Choreographic sensibility in screen based dance

The principal aim of this research is the critical investigation
into the creative processes involved in the making of screen
based work in dance and the moving image, with specific
reference to the notion of choreographic sensibility. The
research process has been located within a climate of
evolving production paradigms and the increasingly permeable boundaries of professional roles. A marked increase in educational initiatives and opportunities for showing work within the environment of festival screenings has also coincided with a discernible shift towards smaller scale models of production.
The investigation has been undertaken by means of a written
submission and also by the creation of a forty two piece cycle
of work submitted on DVD. Selected examples of work from
screen based dance and moving image practice have been
subject to a process of analysis. This analysis has been
informed by critical perspectives drawn from the writings of
selected classical film theorists, from influential filmmakers
Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage, and from the field of practice theory.
From this analysis, it can be claimed that examples of screen
based dance and moving image work have the potential to be
read 'choreographically'. Some of the common practices in
theatre dance and screen based dance relate directly to the
notion of movement material creation. Others must be
regarded as relating to an enhanced and more conceptually oriented range of choreographic practices which are more
usually associated with the non dance-specific professional
roles of the director, editor and visual artist. A distinctive
choreographic sensibility has also been identified in the
creation of my own screen based work. This sensibility can
be said to be located within a range of improvisationally oriented strategies. These strategies relate to the processes
involved in performance; the creation of movement material;
directing and editing, all of which are informed by a body of
professionally developed intuitive knowledge.