Author Archives: Laura Bissell

TDPT Blog Artist Awards

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The TDPT blog was launched last year to encourage a growing community of artists, academics, practitioners and researchers to share practice and debate issues that are currently alive within the disciplines of theatre, dance and performance training. In November to mark the one year anniversary of the launch of the site we will be launching a series of blog posts supported by the new TDPT Blog Artist Awards.

One of our aims was to engage a new audience for the TDPT journal while also creating an online space that encourages spontaneous and productive conversation and debate. We are grateful to everyone who has posted their work on the site to date and we are looking to further grow our network of artists, researchers and performance-makers. The blog currently has around 1000 visitors a month from around the world.

We are keen to encourage artists, practitioners, students and freelance performance-makers to engage with the blog and are launching the TDPT Blog Artist Awards which aim to facilitate those not in full-time employment and students to be able to contribute to the site and the community. We have small pots of money (£50-150) to support artists who pitch an idea for a contribution to the site, either audio-visual, text-based or audio that disseminates an area of performer training that may be of interest to the wider community. To apply, please write a short proposal (no more than 300 words) outlining your suggested submission, format and any media you intend to use. You should also include in your statement how you intend to disseminate your post to your networks and help build new audiences for the blog.  Please email proposals to the blog editors: Maria Kapsali [email protected], Bryan Brown [email protected] and James McLaughlin [email protected].

National Centre for Circus Arts

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We’re pleased to be able to link our community to the National Centre for Circus Arts. Formerly known as the Circus Space, the National Centre for Circus Arts is located in London and one of Europe’s leading providers of circus education. Their Acrobatic Symposium Video Gallery can be accessed online here:

http://www.nationalcircus.org.uk/professional-artists/acrobatic-symposium-20151/acrobatic-symposium-2015-videos

We’d love to hear about other circus arts training courses, or readers’ thoughts on how these videos link to other trainings on the site, in the journal, or in your own practice.

TDPT Blog Feedback

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We launched the TDPT blog two months ago and are keen to know what you think!

* What do you think of the overall look of the blog?

* What do you think of the content available?

* Would you use this as a teaching resource?

* What else would you like to see on the site?

* Any other feedback?

Reply to this post with feedback or contact the editors via our “Get in Touch” page. Many thanks.

Some Pedagogical Provocations

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Jen Harvie argues in Fair Play: “social, economic and political contexts, in England in particular but also more widely in the United Kingdom, are radically reconfiguring what an artist is expected to be and, in so doing, putting the value of being an artist at serious ideological risk” (Harvie, 2013:62). How can learning experiences which focus on creativity, community, and social engagement exist within a culture that “obliges art relentlessly to pursue productivity, permanent growth and profit”? (Harvie, 2013:63).

I am beginning to co-write an article about performance pedagogy and am interested in hearing from other arts educators about the following:

  • How do you “teach” creative practices within your institution?
  • What are the limits or challenges facing practitioners and academics who deliver performance training?
  • How do the wider institutional aims and objectives relate to the pedagogical approach of specific performance programmes?
  • Do you feel the “value of being an artist is at serious ideological risk”?
  • Do “growth and profit” models affect pedagogical approaches towards the training of artists?
  • Are academic structures “creatively constraining” or limiting?

As the TDPT blog editor I am also keen for this site to generate discussion and debate over some of the issues facing practitioners and academics working in the field of theatre, dance and performance training so please do “reply” to share your responses.