Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond

Friday, 19 July 2019
Saturday, 20 July 2019

Full programme here

This two-day praxical symposium is the culminating event of a wider research project, the main outcome of which will be a volume for Routledge Voice Studies Series. It is developed upon activities offered by the majority of the contributors to the project, a group of world-leading pioneers in teaching, researching and disseminating the significance of somatic or somatically-inspired practices towards new research methodologies in somatic and voice studies.

The programme offers participants theoretical and practical (or praxical) insights not only on the dynamic interrelation between contemporary somatic discourses, voice studies and broader critical discussions but also on modes of modern PaR or praxical methodologies and their dissemination.

The activities follow the structure of the volume and unfold in four main parts, along with an Introduction and an Epilogue. Each part focuses on one overarching question as follows:

Part I – How does vocal urgency and awareness emerge from somatic attention to movement?

Part II – How somatic processes can complement vocal training, theories and criticism?

Part III – How can somatic awareness challenge unhelpful dualities and other problematics in vocal process?

Part IV – How current somatic research in voice studies can move beyond performance environments?

After each group of seminars, participants will have the chance to offer their own brief contributions to the main navigating question combined with a reflexive discussion. The invited contributions are 5 min provocations, encouraged to combine theoretical and practical perspectives. The participants’ contributions could be prepared in advance and/or be emergent responses to the offered seminars.

Videos from the symposium