Institute for Performing Arts Development

Research

Institute staff have research interests in the following fields:

• performance writing
• translation and adaptation theory
• composition
• music for film
• music and identity
• popular and contemporary music studies
• participatory performance
• live art
• visual performance
• contemporary dance.

We are especially interested in research by practice, with a particular emphasis on inclusion and innovation. In addition to this, we undertake contract and commissioned research and consultancy work.

Graham Jeffery and Alice Sampson are leading a major three-year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) entitled ‘Creative Industries and Social Inclusion: young people’s pathways through informal and community learning in the performing arts’, examining the impact of current cultural policy discourses on practice, pedagogy and people in a range of youth arts settings across the UK.

Staff work with the pan-London Teacher Artist Partnership professional development programme for artists and teachers, which includes an action research framework funded by Creative Partnerships, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

UEL is a partner in the FORTE research project led by the Interarts Foundation in Barcelona, examining different approaches to fostering participation in culture and education within four innovative projects in London, the Basque Country in Spain, Vilnius in Lithuania, and Berlin, Germany. This is funded by the ‘Joint Actions’ strand of the European Commission’s Socrates, Leonardo and Youth programmes.

The Institute also conducts project evaluation and short-term research activity: most recently working with Theatre Royal Stratford East on their ‘Hear My Voice!’ project, which develops performance writing with young people who are refugees and asylum seekers. Previous activity includes work for Arts Council England, Creative Partnerships, NESTA, and consultancy work for colleges and universities seeking to develop curriculum models and pedagogies based on some of the innovative practices at UEL.

We are just putting the finishing touches to our East London Theatre Archive project - a unique partnership project which has established a theatre archive for theatre researchers based on the precious resources from a wide range of local and national partners. This project was funded by the Joint Informations Systems Committee.

PhD Practice As Research

IPAD welcomes applications and expressions of interest in research by practice leading to a PhD award from postgraduates and artists working in a range of disciplines. Students on this programme work on individual creative projects and participate in a common workshop and seminar programme as they work towards writing an analytical thesis contextualising their creative work.

Students typically split the practical element of their research work on a 50/50 basis with a 40,000 word thesis.

The normal length of full-time study is three years, but part-time mode is also available, and lasts up to five years. Many international students choose this mode, and partake in the programme while working in their home countries, and completing intensive workshop/seminar programmes in London three times a years in February, July and October. UEL regulation require that students spend at least six weeks in each year studying at the university.

IPAD is currently interested in receiving PhD proposals from students interested in researching their practice in the following areas:

• actor and director training
• British Asian theatre
• translation and adaptation for the stage
• dance and culture
• dance and technology
• dance and music
• creative writing (all forms)
• ethics and contemporary performance
• landscape and performance
• sonic culture
• theatre and conflict resolution

How do I apply to do a PhD?

The first step is to contact the relevant member of staff and talk to them about your practice and your idea for research. Through this discussion, a Phd proposal can be worked on that will then lead to a formal application to the university.

Are there any bursaries or scholarships?

The School does offer bursaries and scholarships but you would first of all need to have made a successful application in order to apply.

For general enquiries about our PhD by Practice, please email our PhD Convenor Dr Dominic Hingorani.

Practice As Research Seminars

As part of our ongoing contribution to this important area of research, we offer a rolling programme of PaR seminars which are open to the public.

SEMINAR 1:00-3:00 pm

DATES/LOCATION/PRESENTERS/WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
October 1, 2010
EB1.01
Presenters: Clare Qualmann and Eyal Sivan
Clare Qualmann will present: 'Things that have gone: the disappearing terrains vagues of the near East End' is an exploration of marginal spaces and their roles; their potential for inspiring and accommodating creative participation in the city.
http://pedleystreetrip.blogspot.com/
http://www.walkwalkwalk.org.uk/
Eyal Sivan will show her latest documentary “Jaffa, the orange’s clockwork” and talk about Creative media archive practices.


November 5, 2010
EB3.11
Presenters: Tim Atkins and Jo Thomas
Tim Atkins has four books of poetry out this year. He will read from each of them and talk about what went into their making. Questions & heckles are welcomed.
Jo Thomas will present on Ultra Tonal 2010 : Micro expression, Macro Ventures

February 11, 2011
Room TBC
Presenters: Matthew Hawkins and Jill Daniels
Matthew Hawkins will present  on ‘The concept of affective tonality and its manifestation as narrative experience in the short film Bullseye ‘
This seminar will explore the concept of affective tonality as a method of understanding narrative, as expressed through my own film practice as research.  Bullseye (Hawkins, 2010) is a five-minute narrative film that encapsulates the narrative modes of Aristotelian linearity through simple ‘plotting’ that centers on the British pub game of darts and a protagonist’s attempts to achieve his goal of throwing a ‘bullseye’. However, this paper will argue that the spectator experiences this narrative through the affective rhythm created by the movement within the frame, the variations of light and colour on screen and the measure of the diagetic sound heard, and that this experience is as important to understanding the narrative as character identification and linearity. Drawing on concepts of affect and sensation developed by Gilles Deleuze (1986, 1989, 2003) as well as his concept of the rhizome developed with Felix Guattari (1988) this paper shall map out the concept of affective tonality as a tool for understanding the holistic cinematic experience and how this can be then used to understand the physical mechanisms of narrative cinema.    
Jill Daniels will present on ‘Problems of the Cinematic Representation of the Self in the Autobiographical Documentary’
“Autobiographical documentaries use reflexivity not to eradicate the real as much as to complicate referential claims.” (Lane 2002: 18) In this presentation I will examine and discuss the problems and decisions taken in the cinematic representation of self in the film work in progress for my PhD called The Border Crossing. The film is set in the Basque country and elides fiction and documentary elements within a discourse exploring place, memory and identity.  The filmed performative elements depict a young woman’s wanderings through the Basque country and over the border into France, interweaved with filmed observational material of several female protagonists who live and work in the area, and whose narratives of the present and past include references to history and violence that interact with the filmmaker’s own off-screen, voiced autobiographical narrative.

March 4, 2011
WB3.01
Presenters: Mary Fogarty and Jorge Ramos
Mary Fogarty will challenge some of the commonly held articulations about the distinctions between art and sport. In doing so, my aim is to explore new aesthetic, postcolonial frameworks for approaching athletic practices, demanding high degrees of physicality, in contemporary art forms. I will focus specifically on the dance form known as breaking (also known as b-boying/b-girling, or 'breakdancing') and its historical legacy as a case study. I hope to share some of the benefits of unravelling some of the currently unchallenged discourses surrounding creative vs. athletic practices for both the educational context as well as the creative practices of performers.
Jorge Ramos work focuses on the structures of interaction between actor and spectator within a live theatrical event. I have been looking specifically at the live performances of the Hotel Medea trilogy in Brazil and the UK during its tour in 2010. I intend to shape this presentation as a mini-event in itself, and as such I must find the minimal tools required to engage participants in the complex interactive structures employed by Hotel Medea. The guiding questions about this work are to the unspoken contract of interaction between audience and the theatrical event, between actor and audience and between an audience member and other audience members within the same event.

April 1, 2011
WB3.01
Presenters: Luis Sotelo and Broderick Chow
Luis Sotelo will present on ‘The place of the intercultural in walking performance.’
Broderick Chow will present on Parkour and political resistance.

May 6, 2011
WB3.01
Presenters: Eve Katsouraki and Carla Trim-Vamben
Eve Katsouraki will present on installation performance art: aesthetics and practices, looking into the Ranciere's notion of the sublime as reconfigured in contemporary performance practices through digital technologies and sciences.
Carla Trim-Vamben will present on club style dances being taught in the studio.

RSVP. Please send an email confirmation to Sarahleigh Castelyn s.castelyn@uel.ac.uk. The workshops/seminars will be followed by refreshments. We look forward to seeing you!

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© 2010