Black Rock - Black Rock used practice research to examine the motivations, aesthetics and cultural histories of rock climbing, using the first ascent of ‘Indian Face’ in Snowdonia by elite climber Johnny Dawes as a case study.
- Submitting institution
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The University of Leeds
: B - Performance and Cultural Industries
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies : B - Performance and Cultural Industries
- Output identifier
- UOA33B-1917
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- stage@leeds
- 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
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Black Rock used practice research to examine the motivations, aesthetics and cultural histories of rock climbing, using the first ascent of ‘Indian Face’ in Snowdonia (graded for difficulty ‘E9 6c’ in 1986) by elite climber Johnny Dawes as a case study. Part of a wider investigation into Performing Mountains (AHRC, 2016-18 £250K), Black Rock posed the question: how can the heightened experience of climbing be translated to an audience on the ground? Shearing as Postdoctoral researcher directed a team of dancers, composer, digital engineers and writer to create the 50min performance premiering at stage@leeds and screened at Kendal Mountain Festival(KMF), in November 2017. Pitches, as PI on the larger project, originally conceived the project and acted as dramaturg, feeding in historical and cultural research from an associated monograph on mountain performance. Co-commissioned by KMF and supported by ACE (£15K) and University of Leeds (£10K), the R&D phase began with an intensive site visit to Clogwyn Du’r Arddu on Snowdon, working with a mountain guide, Dawes, the arts officer of KMF, and site-specific artist, Louise Ann Wilson. An 8-month period of creative development followed with visits back to the site, and to climbing walls in Leeds. Movement workshops were conducted by climbers and interviews undertaken with Dawes and with non-elite climbers. Black Rock constitutes a single output supported by contextual information, including Performance Research: On Mountains, 24(2), and an international symposium both of which position Black Rock in an international context of cultural responses to mountains.
The project yielded insights into: i) the synergy between choreography and climbing; ii) the extent to which performance can counterbalance masculine and singular narratives of climbing with a more plural and inclusive narrative; iii) the capacity for performance to translate felt experiences of vertigo, summit fever, mindfulness and loss, from climber to spectator.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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