Charge: Interpreting Scientific Research through interdisciplinary devised performance (sound)
- Submitting institution
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De Montfort University
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 33118
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Warwick Arts Centre
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
- -
- Year of first performance
- 2017
- URL
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-
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- “Charge - Conveying Scientific Research though Interdisciplinary Devised Performance (sound)” is a practice-led research project musically-directed and composed by Smith and part of a larger project, ‘Charge’. The research was carried out in collaboration with the science partner Dame Frances Ashcroft (Oxford University) as well as Motionhouse Dance Theatre and Basque company Logella Multimedia, building on practice research projects carried out with MDT over 22 years. As Musical Director, Smith was a key collaborator, driving the research imperative through identifying Ashcroft’s book ‘The Spark of Life’ as the central text upon which the research built. As MD, Smith oversaw the creation of the original score, including a substantial number of pieces she composed herself.
The practice-based research explored methodologies for collaborative practice, through which to convey scientific meaning in the creation of an original score for a interdisciplinary performance work. The 12-month research project ran from 10/16-10/17 and explored three key questions;
• What methodologies of creative practice can be developed to support exchange between artists and scientists?
• In what ways can music convey/communicate scientific meaning?
• How can interdisciplinary collaboration produce scientific meaning in the space ‘between’ music and dance?
These questions shaped the creative process, the exchange between artists and scientists resulting in a 70-minute dance theatre work “Charge” (Motionhouse Dance Theatre) that shared scientific meaning through the symbiotic relationship between music and dance. “Charge” has been performed 66 times, to a national and international audience of c.23,000. The research was included in the Charge Portal (https://charge.motionhouse.co.uk), an educational resource to assist teachers and students in their study of the work (including BTEC and RSA). In 2019 the score was shortlisted for the finals of the Creative Innovation in Sound category of the UK’s Theatre and Technology awards.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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