haptic_dance

2011. Solo dancework performed and received by touch.

Choreography and performance - Sue Hawksley.

Thanks to dancers Freya Jeffs and Hannah Seignior for their contribution to the choreographic process.
R & D supported by choreographic residencies at Dance House, Glasgow and Dance Base, Edinburgh.


photos: Roddy Simpson

haptic_dance is a tactual dance performance - a dance performed through touch - for an audience of one. The work aims to make tangible some impressions of the dancer's subjective experience of dancing. The audience member is seated to receive the dance, which comprises a choreographed sequence of touches, brushes, pressures and holds. Following the performance, they are invited to make any expression of their own - this may be through writing, drawing, or dance.

Movement workshop and poster presentation at Watching Dance International conference - University of Manchester, 2010
Performance and presentation at Embodied Values: Senses in Motion Symposium - IASH University of Edinburgh, 2011
Presented at Neuroscience and Dance Workshop - University of Glasgow, 2011
Performance at unoccupied exhibition - Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, 2012

✐ WRITING

Hawksley, S. (2013) Dancing on the Head of a Sin. Leonardo Electronic Almanac (Special Issue - Without Sin: Taboo and Freedom within Digital Media). Vol 19 (4), pp.84-97. > PDF

Hawksley, S. (2010) [unpublished] Tactile Manoeuvres: touch and intention in dance. Poster presentation at Watching Dance International Conference, University of Manchester, 2010.