haptic_dance
2011. Solo dancework performed and received by touch.


Images: (L) Photo by Maria Falconer. (R) Photo by Roddy Simpson, performer: Sue Hawksley, receiver: Freya Jeffs.
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.
CREDITS
- 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.
PERFORMANCES & PRESENTATIONS
- Movement workshop and poster presentation: Watching Dance International conference - University of Manchester, 2010.
- Performance and presentation: Embodied Values: Senses in Motion Symposium - IASH University of Edinburgh, 2011.
- Presented at Neuroscience and Dance Workshop - University of Glasgow, 2011.
- Performance: 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- ✐ Hawksley, S. (2010) [unpublished] Tactile Manoeuvres: touch and intention in dance.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. → PDF