Why practice research matters in the arts.

Professor Sarah Whatley, Coventry University - Centre for Dance Research.
Sarah discusses the ways in which practice research is a valuable method for showing how co-production can bring together researchers, artists and other stakeholders (including audiences) for mutual benefit. Drawing on her own experience of working with professional dance artists she shared some examples of how co-production leads to inspiring collaborations whilst needing care about how to conduct the research responsibly, ethically, and with awareness of the different structures that determine working practices.
This video describes:
• The scope and potential of practice research
• Ways to determine working methods and meeting expectations in co-production
• What the benefits of co-production are for researchers, artists and audiences.
Sarah Whatley is Director of the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University, UK. Her research interests extend to dance and new technologies, intangible cultural heritage, somatic dance practice and pedagogy, dance documentation, and inclusive dance practice; she has published widely on these themes. Whilst her expertise is primarily in dance, her research is often interdisciplinary and highly collaborative, working with artists, designers and researchers from other disciplines including law, anthropology, medicine, psychology, digital media and computing science. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the European Commission, Leverhulme Trust and Wellcome Trust, her projects focus on the creative reuse of digital cultural content, smart learning environments for dancers, reimagining dance archives and dance documentation, dance and disability, and creativity in dance. Her current projects explore ‘what it means to perform’ and the interface between dance, disability, prosthetics and robotics. She has served on REF panels (UoA D33) in 2014 and 2021, is a member of the AHRC peer review college and Chairs the AHRC-sponsored ‘Dance Research Matters’ campaign. She was founding Editor of the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices and sits on the Editorial Boards of several other Journals.
You can find Sarah's slides here: ukrio.org/wp-c...
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