Movement Research Town Hall Meeting

Co-Hosted and organized by the Movement Research Artist Advisory Council, Moderated by Jill Sigman

9.21.10, Judson Memorial Church, 8pm

32 years since the founding of Movement Research and the coining of its name, Movement Research invited the whole community to come together to discuss what the concept of ‘movement research’ means to us today. What are we researching? What is the form of that research, what does it require and how is it shared, accessible, or made legible?

 We find ourselves now thirty–two years since the founding of Movement Research and the coining of its name; we are entering a new post-Cunningham, post-Pina Bausch era; and we operate in a world where our concepts of information and research are changing rapidly. The umbrella question “what is our research now and (why) is it valuable to us?” seemed a relevant and potent landscape for discussion. We invited three participants to act as catalysts for different lines of discussion and thought: Tere O’Connor, Luciana Achugar, and Daria Fain. The Town Hall was moderated by Jill Sigman.

The discussion led to a number of related topics. Here are some questions that emerged:
Is our movement our research, or is it separate from it? Is movement something that leads to research or vice versa?
Is knowledge a product or is it somehow embedded in a process?
Is there a “saturation point” at which a trail of research is not valuable any more or becomes a style or fetish?
What is the connection between research and technique? Is one a tool to produce the other?
Is there something necessarily linear about research or can it be non-linear?
What is the role of feedback in our research? Is there a cyclical process of getting information and continuing research?
Can product not be related to research? (can it come out of ritual, for example?)
Are we at a point of letting go of certain entrenched dichotomies (between process and product, research and knowledge, etc)?
How much is our concept of research related to scientific research? Does that relation bolster respect for and understanding of dance or does it sabotage it in some way?
What are we producing by research? Knowledge or other things? What other things?  

Studies Project: Moving Dialogue, A Bucharest/New York Dance Exchange

presented by Movement Research, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, National Dance Center Bucharest, Dance Theater Workshop and Gabriela Tudor Foundation

10.20.10 Dance Theater Workshop Studio, 7pm

Panelists Mădălina Dan, Mihaela Dancs, Paul Duncă, Cosmin Manolescu, Vava Ştefănescu, Gina Şerbănescu (RO), Maggie Bennett, Levi Gonzalez, HeJin Jang, Jon Kinzel, and Jillian Peña (USA) introduce the Romanian contemporary dance scene and discuss making work in the USA and Romania.