I am a practice-led researcher based at IPAD (Institute for Performing Arts Development) at the University of East London. I recently completed an Arts and Humantites Research Council funded practice-based doctoral research project into South African Dance Theatre focusing on the issues of ‘race’, gender, and nation in Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. I live, breathe, make, write, and fight for the rights of dance.

Teaching, Researching, and Making Dance.

Dance, Politics, and People.

• BA (Hons) Dance: Urban Practice

• PA3000 DISSERTATION
• PA2203 CROSSING BORDERS: HISTORIES AND STYLES
• PA2204 HYBRID FORMS: PERFORMANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY
• PA1000 STUDY SKILLS

I recently returned from South Africa where I was Invited to work with Flatfoot Dance Training Company on a choreographic project for the fringe night of

Jomba Contemporary Dance Experience Festiva 2011

I am currently working on two articles for publication: the first investigates the politics of looking and its relationship to the act of representation, especially in the ‘racial’ and national sphere, and how Nelisiwe Xaba’s 'They Look At Me and That Is All They Think' (2006) is able to expose the politics of looking at the ‘black’ South African female body. In this article, I also survey my own practice-based research project, How I Chased a Rainbow And Bruised My Knee (2007), which was created primarily as a response to Xaba’s 'They Look At Me and That Is All They Think'. In this project, I  asked what does it mean to be African and look ‘white’.

The second article argues that South African dance theatre as a performance practice is exceptionally equipped to explore the relationship between the home and the body because of the body’s centrality to both dance theatre and homemaking, and because of the historical role the body has played in the location of the home place in South Africa. Using a feminist dance studies framework, I analyse two sections of Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre’s 'Home' (2003) - ‘Hostel’ and ‘Kitchen’ - in order to explore the connection between the body and the home, and most importantly, how home matters in South Africa. Furthermore, I discuss how during July/August 2006, I worked with three dancers from the Flatfoot Student Training Company in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, using dance theatre to explore what the concept of home meant to us as young South Africans. The outcome of this practice-based research project was performed on the Fringe at the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience in Durban at the end of August 2006. 

ARTICLES

• ‘JOMBA! A Festival Diary’, Dance Theatre Journal, 21, 3 (2006)

• ‘Mama Africa’: HIV/AIDS and National Identity in South African Choreography’ in South African Theatre Journal, 22 (2008)

• ‘Mapping the Body’s Movement’ in South African Theatre Journal, 24 (2010)

CONFERENCE PAPERS

• 2011 Invited to deliver guest seminar for dance postgraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

• Accepted by African Theatre Association to deliver a paper titled Mapping African Identity/Surveying of Contemporary African Dance: Swansea Metropolitan University

• Accepted by the Nordic Forum of Dance Research: University of Southern Denmark to deliver a paper titled ‘Mapping the South African Body’

• 2009  Guest lecturer on South African Dance Theatre at Middlesex University, United Kingdom

• 2010 Accepted by the Association of Dance of the African Diaspora: London Metropolitan University to deliver a paper/workshop titled ‘Dancing through the Minefield: Studying the Politics of Africanist Dance Aesthetics’

• 2010  Accepted by African Theatre Association to deliver a paper/workshop titled ‘Dancing through the Minefield: Studying the Politics of Africanist Dance Aesthetics’: Makeere University, Uganda: A workshop in which Africanist Dance Aesthetics are investigated

• 2010  Accepted by Society of Dance History Scholars to deliver a paper titled ‘South African Dance Theatre and the Politics of Looking’: Surrey University, United Kingdom: Paper on my practice-based research project which focused on the ‘racial’ body and South African nationality

• 2010 ‘South African Daughter: The Responsible and Accountable Dancing Body’: Imagining Bodies Conference: Tallinn University, Estonia: Paper on my practice-based research project that explored the body in Apartheid and Post-Apartheid national and HIV/AIDS discourse

• 2010  ‘Langarm en London: The Performance of South African Nationality at Social Dance Events in London’: Society for Dance Research: Dance Ethnography Forum: De Montfort University, United Kingdom: Paper on my practice-based research project into South Africans and the performance of national identity in the United Kingdom

• 2010  ‘Globalised Perspectives on Popular Dance: Or Signposting the Roots/Routes of South African Dance’. Palatine Conference on Teaching Popular Dance in Higher Education: University of East London, United Kingdom: Paper on how my ethical viewpoints inform my teaching of global dance forms in the United Kingdom

• 2009 ‘The Politics of Looking and Dancing’: International Federation of Theatre Research: University of Lisbon, Portugal: Paper on Nelisiwe Xaba and my solo practice-based project focusing on South African national identity and ‘race’

• 2009 ‘The Politics of Looking and Dancing’: African Theatre Association: University of Northampton, United Kingdom: Paper on Nelisiwe Xaba and my solo practice-based project focusing on South African national identity and ‘race’

• 2007  ‘Home is where the heart is’: International Federation of Theatre Research: Stellenbosch University, South Africa: Paper on Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre and my choreographic work with Flatfoot student training company focusing on choreography and the value of home

• 2007  ‘Home is where the heart is’: Postgraduate Seminar: Queen Mary, University of London, United Kingdom

• 2006  ‘Babies, tutus, and guns: the body in South African dance theatre’: Dramatic Learning Spaces: University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: Paper on Flatfoot Dance Company and my practice-based research project that explored motherhood, HIV/AIDS, and national identity

• 2006  ‘Mothers and Daughters’: SuperVisions: London School of Contemporary Dance with the University of Roehampton, United Kingdom: Paper on Flatfoot Dance Company and my practice-based research into surrogate motherhood and HIV/AIDS

• 2006  ‘Mothers and Daughters’: British Forum for Ethnomusicology: University of Winchester, United Kingdom: Paper on Flatfoot Dance Company and my practice-based research into surrogate motherhood and HIV/AIDS

• 2006  ‘Mothers and Daughters’: QUORUM: Queen Mary, University of London: Paper on Flatfoot Dance Company and my current practice-based research into surrogate motherhood and HIV/AIDS

PERFORMANCES

• 2011  Invited to work with Flatfoot Dance Training Company for the Jomba Contemporary Dance Fringe, South Africa

• 2007  Solo-performance of 'How I Chased a Rainbow and Bruised my Knee': Queen Mary, London

• 2007  Installation with Lauren Wakefield of 'How I Chased a Rainbow and Bruised my Knee': African Theatre Association: Goldsmiths, London

• 2006  Choreographer: 'Body Maps with Flatfoot Dancers': Jomba! Contemporary Dance Fringe, South Africa

• 2005  Solo-performance of 'Mothers and Daughters': Queen Mary, London

• 2005  Choreographer: 'I’m Sorry I Never Meant to Hurt You' with Flatfoot Dance Training Company: Jomba! Contemporary Dance Fringe,  South Africa

• 2001  Actor: 'Seeing Red' written and directed by Greig Coetzee: toured South Africa

• 1999  Choreographer: 'Damage': Dance Shongololo and Redeye: The Natal Playhouse and Durban Art Gallery, South Africa

• 1999 – 2000 Actor and writer: various productions such as 'No Sir, I Am Not On The Menu' for Mad Cow Productions in South Africa which toured and performed to full houses at the National Arts Festival in 1998, 1999, & 2000 (youth theatre)

• 1998  Dancer: 'Final Instructions to the Waking' choreographed by Lliane Loots, South Africa

• 1998 Choreographer: 'Second Hand Goods': The Square Space Theatre, South Africa

• 1997 Choreographer: 'If the straitjacket fits': The Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, South Africa

• 1997 Dancer: Athena and Aphrodite compete for Paris’s attention: choreographed by Natalie Beaton, The Square Space Theatre, Durban, South Africa

• 1997 Dancer: 'Arabesque': choreographed by Linda Peyters: The Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and The Natal Playhouse, South Africa

• 1997 Dancer: 'Free Inclinations': choreographed by Linda Peyters: conceptual work at the University of Natal, South Africa

• 1996 Dancer and choreographer: 'Lady and the Tramps': The Square Space Theatre, South Africa

• 1994  Dancer and choreographer: 'The New Snow White': The Hexagon Theatre, South Africa

REVIEWS

• Review of 'Theatre, Body and Pleasure' by Simon Shepherd (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), Studies in Theatre and Performance, 27, 2 (2007)

• Review of 'Choreographies of African Identities: Négritude, Dance, and the National Ballet of Senegal' by Francesca Castaldi (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2006), Contemporary Theatre Review, 17, 1 (2007)

• Review of 'Athol Fugard' by Dennis Walder (Tavistock, UK: Northcote House Publishers, in association with the British Council), Contemporary Theatre Review, 16, 3 (2006)

• Review of 'Choreographing the Folk: The Dance Stagings of Zora Neale Hurston' by Anthea Kraut (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008), Platform, 4, 1 (Spring 2009)

EXTRAS

• My work with my colleague in feminist performance is cited in Sabine Marschall, 'Creating the "Rainbow Nation": The National Women's Art Festival in Durban, South Africa', in 'Festivals, Tourism And Social Change: Remaking Worlds', ed. by David Picard and Mike Robinson (Clevedon, Buffalo, and Toronto: Channel View Publications, pp. 152 - 171

• 2002/3 Production Assistant on 'Happy Natives' written by Greig Coetzee and directed by Christine Harmar-Brown: Soho Theatre and Edinburgh Festival

• 2001  South African National Television Award, and MNET best writer and best team award for short film 'No Sir, I Am Not On The Menu'

• 1997 – 2000 Teaching Awards from the Drama and Performance Studies Programme, University of KwaZulu-Natal

• 1998 – 2001 Workshop facilitator: Siyaya Productions, South Africa (theatre-for-development and dance-in-education)

• Committee Member for REDEYE at Durban Art Gallery (monthly art and performance platform)

• 1998 - 2001 Performer, producer, and writer: Mad Cow Productions

• 1998 - 2001Choreographer: Bruise Dance Company

• 1996 - 2001 Dancer: Flatfoot Dance Company

• African Theatre Association (Executive member)
• African Performance Review (Subscriptions editor)
• South African Dance Journal (Editorial Board)
• Society for Dance Research
• Society of Dance History Scholars
• Foundation for Community Dance
• Congress of Dance Research

‘Mapping the Body’s Movement’ in South African Theatre Journal, 24 (2010)

Both geography and choreography are concerned with the movement of the body in space, and in the context of South Africa, the geography of apartheid might be understood as a legislative choreography. This article seeks to establish how aspects of geography studies could be employed as tools to analyse the choreography of a South African individual's embodied experience both on and off the theatre stage.

‘Mama Africa’: HIV/AIDS and National Identity in South African Choreography’ in South African Theatre Journal, 22 (2008)

Flatfoot Dance Company’s TRANSMISSION: Mother to Child (2005) explores the theme of motherhood, focusing on HIV/AIDS and mother-to-child transmission, the surrogacy relationship between ‘black’ domestic workers and ‘white’ children, and the construction of the nation of South Africa as mother. Choreography articulates the body’s somatic and cultural identity; therefore my reading of TRANSMISSION: Mother to Child uncovers a complex and multi-faceted version of the South African body in relation to national discourse and HIV/AIDS; a diverse image of nation that is both male and female and of all ‘races’, nurturing and violent, and HIV-positive and negative. In response to Flatfoot Dance Company’s choreography, I created a solo performance project titled Mothers and Daughters (2005), in which I used my own embodied experience of the surrogate relationship between ‘black’ domestic workers and ‘white’ children in Apartheid South Africa, in order to comment on the construction and experience of bodies under the Apartheid regime. Acknowledging my inheritance of this relationship, I argue that as a child of Mama Africa, I, like all South Africans, am to be held responsible and accountable for the transmission and the treatment of HIV/AIDS regardless of ‘race’, gender or HIV status.

• www.sarahleighcastelyn.com