Research

Rambert School is at the forefront of the UK’s Dance Conservatoire sector and as an institution provides fertile ground for practice and industry informed research in the field of dance. We are delighted to have launched Rambert School Research which aims to promote and develop research activity within Rambert School.

Rambert School Research aims to develop a research programme which is relevant both to the School’s interests and needs as a Conservatoire of Dance and to the profession as a whole. Building upon 100 years of the school’s world-leading training and education in dance, Rambert School Research aims to have international reach and impact, engaging in meaningful dialogues about dance as an embodied practice across boarders, and building global partnerships.

More specifically it aims to:

  • Broaden and magnify research activity in the school by supporting staff at all levels to embark on research projects that advance their own and the school’s practices and activities, as well as contribute to the continuous enhancement of a research-led curriculum at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels
  • Foster an inclusive research culture
  • Make research sustainable, impactful and shareable across the professional and educational sectors
  • Take an active anti-discriminatory stance through its research activities
  • Amplify the voices of underrepresented groups through targeted research activities

The research culture at Rambert School is grounded in the principle that research in dance can be undertaken from a 1st or 2nd person perspective, drawing on the direct experiences of self or others’ engagement in dance practice, or by examining/interrogating dance as a practice from a 3rd person perspective. It is also taken that Applied Research is an integral part of the research culture.

Outputs of our research

Meet the staff, mentors and supervisors for both MA programmes at Rambert School, offering expertise from across the dance field and a diverse range of research interests.

Postgraduate Team

Research at Rambert School is defined as a process of investigation leading to new insight (professionally and institutionally) and effectively shared through a diverse range of outputs reflecting on the research results, and the application of research findings in the researchers’ dance-related practice.

Research can include:

1. The invention and generation of new ideas, performative events and academic research that lead to new or substantially improved insights of relevance to the dance industry, particularly those with which the School is associated.  In addition to written outputs these can take the form of the:

  • Production of original dance work and revivals/re-enactments
  • Production of scenographic and musical/sonic elements of dance works and/or standalone choreographic/audio-visual installations
  • Development of a new interpretation of a role in a dance work

2. the use of existing knowledge in experimental contexts to produce new or substantially improved approaches to performative, choreographic, educational, community and health practices in dance. (Applied Research)

  • the development of new strategies in educational practices designed for professional dance practitioners;
  • the development of new strategies to promote the efficacy of dancer practitioners’ health and well-being;

It excludes:

  • the generation of performative works that do not embody research into: new artistic perspectives; inventive artistic ideas; new choreographic or collaborative processes; approaches to content or presentational forms; and/or inventive approaches to dance as a practice;
  • the generation of teaching strategies and materials that do not embody original approaches to dance and health education

All research is expected to be made publicly available through performance or publication in the form of concrete or technological research outputs. These outputs can include:

  • performative events,
  • research presentations and/or lecture-demonstrations
  • published video materials with commentary (e.g. online) technical devices
  • published documents, including:
    research reports that share the research process;
    guides for good practice in educational and health and well-being contexts,
    academic papers in written form
    and/or in visual form (e.g. videographic academic journals).

This programme offers flexibility through the development of a bespoke learner’s contract that can be tailored to their individual needs and support their practice-led research enquiry across a two-year part-time delivery structure. Offering a range of exploratory learning environments students will be supported independently by a mentor whilst engaging with tutor-led seminars, practical workshops, guest lectures and student-centered reading/research focus groups.

The programme has been written and developed in by the academic faculty at Rambert School led by Head of Studies, Phaedra Petsilas and Postgraduate Advisor, Professor Sarah Rubidge. The team have worked with Principal, Amanda Britton and a range of professional dance specialists to inform the programme, with a heightened understanding of the demands of working as a performer, educator, or creative in the dance field, in order to create a unique Dance Research programme. The priority for the team was to develop a programme that supports, encourages and affirms the value of dance practitioners’ professional practice in relation to academic research.

To find out more visit MA Dance Research.

Since 2018 Rambert School has engaged in meaningful dance research, targeting areas of dance pedagogy, creative practice, psychology, as well as social justice and academic identity. 

Research projects have enriched the life of the school by infusing an ethos of delving deeper into our dance practices and knowledges. Focusing on embodied practice and experiential knowing, the primary focus of our research projects has been to create opportunities for research to spring out of practical engagement with the art from. Furthermore, we have sought to collaborate with external practitioners and scholars and bring in field expertise from the wider industry of dance and the arts, as well as education and dance science. 

Explore the research projects here: 

Meditation for Dancers  (2021 ongoing)

Racial Literacy (2020)

Academic Identity Within the Conservatoire (2020)

Gender Neutral Solo (2020/2021)

Trans-Global Collaborations – Rambert School with Queensland University of Technology in Australia (ongoing)

Interactive Technologies

Safeguarding the Creative Process  (2019)

Reflecting on Action | Creative Approaches to teaching reflective practice (2017/2018)

Dance Dialogues invites scholars and artists from across the dance and performance fields as part of a knowledge exchange platform for dance.

Dance Dialogues 1: Embodied Knowing | How Dancers Think

Introduction from Professor Sarah Rubidge. Hosted by Professor Susan Jones with Amanda Britton, Paul Liburd, Liam Francis, Hannah Rudd and Jacob Wye.

Watch Dance Dialogues 1

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