DANSOX Summer Schools, Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, St Hilda’s College, Oxford 11th-25th July 2022

Dance Scholarship Oxford (DANSOX) hosts no less than three exciting summer intensives this July. International artists, writers, choreographers and guests explore themes of creativity and dance-making in relation to other arts. Alice Oswald and Saju Hari explore epic through different media; Thomas Page Dances develops current research on Commonalities; emerging dancers at Rambert School and the Royal Scottish Conservatoire make new dance narratives by and about women.  Guest lecturers include international dance critic Alastair Macaulay and eminent biographer Lyndall Gordon. Visitors are welcome to drop in at any time to watch the processes unfolding, but do book places for the public sharing events listed below.

Venue: Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, St Hilda’s College, Cowley Place, Oxford OX4 1DY

Alice Oswald with Saju Hari and Dancers 11th-14th July

Oxford’s Professor of Poetry Alice Oswald collaborates with internationally renowned contemporary Indian dance and martial arts expert Saju Hari, developing work for the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama All-Night Epic project to come in 2023.

Public Sharing including Q&A: 14th July 5.30pm

Thomas Page Dances: Commonalities 15th-20th July

Thomas Page Dances develops new dance work and discusses the themes of commonality in relation to dance theories, histories and practice.

Public Keynote Guest Lecture given by Alastair Macaulay: ‘Commonalities, Communities, Utopia’ 15th July 11.30am

Public Sharing of the work with Thomas Page Dances including Q&A: 20th July 5.30pm

Deborah Norris, Rambert School and Guests: Women and Choreography 21st-25th July

This exciting choreographic intensive brings together a group of students of the Rambert School and the Royal Scottish Conservatoire in classes and workshops with guest teachers Kate Flatt, Jennifer Jackson and Susie Crow, and to make new work.

Public Keynote Guest Lecture given by Lyndall Gordon: Charlotte Brontë (Villette) 21st July 5.30pm

Public Sharing of Woman-Made! An evening of new short ballets created by women including Q&A

25th July 5.30pm

To book for Keynote Lectures and Public Sharing events please email Professor Sue Jones here

 

Dancing with Apollo – Torch Oxford creative residency July 2021

During July a week-long summer residency sponsored by TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) and supported by DANSOX and APGRD (Archive of Performance of Greek and Roman Drama) took place in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Curated by Marina Warner the residency brought together international choreographer Kim Brandstrup and two renowned dancers, Laurel Dalley Smith and Liam Riddick to develop a new dance-piece Cupid and Psyche with commissioned score by Edmund Finnis as part of the Dancing with Apollo project, originally devised by violinist Sara Trickey.

Read Professor Sue Jones‘ account of the project here

And view a short film of the residency made by Rocio Chacon now available to view on YouTube here

 

“Moon Viewing”: A Postal Poetry Performance -Alice Oswald Midnight Monday 30th November 2020

An exciting project initiated by Alice Oswald (Professor of Poetry University of Oxford), with dancers Estela Merlos and Thomasin Gulgec, and composer Joseph Kay, in collaboration with Rocio Chacon (film-maker) and Kevin Mount (designer). TORCH is collaborating with the Oxford University English Faculty, Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) and DANSOX (Dance Scholarship Oxford) as part of the Professor of Poetry Lecture Series, to invite participants to be part of a Poetry Performance, taking place at midnight on Monday 30th November. This event is led by Alice Oswald, current Professor of Poetry as part of the Humanities Cultural Programme. 

This event is an immersive experience, with limited availability now sold out. 500 signed up participants will be mailed a special copy of a poem written by Alice Oswald. At the stroke of midnight, participants are invited to open their poem and step outside to read it. If you signed up to receive one of the limited mailed copies of the poem written by Alice Oswald, you should receive this by 30th November. Full details will be found on your mailed poem.

If you were unable to sign up for the mailed copy, you can still enjoy a slightly different experience of the evening. Two copies of the poem will also be sent to two dancers who will be filmed opening and reading the poem, so there will be an online performance via YouTube happening at the same time. The performance will be released via the TORCH Oxford YouTube channel at midnight. Watch the performance here.  

Date: Monday 30th November 11.59pm​

 

Beyond the Text: Chorus in the twenty-first century APGRD lecture/performance, Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, 26th September 2019

Oxford University’s Archive of Performance of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) presents Beyond the Text: Chorus in the twenty-first century, a lecture/performance of choruses from Euripides’ Medea, with Marie-Louise Crawley (choreographer), Struan Leslie (Dramaturg, Movement Director), Malcolm Atkins (Composer).  This presentation is the culmination of a week-long workshop with a chorus of professional dancers and students kindly supported by DANSOX, C-DaRE (University of Coventry) and the Oxford University Classical Drama Society (OUCDS).

Performance:  Thursday 26 September, 5pm

Venue:   Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, St Hilda’s College, Cowley Place, Oxford OX1 4DY

Tickets:  Free all welcome; no booking required.

You may also be interested in the APGRD’s free multimedia/interactive ebook on the performance history of Euripides’ Medea – find out more

 

Dr. Nicole Haitzinger presents Gestures and postures: The construction and reception of the tragic in Jean-Georges Noverre’s dance-drama Agamemnon Vengé, DANSOX and APGRD seminar, Ioannou Centre, 8th November 2018

Upcoming; a fascinating seminar being hosted by Dance Scholarship Oxford (DANSOX) and the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) at Oxford University’s Ioannou Centre.  Dr. Nicole Haitzinger of Salzburg University will be talking about the construction and reception of the tragic in Jean-Georges Noverre‘s dance drama Agamemnon Vengé; a chance to gain insight into the ideas and practice of ballet’s great and influential 18th century thinker.

Date:  Thursday 8th November, 5.00pm

Venue:  Outreach Room, The Ioannou Centre, 66 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LU

Free, all welcome, no booking required.

 

From the Neo-Classical Turn to the Baroque ‘Re’-turn: Professor Mark Franko lecture for APGRD & DANSOX, Ioannou Centre, 9th March 2016 2016

Following his fascinating talk last June about Serge Lifar (read Susanna Reece’s account here), another opportunity to welcome distinguished dance scholar Professor Mark Franko to Oxford, at the joint invitation of DANSOX and APGRD (Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama):

‘From the Neo-Classical Turn to the Baroque ‘Re’-turn: French Dance in Retrospective Modernity and Recycling Postmodernity’

Professor Mark Franko, Temple University, Philadelphia

Date:  Wednesday, March 9, 2016 – 5:00pm

Venue:  The Outreach Room, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3L

Free, all welcome.
No booking required.

More information on APGRD here

 

Choreographing the Katabasis – Lecture Demonstration by Cathy Marston for APGRD at Ioannou Centre 5th June 2015

Another unique opportunity to get an insight into the work of a major current choreographer.  Cathy Marston will be undertaking a week long residency at the Archive  of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, APGRD, 1-5 June 2015, with the support of St Hilda’s and DANSOX. Working with 2 professional dancers and a group of Oxford scholars, Cathy will spend the week choreographing to the ancient Greek text of Odyssey Book XI.  The aim of this project is to explore how the mythical content of Odysseus’ visit to the underworld (the katabasis,) as well as its dactylic hexameter metrical form, can be translated into the medium of dance.

As the culmination of this week’s residency there will be a lecture demonstration on June 5th at 5pm in the Lecture Theatre, Classics Centre, in which Marston will discuss her approaches to adapting works of literature into dance performances with APGRD Visiting Scholar Tom Sapsford. Cathy will then also show and discuss the material which she has developed throughout the course of the week with performances from professional dancers Charlotte Broom and Aaron Vickers.

CATHY MARSTON has made works for several major European ballet companies, was director of Bern Ballet Switzerland (2007-13), and most recently was a Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow (20013-14). Cathy has a long history of adapting literary texts into unusual and thoughtful dance adaptations and has previously made works based on Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ibsen (Ghosts, A Doll’s House), and Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) amongst others.

Date:  Friday 5th June, 5.00pm

Venue:  Ioannou Centre, 66 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LU

Free, all welcome; no booking required.

Find out more about the APGRD here

 

Working with Martha Graham: Marni Thomas Wood in conversation Ioannou Centre 3rd November 2014

DANSOX (Dance Scholarship Oxford) and Oxford University’s Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) have joined forces to present an event of special interest to dance lovers.  Marni Thomas Wood danced as a soloist with the legendary Martha Graham, going on to become a highly respected teacher.   She was Co-founder of UC Berkeley’s dance program in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, and is Director Emerita of the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, as well as Reconstruction Coach for the Graham Company.  She will be in conversation about her experience and knowledge of Martha Graham’s work in the lecture theatre at the Ioannou Centre, 66 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LU on Monday 3rd November, 2.15-3.45pm.

A wonderful opportunity to hear this immensely distinguished dance practitioner.  There is no charge for this open event to which everyone is welcome, and no booking required.

You can find out more about APGRD events here or follow them on Twitter @apgrd; and about DANSOX events here