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The project explores the gestural knowledge and physicality of the dances of Eshou, a deity in Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. The fieldwork conducted in the state of Bahia focuses on capturing the cross-cutting elements that inform the dance: kinesthesia, the imagination, and ritual, mythological, historical-social, political, and identity-related dimensions. Thanks to the collaboration of notation specialist Benesh Johanna Classe and Laban movement analyst Lenira Rengel, the analysis covers body postures, movement qualities, joint organization, the relationship to weight, support, and…

This project aims to develop a prototype application and web platform dedicated to writing, publishing, and sharing choreographic scores using Laban notation. With a focus on sustainability and data integrity (in light of the accelerated obsolescence of digital content), this research aims to address a variety of current needs: a semantic approach to musical notation, the separation of content from its formatting, explicit specification of the composition system, open protocols and formats, a responsive and intuitive interface, integration of hypermedia content, indexing, and advanced search c…

Following the interviews conducted with Lisa Nelson (available on Sarma’s platform, Oral Site), this project presents sixteen interviews with Steve Paxton conducted in the early 2000s by Myriam van Imschoot, in which Steve Paxton discusses key moments in his life and in the history of dance: his early experiences with dance alongside José Limón and Merce Cunningham, his work with Judson Church, the founding of Grand Union, the development of improvisation, and his fascination with the everyday body, and transhistorical themes such as ecology, sexuality, and models of artistic practice. The pro…

While organizing the archiving of Mandapa’s documents, the project offers an analytical and critical examination of the role that this Parisian institution—founded by Milena Salvini in 1975 and dedicated to so-called “traditional” arts (movement-based arts primarily from India but open to all cultures of the world)—has played in the discovery, dissemination, and transmission of the world’s dances. In doing so, it sheds light on a little-known aspect of the history of contemporary dance in France.Having nurtured European creativity for decades, the Mandapa was also a stimulating venue for inter…

By introducing new models of 3D animation for expressive movement, this dynamic archive project—in the form of an interactive installation—allows visitors to physically experience a repertoire of Isadora Duncan’s dances. Captured and then digitized using motion capture and video, the motor characteristics of her dance—its dynamic qualities and bodily organization—were transformed, through geometric abstraction techniques, into lines of action and spatio-temporal sketches. The prototype of the installation was tested by performers from two different generations of the Duncanian tradition of thi…

The project aims to compile and contextualize the archives produced by the Atelier Contact. Founded in 1978 by S. Cotto, D. Silhol, M. Tompkins, É. Veyron, A. Fournier, M. Muffat-Joly, and P. Riou—after they met John Cage, Steve Paxton, and Lisa Nelson at the Fêtes musicales de la Sainte-Baume—the Atelier Contact became the Danse Contact Improvisation association in 1979, established a branch in Nice in 1981, and organized the first international gathering, which took place in 1982 at Sainte-Baume. It was dissolved in 1985.

Drawing on a collection of teachers’ accounts of their practices and the unique nature of Martha Graham’s teaching methodology, the project aims to contribute to a specific body of knowledge: In contrast to prevailing approaches (which focus primarily on forms, exercises, counts, aesthetics, and movement), this study focuses on the principles of dance, the doctrine, and the diversity of teaching practices. A fundamental question drives the project: How can we ensure that Graham’s legacy is passed on faithfully?

This project aims to define and transcribe into Laban notation the fundamental movements of flamenco dance (arm movements, foot stomps, and footwork)—whether generic or specific to a particular palo—which give them a unique rhythmic and physical character, in a relationship that is equally specific to the music and singing. This “ABC” that everyone goes through during their learning and training, and in their dancing, also serves as a foundation for the original works of choreographers such as the bailaora Mercedes Ruiz.

1– Interpretations of fundamentals shared by the arts and artists2 – An exploration of the elements and influences that shape a creative process based on a unique artistic journeyThe project aims to examine the foundations of a body of work—a choreographic style refined over the course of thirty-five years of creation. By demonstrating how certain fundamentals of a unique choreographic style are foundational and shared by other artistic approaches (A. Kapoor, L. Yano, T. Hernandez, D. Jeanneteau, F. Tanguy, L. Peduzzi, J.-L. Guionnet, S. Murayama), he offers some insights into the impact of th…

nitiated by Nancy Stark Smith (dancer and choreographer) and Dieter Heitkamp (director of the Dance Department at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt), the Round Robin Project is a collective initiative founded in 2008,dedicated to creating a platform for the international archives of Contact Improvisation. Building on an initial effort to bring together the multitude of sites (no fewer than 300) by creating a Global Contact Improvisation Calendar, the Global Contact Improvisation Archive highlights the development of the technical, somatic, and political aspects at wo…

The project aims to preserve the legacy—a choreographic, educational, critical, and administrative heritage—of Espacio Café Müller, Club de danza, a warehouse in the Villa Crespo neighborhood: an independent, unsubsidized, and self-managed venue that has become emblematic of experimental dance in Buenos Aires. Born out of the initiative of a group of young teachers from Arte XXI, led by Jimena Garcia Blaya, Laura Aguerreberry, Analia Slonimsky, and Omar Possemato, this dance school and residency space, which operated from 2011 to 2016, launched the country’s first international festival of eme…

This e-book is intended to highlight and make available, in an interactive format, archival materials from the Bronislava Nijinska Collection at the Library of Congress (Washington), D.C., which were consulted and photographed in August–September 2019 as part of research conducted on the dance piece "Les Noces" ("Svadebka"), created in 1923 by Nijinska. The aim is to continue this systematic exploration of the sources of major works in the history of dance and, through the subsequent work of choreographer Dominique Brun and contemporary dance performers, to create a tension between history and…