Letters to Sheila: Improvisational scores in creative practice research | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Volume 11, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2040-5669
  • E-ISSN: 2040-5677

Abstract

This article argues that improvisational scores can function as valuable scaffolds to support creative practice research. Drawing on existing literatures about creative practice research, and the practices and scores of artists, including Simone Forti, Rosalind Crisp, James Hazel and Nancy Stark Smith, the article proposes seven different ways in which improvisational scores might help to focus, sustain and evolve research methods. Importantly, the author not only the ways improvisational scores support research; she also a score to write the article itself, thus enacting the method she describes. The score she uses is based around a task – to write a series of letters to non-fiction author Sheila Heti. The resulting letters focus especially on the ways scores are used in improvised dance, and on the ways they might be applied in other fields such as writing and filmmaking. In doing so, the letters show how creative methodologies can be moved across disciplines and artistic forms to invigorate practice. They also give expression to and seek to better understand the embodied and affective dimensions of scholarship.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/chor_00009_1
2020-07-01
2024-04-25
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Banes, Sally. ( 1987), Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance, Middletown:: Wesleyan University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bolt, Barbara. ( 2010;), ‘ The magic is in handling. ’, in E. Barrett, and B. Bolt. (eds), Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry, London:: I.B. Tauris;, pp. 2734.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Brannigan, Erin. ( 2019), Writing Dancing retreat, held in Bendalong, New South Wales, Australia, July 2019 .
  4. Contact Quarterly ( 2019;), ‘ About Contact Improvisation (CI). ’, Contact Quarterly, https://contactquarterly.com/contact-improvisation/about/index.php. Accessed 12 November 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihalyi. ( [1988] 2014;), ‘ Motivation and creativity: Towards a synthesis of structural and energistic approaches to cognition. ’, in M. Csikszentmihalyi. (ed.), Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology: The Collected Works of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Dordrecht:: Springer;, pp. 15573.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. De Quincey Co. ( 2019;), ‘ About BodyWeather. ’, De Quincey Co, https://dequinceyco.net/bodyweather/about/. Accessed 12 November 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Douglas, Anne, and Gulari, Melehat Nil. ( 2015;), ‘ Understanding experimentation as improvisation in arts research. ’, Qualitative Research Journal, 15:4, pp. 392403. doi: 10.1108/QRJ-06-2015-0035.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Goldman, Danielle. ( 2010), I Want To Be Ready: Improvised Dance as a Practice of Freedom, Ann Arbor:: University of Michigan Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Grant, Clare. ( 2015;), ‘ Improvisation and the “live”: Playing with the audience. ’, in R. Caines, and A. Heble. (eds), The Improvisation Studies Reader: Spontaneous Acts, Abingdon:: Routledge;, pp. 35356.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Grant, Clare. ( 2019), Writing Dancing retreat, held in Bendalong, New South Wales, Australia, July 2019 .
  11. Gray, Carole. ( 2007;), ‘ From the ground up: Encountering theory in the process of practice-led doctoral research. ’, In Theory? Encounters with Theory in Practice-Based Ph.D. Research in Art and Design: AHRC Postgraduate Conference, De Montfort University and Loughborough University, UK, 26 June.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Haseman, Brad. ( 2006;), ‘ A manifesto for performative research. ’, Media International Australia, 118:1, pp. 98106. doi: 10.1177/1329878X0611800113.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Hazel, James. ( 2019;), ‘ Cont score project: Questioning utopias. ’, ADSR Zine, 004, pp. 1316, https://www.adsrzine.com. Accessed 19 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Heti, Sheila. ( 2018), Motherhood, London:: Penguin Random House;.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Ingold, Tim. ( 2011), Being Alive, London:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Kramer, Paula. ( 2012;), ‘ Bodies, rivers, rocks and trees: Meeting agentic materiality in contemporary outdoor dance practices. ’, Performance Research, 17:4, pp. 8391. doi: 10.1080/13528165.2012.712316.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Marks, Laura U.. ( 2002), Touch: Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media, Minneapolis:: University of Minnesota Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Mees, Cleo. ( 2018;), ‘ Washing lines: Encounters in improvised handheld video portraiture. ’, Ph.D. thesis, Sydney:: Macquarie University;.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Millard, Olivia. ( 2016;), ‘ What’s the score? Using scores in dance improvisation. ’, Brolga, 40, pp. 4556, https://ausdance.org.au/articles/details/whats-the-score-using-scores-in-dance-improvisation. Accessed 18 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Morse, Meredith. ( 2016), Soft Is Fast: Simone Forti in the 1960s and After, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Nunez, Sigrid. ( 2018), The Friend, New York:: The Penguin Group;.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Scott Wilson, Anne. ( 2016;), ‘ Improvisation in visual art practice using a photographic process. ’, Brolga, 40, pp. 3044, https://ausdance.org.au/articles/details/improvisation-in-visual-art-practice-using-a-photographic-process. Accessed 21 September 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Schön, Donald A.. ( 1983), The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, New York:: Basic Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Shih-Pearson, Justine. ( 2019), Writing Dancing meeting, held in Sydney, Australia, 2 May .
  25. Smith, Hazel, and Dean, Roger T.. ( 2009), Practice-Led Research, Research-Led Practice in the Creative Arts, Edinburgh:: Edinburgh University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Spivey, Victoria. ( 2009;), ‘ The minimal presence of Simone Forti. ’, Women’s Art Journal, 30:1, pp. 1118.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Van Loon, Julienne. ( 2014;), ‘ The play of research: What creative writing has to teach the academy. ’, TEXT, 18:1, n.pag., http://www.textjournal.com.au/april14/vanloon.htm. Accessed 16 August 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Mees, Cleo. ( 2020;), ‘ Letters to Sheila: Improvisational scores in creative practice research. ’, Choreographic Practices, 11:1, pp. 927, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/chor_00009_1
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/chor_00009_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): creative practice research; dance; improvisation; methodology; scores; writing
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error