The experience of affect in collaborative performance-making

: an analysis of a dance improviser's practice

Abstract

In this Practice as Research project I investigate the role that affect plays in collaborative performance-making. This thesis offers a dance improviser’s analysis of the process of taking choreographic material from the studio to a performance event. The underlying aim throughout this project has been threefold: to find ways in which the study of affect can become instrumental and meaningful for movement improvisers; to inform the study of movement improvisation as an artistic practice; and to contribute to the wider critical field of affect studies. For the theoretical underpinning of the project I contextualise my critical research within affect studies, with a particular reference to conceptualizations of affect in dance studies. However within this framework, I adopt a nomadic approach —a perspective of non-attachment to any one conceptual model or theory— in order to allow for findings generated during my artistic process to feed into the development of my theoretical analyses. Through the making of five performance pieces, my inquiry focuses on the affective forces that bring the collective work forward, which I articulate in two central research questions: how do we create artistic work drawing from affects generated by shared improvisational experience? What are the affective dynamics at play when we create with others? These questions function as tools for awareness and critical reflection during the creative and writing process. The thesis presents a detailed discussion of the process of improvising with various mediums, including music improvisation, sonification of movement, sound art, poetry, objects, and costumes. An important contribution of this project is the recognition that "the autonomy of affect’ (Massumi 1996) demands for methods of inquiry that allow for multiple entries to the same process. In addition, this thesis offers an innovative take on multi-modal techniques to documentation, integrating the voice of the dancer using video editing techniques as a practice of artistic meaning-making that continues to feed into the choreographic process. Using a conversâtion-as-documentation methodology, the project presents evidence of the richness of the improvisatory and performance-making process for the investigation of affect.

Date of Award	Dec 2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Aoife McGrath (Supervisor) & Paul Stapleton (Supervisor)