Dance4, Nottingham, UK
Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Paul Russ
Dance4 is an internationally recognised, experimental dance organisation with a strong regional programme and a unique voice in the UK dance sector. Dance4 supports international and UK artists who are interested in the development of dance. Dance4 has a strategic role for dance development across the East Midlands working with a range of partners, venues and individuals to create exciting opportunities to bring dance artists and communities together. Our artists programmes include residencies, research, performances and the biennial Nottdance Festival. Our regional work for children and young people’s dance includes U-Dance platforms supporting young people from across the region to perform and our Centre For Advanced Training (CAT) which nurtures aspiring, talented young dancers.
Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki, Finland
Senior Producer, Jonna Strandberg
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art is the leading museum of contemporary art in Finland. It is part of Finnish National Gallery. Kiasma's mission is to collect and expose Finnish and international contemporary art, and it has an active role on the international art scene. Kiasma Theatre widens the museum program to performing arts but also has a diverse experience in working with interdisciplinary projects. Kiasma Theatre is constantly searching for new perspectives for the art institution. It has also curated international /theatre.now - contemporary performance event since 2005. /theatre.now reflects the change in the field of contemporary art, which has resulted in more active and dynamic participation by artists, spatial designers, theorists, and public. Kiasma Theatre is also producing an annual international urban art festival URB since 2000. URB program spreads out all over city, also outdoors.
Middlesex University, London, UK (Lead Partner)
Prof of Dance and Choreographic Practice Vida L Midgelow, v.midgelow@mdx.ac.uk (ADiE Principle Investigator)
A growing community of research excellence, Middlesex has a strong research culture that values and encourages research and professional practice from all parts of the academic community, including early career researchers. Over the past few years, Middlesex has made a major investment in its research capacity by recruiting over 200 academic staff, including many Professors and Readers; individuals who are renowned in their fields and who further strengthen the platform on which our research and professional practice capabilities are built.
We have a thriving doctoral research community in the Dance department, with students following traditional, mixed mode (practice based) and Doctor of Arts routes, and enjoying good inter-disciplinary links with related fields. Student topics include areas such as cyberdance, collaborative dance making, dance training, sited practice, improvisation and choreography, dance and ageing, and dance on screen.
University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland
Prof of Artistic Research, Leena Rouhiainen
University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki) provides the highest level of education in the arts in Finland, engages in research and artistic activity, and seeks to make an impact in the society through the arts. Uniarts Helsinki was formed in 2013 as a result of a merger between three formerly independent universities: Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Sibelius Academy, and Theatre Academy Helsinki. The Theatre Academy Helsinki offers education in the performing arts at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels. It hosts degree programmes in Lighting Design, Sound, Dance, Choreography, Theatre Pedagogy, Dance Pedagogy, Acting, Directing, Dramaturgy, Ecology and Contemporary Performance, and Live Art and Performance. The Performing Arts Research Centre is responsible for all research and doctoral education at the Theatre Academy Helsinki. Having offered doctoral degrees in the performing arts for 25 years, the Theatre Academy Helsinki is a forerunner in the area of artistic research. Here artistic research focally aims to develop theatre, dance and performance art and their pedagogy.
University of Chichester, Chichester, UK
Prof of Dance and Somatics, Jane M Bacon
Chichester University has a diverse portfolio of approaches and practices to research, our strategy recognises that success depends on the empowerment, support and contribution of staff and students within the supportive community that they create. As a University we are well on the way to achieving this vision as indicated by the University exceptional performance in the most recent UK-wide Research Excellence Framework (REF) which confirmed that 90% of our submitted research was at an international level with 15% classified as 'world-leading'. Dance is part of a lively research culture which includes visiting artists contributing to regular research presentations, performances, installations and exhibitions and an ongoing Research Dialogues series. The Dance department has gained an international reputation in PhD studies through Practice as Research, and actively encourage applicants in this area of research practice.
University of Stockholm, Sweden
Head of Research Education, Camilla Damkjaer
Stockholm University of the Arts (Uniarts) provides education and conducts research in the fields of circus, dance, film, media, opera and performing arts. With our unique composition of education and artistic research, we want to create new opportunities for societal development and knowledge of tomorrow.
Stockholm University of the Arts was established in 2014 when DOCH the School of Dance and Circus, the University College of Opera, and the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts merged.
Artistic research programmes are a central part of Uniarts’s research environment. Developing artistic research education and providing artistic research programmes at a high level internationally are a part of Uniarts’s research strategy. By creating an active, critical and dynamic environment for research, we enable doctoral students to develop their work in a way that contributes to artistic research as a transdisciplinary field, to greater improvement in knowledge and expertise within different artistic fields, and to strengthening the link between research and the first-cycle programme.
Weld, Stockholm, Sweden
Dancer, choreographer, founder and artistic director of Weld, Anna Koch
Weld is an artist-run platform in Stockholm for developing and presenting choreographic works. Interested in a critical discourse around production and distribution Weld has since 2006 produced, co-produced and presented choreographic works, arranged thematic festivals, symposiums and talks. Weld is supporting a wide group of young or established artists, mainly from the field of dance, but also projects coming from visual art, theory or music. Weld has been hosting PhD seminars in collaboration with Stockholm University of the Arts.
Weld offers an environment that invites reflective conversation and encourages critical thinking, as an aim to provide new thoughts and attitudes within the art-scene in Stockholm. Weld has during its ten years been hosting a large number of various projects from different fields, a crossover to other art forms, ways of thinking and practises. The organisation moves freely around the needs of artists, questions and explores new situations and perspectives to the arts. Weld works for cultivating, strengthening and developing the art form.
Zodiak – Centre for New Dance, Helsinki, Finland
Head of Outreach and Education, Katja Kirsi
Zodiak – Center for New Dance is a progressive dance organisation and the most significant contemporary dance production house with two stages and studios in Helsinki, Finland. Zodiak hosts Finnish independent dance groups and artists as well as provides a joint, collegial platform for various artistic activities. For the audience, Zodiak offers a versatile repertoire of current contemporary dance, artists, phenomena, discussions and events.
Zodiak co-produces 15–20 new dance productions per year and organises the annual Side Step Festival. Zodiak is a member in several international networks and cooperates internationally in production as well as artist and teacher exchange.
Zodiak is known as a significant, innovative and unique dance organisation in Finland and abroad. Zodiak promotes its productions and organises tours and exchange for its related artists.