Dance Studies

This project will allow the student to carry out their own research in choreographic practices from a range of perspectives of their choosing. Examples of this can include but are not limited to Western contemporary dance practices, choreography in the expanded field, conceptual practices, live art and performance art, choreography for video and digital contexts, performance and perspectives in decolonisation and Tangata Whenua, collaboration, visual arts performance, social justice and performance, and ecological perspectives.

This research aims to examine diverse dance education practices and theory in formal and informal contexts. A specific focus will be in relation to how dance pedagogies attend to UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Skills required: Dance education experience

This project explores artistic practices of dance making, documentation, and studio methods. Applicants should be coming from a dance related undergraduate degree, and will be required to explore choreographic knowing and forms of writing that emerge from the site of creative process, in relation to current literature framing artistic research and experimental documentation.

This project will involve the investigation of Māori Contemporary Dance archives. Applicants will explore historical meanings, functions and values of dance that are distinct to tangata whenua creative and performing arts. Applicants should be coming from a dance-related undergraduate degree, and will be required to engage in field work gathering, interpreting and presenting understandings of dance, and the organisation of archival materials for analysis.

This project explores how meanings, functions and values of dance are poised to shift within an unpredictable future. Applicants should be coming from a dance-related undergraduate degree, and will be required to engage in field work gathering, interpreting and presenting understandings of dance, exploring new trends for dance knowledge in creative, educational and social contexts.

This project explores choreographic, performance and creative practice. Choreographic exploration, tasking, analysis, discussion, and expanded creative methodologies will be utilised. This project is ideal for students coming from a dance undergraduate degree who are curious about developing a rigorous practice embracing creativity, collaboration and critical thinking, as well as exploring new avenues for dance-making and creative practice.

This project examines how somatic practices and/or therapeutic dance approaches facilitate wellness in creative practice, community settings, and/or clinical settings. Applicants should be coming from a dance-related undergraduate degree, and will be required to conduct research including the appropriate research design, data collection, analysis/interpretation, and production of a final product (whether it be practice-based or fully written).

The dance studio context encompasses a multitude of complex relationships and modes of thinking and doing. Many factors can influence experiences of community, citizenship, and identity in dance-making and learning. This project could include creative practice and/or other methods of field research and may engage with any dance studio context for example, tertiary education, recreational or community dance learning, dance technique, professional dance and performance preparation. Applicants should be able to identify a point of curiosity among these themes/contexts to investigate, and should have completed an undergraduate degree in dance.

Over the years, dance practices have evolved to become part of cultural economies. Following neoliberal economic theories and ideas, dancers and dance companies have become part of production chains that create commodified products. This project will critically examine the place of dance in the production, distribution and consumption chains within an unpredictable and constantly disrupted economic landscape. The project seeks to attract researchers from a dance-related undergraduate degree. The researchers will conduct fieldwork research to collect data, and analyse and present these data to reveal the place of dance or and dancers in the economy.