Event overview
Performance Research Forum hosts a range of events, talks and presentations by established and early-career researchers and practitioners in theatre and performance.
In this postgraduate panel, Sophie Sleigh-Johnson and Annette Walker will each deliver papers based on their ongoing research. The event is open to students and researchers at all levels of study, as well as staff and members of the public.
Sophie Sleigh-Johnson is a writer, artist, and tutor. She has just completed her PhD in the Fine Art Department at Goldsmiths. https://www.sophiesleigh-johnson.co.uk/
Title: ‘Parish Sempiternal: Dis/orientation and Re-enactment’
Abstract:
This performance lecture aims to enact a ‘Disorientation’ of particular sites, both real and imagined: one that attempts to performatively tune into, map and re-enact affective traces of the past. Disorientation is a theoretical term I take from philosopher Bernard Stiegler – and through which he, after Derrida, locates the historical ruptures brought about by successive phases of technology. My aim is to move an understanding of Disorientation from this solely theoretical realm to that of practice, as a willingly generative modality: to perform an understanding of place as originary technology, symbolised by the mythographic site of the marsh landscape - what philosopher Gilbert Simondon would call a Privileged Place. The lecture will use sound and props to index what it proposes as an alternative practice of re-enactment, disarticulating time and invoking hyperbolic landscapes where Disorientation is uniquely understood at the material level of place itself; its originary mode.
Annette Walker is a dancer, actor and musician as well as an educator and researcher. She is a PhD student in Performing Arts at the University of Wolverhampton. http://annettewalker.co.uk
Title: ‘Restoring the missing story of Buddy Bradley and his contribution to British dance practice’
Abstract:
Choreographer Buddy Bradley worked extensively in British musical theatre from when he arrived in London in 1930 until he returned to New York in the 1960s. He made significant contributions to stage dance practice, choreographed for BBC productions and was likely the first black choreographer of British musical film, yet his work is barely acknowledged in British dance history. Bradley taught hundreds of students including Fred & Adele Astaire, Audrey Hepburn and Bruce Forsyth but his most significant work was with the stage and film star, Jessie Matthews.
This presentation looks at Bradley’s surviving work in British musical film and the social and historical context of his life and career as an African American choreographer in Britain. Uncovering Bradley’s dance work requires navigating negative racial stereotypes and tropes of black people that were prominent in Britain during the mid-twentieth century. The presentation raises questions about the awareness of past and current racialisation in theatrical productions and the work required to undo the “invisibilisation” of Black contributions to British history and culture.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Nov 2022 | 6:45pm - 8:15pm |
Accessibility
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