Text, Context, Performance: Reconstruction and Reinvention in African, Asian, and European Dances

This full-day event features the work of choreographers and scholars Ananya Chatterjea, Ingo Diehl, Jean Johnson-Jones, Liz Lea, Alessandra Lopez y Royo, Giannandrea Poesio, and Vena Ramphal on dance reconstruction. It is convened by Janet O’Shea.

The study day is co-sponsored by the UniS Dance Studies Department, the AHRB Centre for Cross-Cultural Music and Dance, the Society for Dance Research and the European Association of Dance Historians.

The event is free and open to the public. Bookings are encouraged. Please contact Anne-Marie Davies on 01483-689639 to reserve a place.

The reconstruction study day is a full-day event that draws together artists and scholars reconstructing dances from a range of cultural contexts and historical periods.

1. Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, dance scholar and choreographer, University of Minnesota, U.S., will give a presentation on the politics and poetics invested in the reconstruction of the Indian classical dance form odissi. She will follow this with a short performance of her own choreography.
2. Ingo Diehl, independent dance artist, Germany, will present his reconstruction of Pavlova’s Dying Swan solo.
3. Jean Johnson-Jones, movement analyst and anthropologist, University of Surrey will discuss and perform material that she notated during her ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa.
4. Liz Lea, independent dance artist, U.K., will present her reconstruction of Ruth St. Denis’ choreography and will discuss the potential for re-interpretations of the piece.
5. Dr Alessandra Lopez y Royo dance scholar, Roehampton University of Surrey and School of Oriental and African Studies, will be discussing reconstruction as an archaeological process of dance movement reconstitution and re-embodiment in the context of a choreographic exploration of the dance/architecture relationship, using her work at the Javanese site of Prambanan as a case study.
6. Dr. Giannandrea Poesio, dance historian, University of Surrey, will present his reconstruction of Romantic ballet mime.
7. Vena Ramphal, School of Oriental and African Studies/independent dance artist, U.K., will present a critical investigation into bharata natyam and karana technique as it informs her choreography.

The presenters will participate in a round-table discussion in order to highlight key issues raised during the day.