Exploring the abstract language of contemporary dance in order to create emotional states/nuances

Abstract

This study investigates how a choreographer, through the abstract

language of contemporary dance, generates emotional states/nuances

which can be recognised but at the same time allow for ambiguity in the

reading of the work. This investigation was addressed through a series of

performance projects, culminating in the final dance work Inhabited Space.

The setting for the work, triggered by Bachelard's The Poetics of Space,

became the imagined spaces of a domestic urban environment,

specifically the lounge and bedroom. In order to create a work reflecting

emotional states and nuances, a range of choreographic processes were

explored to inform the construction of movement vocabulary, framed by

performer/space/object relationships. This studio-based study with

performative outcomes was supported by a hybrid methodological

approach of predominantly practice-led research, incorporating aspects of

action research and phenomenology. Findings and understandings

emerged from reflective practice in the exegesis but were primarily

embedded within the creative work itself.