Faculty Member, IPAD
Lecturer in Dance
About
I am a Lecturer in Dance (Urban Practice) at the University of East London teaching courses about urban dance (histories and styles), hip hop theatre, study skills and interdisciplinary art practices for performing arts students (next semester).
One of my current projects is piloting an emerging artists in residence scheme at IPAD Dance Centre at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Our two resident crews are Soul Mavericks (National UK B-Boy Champs) and the Waacktitioners (new London division of the Imperial House of Waacking).
I've also started my own dance company with b-girl Nadia Lumley and Emma Rogge. Our first production is an exploration and update of the "Scorpion and the Frog" fable.
Upcoming talks:
'Unlikely Resemblances: Theorising Dance as a Performance of Musical Tastes.' Taking Pleasure Seriously: Theorising Pleasure and Music. British Forum for Ethnomusicology One Day Conference. Saturday 7 November 2009, King’s College London.
'Towards a social history of a spectacular urban dance.' Institute of Modern Art and Griffith University Gold Coast Campus, Brisbane, Australia, November 19 2009. (Invited guest lectures)
'Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" music video and dance fan communities online.' Popular Music and Everyday Life symposium. Popular Music Research Group, Centre for Public Culture and Ideas. Brisbane, Australia, November 20 2009.
'Each One Teach One: B-boying and Ageing.' Music scenes and ageing panel (chair: Prof. Andy Bennett). What's It Worth? ‘Value’ and Popular Music. Annual Conference of IASPM-ANZ. University of Auckland, New Zealand. 27-29 November 2009.
At the University of Edinburgh, my current PhD project, "Breaking Worlds: Musical Tastes and Dance Practices," examines global b-boying/b-girling ('breaking') cultural practices. I discuss the emergence of activities such as international competitions, hip hop theatre performances and media presentations of the dance, as well as local, amateur and creative practices of performers. The question that strings together all of these lines of enquiry is simply: What do dancers listen to when they dance? The answers I found in each of these arenas demonstrate how musical knowledge (skills and competence), tastes and, most importantly, judgments are central to dance practices. I argue that dance is a vital way that people perform their musical tastes and that how they deliver that performance matters. The project is supervised by Prof. Simon Frith (Music) and Dr. Nick Prior (Sociology).
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