Overview
Aims
This research offers a paradigm shift in understanding of Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT) from that of a dance technique to one of choreographic methodology. The primary research question was: can SRT be not only a dance technique, but also a methodology for creating dance? Thematically the work examines notions of self portaits and questions the culture of 'selfies'.
The research shows how the principles and practice of SRT can be a way into making dance works. Joan Skinner talks about this in an interview, saying that ‘in Releasing, the imagination and the physical self are totally integrated in movement . . . thus technique and creative process are integrated in this technique’ (Skinner, cited in Neuhaus, 2010). The research aims to discover what that actually means in action and to ask questions about what the possibilities are for shifting the paradigm of SRT from one of a dance technique into a creative methodology and practice.
Process
This exposition documents the latter part of a research practice developed over a sustained period. The research involved a detailed examination of a dance technique and its application to choreography. Central to the research is applying the findings to dance making.
SRT is the dance technique that underpins many aspects of contemporary dance, and as such has considerable influence, but it has not previously been examined in this way. The underpinning principles of the dance technique were interrogated, along with specific exercises in the classes, and applied to choreographic processes in a number of settings, each activity leading to the next. These linked, in-depth studies in choreography provide evidence of the evolution and application of the methodology. In thematically questioning the culture of ‘selfies’, anxiety, and modern obsessions, the work utilised the researcher’s own (female) solo body on screen. It drew from images in historical art practices and replicated these on screen utilising current technology in a variety of ways including displaying a multiple screen version as ‘paintings’ in frames, and working with movement responsive technology to create soundscapes. In presenting a new methodological approach to choreography alongside thematic narratives the resulting research is a synthesis of artefacts (dance films) informed by research-led analysis, so offering new insights.
Outcomes
The research has been transmitted globally in over 30 settings, in galleries, festivals, and online. Dissemination via academic papers and conferences include: Making Lemonade, SRT and screendance, Dance and Somatic Practice conference: Coventry, UK (2015), and SRT and the artist-scholar: shifting paradigms in contemporary dance, International Symposium on Practice as Research; Kong Hong Academy for Performance Arts (2017). The research received funding from public bodies, and awards in prestigious screendance festivals in USA, Chile, Italy and Sweden. It has been disseminated through public forums including Slow Dancing, The Embodiment podcast (2020). Referencing by scholars in the field includes Hetty Blades in Screendance Self/portraits, International Journal of Screendance (2018), and by artists who have utilised the research in their practice, including Emily Warner.
Credits:
Vis-er-al (2016)
Director/choreographer/performer: Polly Hudson
Director of photography: Matthew Beckett
Lighting Design: John Constable
Music: Darren Pickles
Editing: Polly Hudson and Matthew Beckett
Making Lemonade (2015)
Director/choreographer/performer: Polly Hudson
Director of photography: Rebecca Pittam
Lighting Design: Catherine Cullinane
Music: Darren Pickles
Editing: Polly Hudson and Rebecca Pittam
About Skinner Releasing Technique
I encountered SRT, developed by Joan Skinner, in 1994. This would prove to be a turning point in my development as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. I took weekly classes and attended numerous retreats and intensives, immersing myself in learning this work. The combination of alignment techniques, movement, hands-on work, and use of poetic imagery made complete sense to me. SRT would come to underpin my teaching, my research, my artistic practice, and to influence me philosophically.
Skinner Releasing Technique as methodology
Phenomenological Lived Experience
Phenomenology and Skinner Releasing Technique
Skinner Releasing Technique as methodology
Dissemination of the Research
Vis-er-al; installation and single screen dance film
2016 9evenings Redux, Vivid Projects: Birmingham, UK (installation)
2016 Mexico City Videodance Festival: Mexico City, Mexico
2017 Hope Film Awards: Las Vegas, USA
2017 Global Short Film Awards: Cannes, France
2017 Screendance Festival: Stockholm, Sweden
2017 FIVC, International Videodance Festival of Chile: Santiago, Chile
2017 C.O.T.A. Festival Fort Worth, Texas, USA (60 secs version)
2018 San Mauro Film Festival: Turin, Italy
2018 FICCE: Buenos Aires, Argentina
2019 Cinedans dance film festival: Amsterdam, Holland
2020 60 seconds International Film Festival, online (60 secs version)
2020 OtherMovie Lugano Film Festival: Lugano, Switzerland
2020 60 Second Intl Film Festival: Islamabad, Pakistan (60 secs version)
Making Lemonade; multiple screen dance film installation and single screen dance film
2015 Body, Space, Object symposium: Coventry
2016 Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices conference: Coventry, UK
2016 9evenings Redux: Vivid Projects, Birmingham, UK, installation
2016 Tran(s)mit International Screendance festival: Philadelphia, USA
2017 TechFest: Innovation in Technology + Film: online and USA
Selected conferences
2019 At what point does a practice become art?, public research seminar, Birmingham City University
2018 Convener: Slowing and stilling: foregrounding process in performance practices, Birmingham City University, in association with International Dance Festival Birmingham
2017 Skinner Releasing Technique and the artist-scholar: shifting paradigms in contemporary dance practices. International Symposium on Practice as Research; Kong Hong Academy for Performance Arts 2017 Slowing perceptions, an alternative to spectacle: interventional performance practices and site-specific dance works in city spaces. AHRA conference; Birmingham City University
2017 *as yet untitled* on process: Life in the Piazza, contemporary histories of Europe in artistic and creative practices symposium, BCU
2016 Convener: 9evenings Redux, Vivid Projects, Birmingham
2015 Making Lemonade, SRT and screendance, Dance and Somatic Practices conference, Coventry University
2015 Making Lemonade. Dialogues across and between dance and art symposium; Coventry University
Selected publications: text based
2020 We Reap What We Sow, embodiment and urban allotment gardening. Part 1: autumn - late winter. October - January, Ruuku Journal
2020 Beyond Technique - Letting Go and the Art of Making Dances; in Skinner Releasing Technique Emerging Narratives, (Emslie et al) Triarchy Press (in press)
2019 Slowing and Stilling; gardening and Releasing, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, Volume 11, Number 2, 1 December 2019, pp. 209-226(18)
2018 Slowing perceptions, an alternative to spectacle: interventional performance practices and site-specific dance works in city spaces, Architecture and Culture Journal, Taylor & Francis
Selected accolades and funding:
2020 Vis-er-al, finalist, 60 Second Intl Film Festival: Islamabad, Pakistan (60 secs version)
2018 Vis-er-al, finalist, San Mauro Film Festival, Turin, Italy
2017 Vis-er-al, finalist, Screendance Festival, Stockholm, Sweden
2016 Vis-er-al, semi-finalist in International Videodance Festival, Santiago, Chile.
2016 Making Lemonade, ‘Best of’ in Tran(s)mit International Screendance festival, Philadelphia: USA
2015 Arts Council England, for Vis-er-al
2015 Business Link, for Making Lemonade
2015 Advantage West Midlands, for Making Lemonade
2014 Arts Council England, for Making Lemonade