Remembering Sir Robert Cohan: Yorke Dance Project presented by The Grace Project, Jacqueline du Pré Music Building 28th-29th October 2021

DANSOX (Dance Scholarship Oxford) and TORCH (The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities) join forces to present Yorke Dance Project in a moving tribute to Sir Robert Cohan, as an extension to The Grace Project, continuing the discussion “Dance as Grace: Paradoxes and Possibilities”. Director Yolande Yorke-Edgell will present Cohan’s ideas on grace. On 28th October dancers from the Company will show excerpts from Cohan’s works Canciones del alma and Communion, followed by discussion. On 29th October Yolande Yorke-Edgell will dance, and there will be a special screening of Cohan’s lockdown project – Lockdown Portraits – the last series of solos he created – followed by a discussion with the director of the film.

Dates: Thursday 28th October 4.00-6.00pm, Friday 29th October 4.00-6.00pm

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

Tickets: Admission free, but numbers limited for social distancing: book to reserve a seat by emailing susan.jones@ell.ox.ac.uk
and copying in marcus.bell@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk

 

‘Dance as Grace: Paradoxes and Possibilities’: two TORCH seminars with live dance performances from Yorke Dance Project. Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, St Hilda’s College Oxford, 18th & 19th June 2021 – Maggie Watson reports

The Grace Project is an interdisciplinary investigation into the concept of ‘grace’ in all its forms, which evolved from the research of Professor Sue Jones on literature and dance.  Grace has been central to the development of dance aesthetics, but it has also been challenged by practitioners of modern and contemporary dance.  These two seminars, which were attended by socially-distanced groups of academics, practitioners and interested local people, interrogated the question of what constitutes grace by examining five contrasting dances performed by, and discussed with, members of the Yorke Dance Project led by Yolande Yorke-Edgell.

The dancers presented works by Robert Cohan, Kenneth MacMillan and Yorke-Edgell, the latter consciously channelling the influences of Richard Alston and Bella Lewitzky (who was herself influenced by the choreographer Lester Horton).

 

Perfectly Disgraceful: Dr Sam Ladkin, DANSOX, St Hilda’s College 10th March 2016

A further lecture in the thought-provoking DANSOX series The Grace Project:

‘Perfectly Disgraceful: Frank O’Hara, Edwin Denby and New York School Grace’

Dr Sam Ladkin of the University of Sheffield, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature

Date:  Thursday, March 10, 2016 – 5:30pm

Venue:  Lady Brodie Room, St Hilda’s College, Oxford
Audience:  Open to all

The Grace Project: this interdisciplinary project focuses on the relationships and meanings of ‘grace’ in all its cultural manifestations.  Beginning with the implications of the term as it is used in dance and literature across historical periods, the project investigates grace in its theological, philosophical, literary, visual, and sociological contexts.  The project has been initiated by TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) funded talks and workshops involving international dance scholars and historians such as Lynn Garafola and Mark Franko, and will lead to publication of a volume of essays.  For further information contact Dr Susan Jones

More information about DANSOX (Dance Scholarship Oxford) and TORCH here

 

DANSOX: The GRACE Project, 20th November, St Hilda’s College

Save the date for another fascinating talk programmed by DANSOX (Dance Scholarship Oxford):

The GRACE Project

Speaker: Renate Braeuninger (Northampton)

‘Slavoj Žižek, Grace, and Contemporary Dance’
In his extensive reflections on German philosophy and German Idealism, particularly in Less than Nothing (2012), Žižek alludes to ideas of ‘grace’ on a number of occasions. This talk considers the following questions: What are the concepts and ideas of grace that Žižek is exploring, and to what extent are they useful for research into dance? By looking at German Idealism through the lens of Žižek and by thinking about its relevance to dance we gain a mediated perspective on German Idealism, but one that also reflects contemporary understanding of the term ‘grace’.

Date:  Friday, 20th November 2015 at 5:30pm
Venue:   Lady Brodie Room, St Hilda’s College, Cowley Place, Oxford, OX4 1DY

All welcome.  For further information or to register contact susan.jones@ell.ox.ac.uk or just come along!!