Enhancing the impact of Australian performing arts: virtual scenography and opera for the 21st century. Digitally created scenography has the potential to create immersive stage environments that are designed for 21st century visual impact, and to re-model the economics of live performance by reducing the cost of touring. Deakin Motion.Lab and the Victorian Opera aim to work together to design, test and evaluate the artistic and economic value of virtual scenography for touring performing arts c ....Enhancing the impact of Australian performing arts: virtual scenography and opera for the 21st century. Digitally created scenography has the potential to create immersive stage environments that are designed for 21st century visual impact, and to re-model the economics of live performance by reducing the cost of touring. Deakin Motion.Lab and the Victorian Opera aim to work together to design, test and evaluate the artistic and economic value of virtual scenography for touring performing arts companies. This project aims to enable opera companies to present large scale productions in previously inaccessible regional and rural areas, enhancing both artistic experience and access to this cultural experience for audiences. These outcomes aim to be transferable to other theatre forms such as ballet and theatre that require large-scale set production.Read moreRead less
Intention and Serendipity: Investigating Improvisation, Symbolism and Memory in Creating Australian Contemporary Dance. Contemporary dance is one of the major vehicles through which Australian stories and cultural diversity are communicated. Little is known about the processes that underpin creation and performance of communicative dance works, and less still about processes and stylistic traditions unique to the Australian form. We will investigate cognitive and kinaesthetic processes involve ....Intention and Serendipity: Investigating Improvisation, Symbolism and Memory in Creating Australian Contemporary Dance. Contemporary dance is one of the major vehicles through which Australian stories and cultural diversity are communicated. Little is known about the processes that underpin creation and performance of communicative dance works, and less still about processes and stylistic traditions unique to the Australian form. We will investigate cognitive and kinaesthetic processes involved in creating, refining, performing significant works. Combining experimental and practice-based research we examine psychological mechanisms engaged by elite choreographers, and experienced and emerging dancers, and analyse the unique Australian heritage and embodied knowledge evident in leading dancers and choreographers influenced by Gertrud Bodenwieser.Read moreRead less
Re-Activating Australian Dance Theatre’s Archive for the Future. This project aims to investigate how the rich, vulnerable heritage of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), Australia’s oldest contemporary dance company, can be re-activated for the future. In partnership with Indigenous leadership from ADT, it will collaboratively research Western and Indigenous choreographies to generate an innovative work. Case studies of ADT's female Artistic Directors will produce new knowledge of gender in Austral ....Re-Activating Australian Dance Theatre’s Archive for the Future. This project aims to investigate how the rich, vulnerable heritage of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), Australia’s oldest contemporary dance company, can be re-activated for the future. In partnership with Indigenous leadership from ADT, it will collaboratively research Western and Indigenous choreographies to generate an innovative work. Case studies of ADT's female Artistic Directors will produce new knowledge of gender in Australian dance, and it will experiment with 3D imaging of the costume collection. Outcomes include an exhibition, dance work, film, and a networked digital dance archive. It will benefit the performing arts by producing archival resources that can be adapted across the sector to preserve Australia’s cultural heritage.Read moreRead less
Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum. This project aims to interrogate the relationship between dance and visual art practices and institutions since the turn of the 21st century, developing solutions for emerging and associated challenges for artists and art workers. As a contemporary art form, dance innovates our museums and galleries by foregrounding challenging issues such as the dematerialization of art, the nature of creative labor, digital archives, experience as economy, and ....Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum. This project aims to interrogate the relationship between dance and visual art practices and institutions since the turn of the 21st century, developing solutions for emerging and associated challenges for artists and art workers. As a contemporary art form, dance innovates our museums and galleries by foregrounding challenging issues such as the dematerialization of art, the nature of creative labor, digital archives, experience as economy, and participatory aesthetics. Bringing academics, curators, conservators and artists from diverse institutions together, Precarious Movements stages a dialogue between dance artists and art institutions to support exemplary creative arts practices and the production of end user processes and protocols.Read moreRead less
'Wizards in Oz': The impact and legacy of Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes on Australian cultural life and artistic practice. The project heralds a nationally significant co-operation between Australian cultural and tertiary institutions to research the content, impact and legacy of Australian tours 1936-40 by the acclaimed Ballets Russes. Australians were overwhelmed by the company's high-modernist aesthetic, and inspired by the collaborative ideals celebrated in its balletic, theatrical and m ....'Wizards in Oz': The impact and legacy of Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes on Australian cultural life and artistic practice. The project heralds a nationally significant co-operation between Australian cultural and tertiary institutions to research the content, impact and legacy of Australian tours 1936-40 by the acclaimed Ballets Russes. Australians were overwhelmed by the company's high-modernist aesthetic, and inspired by the collaborative ideals celebrated in its balletic, theatrical and musical masterpieces. Research will generate a range of scholarly publications, physical and virtual exhibitions, and select performances by the Australian Ballet. The project utilises an innovative interactive research methodology to establish a vital nexus between scholarly research, digital archival management and dissemination strategies, and artistic practice.Read moreRead less
Conceiving Connections: Increasing industry viability through analysis of audience responses to dance performance. The development of audiences is identified by the Australian dance industry as vital to the future of the sector. The current project will investigate how audiences respond to highly evolved dance-works. It will explore the kinds of meaning communicated by such works, and the value assigned to them by tutored and untutored audiences. Methods for enhancing audience engagement will be ....Conceiving Connections: Increasing industry viability through analysis of audience responses to dance performance. The development of audiences is identified by the Australian dance industry as vital to the future of the sector. The current project will investigate how audiences respond to highly evolved dance-works. It will explore the kinds of meaning communicated by such works, and the value assigned to them by tutored and untutored audiences. Methods for enhancing audience engagement will be tested through studies in both metropolitan and regional centres. Dance-scholars, artists and cognitive psychologists collaborate with three industry partners to identify and address significant concerns for artists, presenters, advocates and funding bodies, and to train postgraduate reserachers in inter-disciplinary modes.Read moreRead less
Australian Youth Orchestra's Contribution to Musical Life through Educational/Performance Programs for Aspiring Musicians in Urban, Regional and Rural Australia. The history of AYO, which is Australia's centre for excellence for aspiring orchestral musicians and an arts company responsive to changing socio-artistic conditions, needs investigating re the bridge it provides to the professional music world, its socio-artistic importance, and to answer calls for accountability. Through research int ....Australian Youth Orchestra's Contribution to Musical Life through Educational/Performance Programs for Aspiring Musicians in Urban, Regional and Rural Australia. The history of AYO, which is Australia's centre for excellence for aspiring orchestral musicians and an arts company responsive to changing socio-artistic conditions, needs investigating re the bridge it provides to the professional music world, its socio-artistic importance, and to answer calls for accountability. Through research into its innovative training and performance programs and archives (1948 - the present) and comparisons of its role with state and overseas youth orchestras, this project will measure and interpret AYO's contributions to Australia's cultural life in urban, regional and rural areas, including its participants' accelerated musical development and enhanced career opportunities.Read moreRead less
Sustainable futures for music cultures: Toward an ecology of musical diversity. The project will contribute to a vibrant and diverse musical life in Australia, and by extension the sense of wellbeing of its population. Further, it has the potential to substantially contribute to Australia's reputation as an innovative, forward looking nation by taking the lead in the emerging sub-discipline of applied ethnomusicology. Finally, from the perspective of the National Research Priorities, the project ....Sustainable futures for music cultures: Toward an ecology of musical diversity. The project will contribute to a vibrant and diverse musical life in Australia, and by extension the sense of wellbeing of its population. Further, it has the potential to substantially contribute to Australia's reputation as an innovative, forward looking nation by taking the lead in the emerging sub-discipline of applied ethnomusicology. Finally, from the perspective of the National Research Priorities, the project will contribute to fostering understanding between cultures in Australia and the region by increasing insight into the working of other cultures, focusing on the Asia-Pacific.Read moreRead less
Understanding innovative opera attendees: modelling the responsiveness to marketing alternatives in a dynamic subscription market. Opera performances are valuable components of Australia's performing arts profile, both historically and currently. However, in an increasingly competitive and commercial environment, opera marketers need to understand better how to match potential consumers to the available operas, including inexperienced consumers and unfamiliar or esoteric operas. This research pr ....Understanding innovative opera attendees: modelling the responsiveness to marketing alternatives in a dynamic subscription market. Opera performances are valuable components of Australia's performing arts profile, both historically and currently. However, in an increasingly competitive and commercial environment, opera marketers need to understand better how to match potential consumers to the available operas, including inexperienced consumers and unfamiliar or esoteric operas. This research project will inform opera marketers of the major influences in a dynamic opera environment, and provide an improved understanding of how to address market segmentation and product portfolios in an optimal way, so that consumer satisfaction and company profitability are maximised, while encouraging innovation of an international standard and employment opportunities locally. Read moreRead less
The French Baroque Music Project: from Scholarship to Performance. This project will conduct performance-oriented research into unresolved issues of French baroque performance practice and little-known French baroque repertoire. In addition to research resulting in scholarly publications, the project will comprise the editing and publishing of scores in modern notation, and the realisaton of the results of research in live performance and CD recordings. The holistic approach of this project is ....The French Baroque Music Project: from Scholarship to Performance. This project will conduct performance-oriented research into unresolved issues of French baroque performance practice and little-known French baroque repertoire. In addition to research resulting in scholarly publications, the project will comprise the editing and publishing of scores in modern notation, and the realisaton of the results of research in live performance and CD recordings. The holistic approach of this project is highly innovative as it involves a team of research personnel including musicologists and scholar-performers with complementary expertise, and ABC Classics as the industry partner. This will enable research results to be communicated not only by journal articles and publication of scores, but also by the production of four commercially distributed and marketed CDs.Read moreRead less