Fiona Bannon (PhD) is Chair of DanceHE, the representative body for Dance in Higher Education in the UK. Beginning her career in community dance in the UK and Australia (NSW) she later joined the University of Hull as a lecturer in dance becoming the Head of the School of Arts and developing School of Arts and New Media. Now at the University of Leeds she works with students exploring collaborative practice, choreography, improvisation and works with doctoral candidates in arts practice as research. Current research includes the preparation of a manuscript, Approaching collaborative practices: ethical considerations in performance and dance. Fiona is part of the team currently exploring the re-launch of World Dance Alliance-Europe.
Fiona Bannon
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Articles
Mindful motion: engagement with the messy vitality of research
The arguments presented in this paper, offer a reminder of ways we might practice research as a mindful endeavor and in the process, seek new comprehension of our world. Sparked by my annual reconsideration of what is important to share as a teacher, I visit ideas that we might underpin nimble thinking and so hone significant change. In this way, the paper offers, a gentle disturbance to the streamlining and consolidation of practice-as-research in the academy. The discussion champions practice that reveals ideas, without rushing to answers. To recognise the opportunities afforded by this place of not knowing, there is need to recognise that our search is to provisionally affirm, rather than finally confirm, order. In grappling with ways to guide researchers, I argue that understanding the consequences of ‘how’ you engage with the potential of knowledge is the significant aspect of practice-as-research that we must protect.
Starting from here: dance in higher education from the inside out
Starting from here explores the realm of interconnected experiences that exist in the study of dance as a site of emergent learning, embedded in the practice of ‘becoming’ and framed by the expanding field of everyday aesthetics. The paper explores a collection of ideas which frame the disciplinary condition, made evident through current practice in the UK. The paper explores some of the ongoing translations of dance as a discipline of study, and articulates potential future disciplinary intersections in the context of ongoing social, economic and political turbulence.