Sanger, Andrew; (2024) For of these islands I am made: dance and environmental sensibility in the United Kingdom. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Preview

Text Sanger_10189518_Thesis.pdf Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

The current relationship between artistic and activist practice in the UK is a complicated field characterised by the navigation of arduous constraints and expectations of funding bodies, the political suppression of the social value of artistic practice, and the seemingly exponential frequency of contemporary crises. Despite these impediments, the UK is home to a robust community of artists, facilitators and researchers who argue that dance is not a frivolous response to the climate crisis but is instead an essential component of developing environmental sensibility. Following extensive fieldwork between 2020-2022, this thesis analyses the work of UK movement artists advocating for more environmentally conscious relationships with each other and the planet. First, ‘experiences of enchantment’ provide a framework for understanding the intentions and outcomes of sensual and perceptual movement practices. Second, elements of storytelling play an important role in alchemizing individual experiences of the environment into collective expression, thus integrating the solitary into the social. Furthermore, this thesis acknowledges the significance of the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic and traces some of its impacts on dance communities in the UK. Finally, despite their environmentally minded work, many of these artists are hesitant to claim any sort of activist identity. In response to this complicated tension, I offer soft activism, or an activism of attention, as a framework to understand the subtle power of artistic practice.

Download activity - last month

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Archive Staff Only

View Item