Dr Kate Elswit Awarded AHRC Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr Kate Elswit, a Reader in Theatre Performance at Central, who has been awarded a Research Development and Engagement Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The Fellowship builds on Dr Elswit’s longstanding working collaboration with Dr Harmony Bench (The Ohio State University).
Dr Elswit and Dr Bench’s previous AHRC project, Dunham’s Data (AH/R012989/1, 2018-2022) engaged with the case study of choreographer Katherine Dunham in order to ask about the questions and problems that make the analysis and visualization of data meaningful for dance historical inquiry, for which their team received the 2021 ATHE-ASTR Award for Excellence in Digital Scholarship.
While Dunham’s Data pioneered the application of scalable digital methods to the field of dance history, the new fellowship, Visceral Histories, Visual Arguments: Dance-Based Approaches to Data (AH/W005034/1, 2022-2025), focuses on the adaptation of data-driven research to the medium of dance that serves to enable this broader paradigm shift.
Grounded in the specific needs of dance scholarship, this next phase of research engages with emerging digital techniques and technologies from the perspective of dance-based knowledge practices to further investigate how a data-driven approach that is tailored to the medium of dance can transform the use of digital tools to evidence and elaborate the historical study of embodied knowledge more broadly.
The primary mode of delivery is research activity to curate historical data that centres dance-based knowledge practices and to create palpable visual arguments in the form of digital visualizations and immersive experiences, guided by choreographic principles.
Of the Fellowship, Dr Elswit said:
I’m thrilled for the recognition that we have received to date and for the opportunity to carry out this next phase of speculative research to further delve into key areas and concerns that have arisen along the way.
Collaborating Organizations and Project Partners include museums and archives exploring digital innovation (the San-Francisco-based Museum of Dance; the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas; the National Archives of Data on Arts and Culture; The National Archives), emerging technology and design centres at two US universities (Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at The Ohio State University and Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology), and community dance stakeholders (the US-based Institute for Dunham Technique Certification).
Find out more about Dr Elswit’s previous research on Dunham’s Data. Drs Elswit and Bench’s latest essay was just published in TDR and is available open access.
Central is also seeking a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to work with Dr Elswit on this project. Find out more by visiting our Jobs at Central page. Applications are open until 21 March 2022.
