?
How do we move/keep moving in young, middle and older age? What changes physiologically or biomechanically?
Mental Wellbeing and Creative Dance Practice
During the lockdown and restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have found ourselves, as have many others, thinking more deeply about the social and psychological wellbeing aspects of participation in creative dance activity, especially activity which leads to a performance shared with others.
With our collaborators we would like to investigate:
How is creative dance practice different to other forms of exercise in terms of its cognitive, psychological and physical benefits?
What is the impact of physical movement and dance on interpersonal relationships, loneliness, human connectivity and community?
What are the social, motivational and community benefits of working towards a dance performance with a sense of purpose?
What is the role of dance in promoting happiness and wellbeing in the general population including younger, working and older people?
How much of all of the above is changed when delivered virtually as opposed to in person?