Biography
Pauline Brooks is a Senior Lecturer in Dance at Liverpool John Moores University. She is involved in creative research which has been presented at conferences on Dance, Technology and Pedagogy in the UK, USA and Malaysia. Her research explores how video conferencing can bring students together from across the world to create new work for the theatre and the virtual performance arena. Her research in this area has resulted in a 2009 LJMU Curriculum Innovations Award. In 2004 she was made a LJMU Teaching Fellow in recognition to her contributions to teaching and learning at the university. Previous to LJMU, she performed with Nexus Dance Theatre (Scotland), Springs Dance Co. (England), Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit and Sybil Dance Co. (USA) She has choreographed and taught extensively in the UK and overseas, including posts at Temple and Clarion Universities in America, as well as with Lectureships at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities.
Abstract
Dancing with the Net: videoconferencing as a means to creative collaboration in HE
Phillypool has been an international collaborative research project in dance between two universities -- one situated in Liverpool, UK the other in Philadelphia, USA. To become the leaders of tomorrow, students need to be introduced to innovative learning and teaching methods today, so that they will be inspired to use and develop such innovations in their working practice for the future. The project has enabled collaboration between tutors/researchers and student performer/choreographers. It has enabled students to work with peers from 3000 miles away by communicating via web cam, Adobe Connect, Skype and email. Dancers have shared time and, together with the technology, created a new performance environment where they became one company united through the virtual 'shared space' of the cone-of-capture. Students have worked together to create a short dance works for sharing with others, exploring together if, and how, technology can expand their learning network. Tutors have created works with the students, exploring new spaces for creativity, performance and refining pedagogical implications when teaching creative practices via video conferencing. The presentation will outline five of the projects undertaken 2007-2012, illustrated by clips of the work created. Contextualization will be made of the five year-long international collaborative research endeavour to explore choreographing and performing over the internet. Analysis and evaluation will be made of artistic outcomes of working with the technology and of the strategies employed to engage dance students and audiences in new areas of performance using the Internet.
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