ResDance

ResDance Series 11: Episode 6: Situated Bodies: Context, Identity, and Dance Research with the student cohort of the MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism Programme
In this episode, students from the MA Dance Participation, Communities, Activism programme reflect on the role of context, identity, and lived experience within their creative practices. Through conversations about heritage, personal histories and the role of the self in research, they explore how their experiences shape, challenge, and transform the ways they make and understand dance. They share insights from their research journeys, considering what emerges when we ask questions, listen deeply, and remain open to new perspectives. The episode highlights how new possibilities can unfold through attention, connection, and lived experience —inviting listeners to reflect on their own relationships with others, their environments, and the ways they might participate in social change.
Contributors: Lisa Gelley, Hugo Pena, Fernanda González, Jo Parkes, Ruth Pethybridge.
Profiles of the staff and students in conversation can be found here: ⁠https://theplace.org.uk/lcds-courses/madancepca⁠
MA Dance Participation, Communities, Activism
This MA Programme is for students who want to develop a socially engaged dance practice which addresses the urgencies of our times. You will join a global community of artists and researchers working at the intersection of community dance and arts activism. You may have an emerging community, participatory or activist movement practice which you want to develop, or you may be an established maker who wants to interrogate and develop your practice in the light of the shifting discourses and challenges of the moment.
Artwork: Welcome Back by Lisa Mariko Gelley
Photo credit: Maxine Tamoto
For more information please visit: ⁠https://theplace.org.uk/lcds-courses/madancepca⁠
Instagram: @ma_dance_pca  
Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research inaction.

ResDance Series 11: Episode 5: The practice of response: Reflections from the Student cohort of the MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism Programme
In this episode, students from the MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism programme explore how dance and embodied practices can become ways of responding to the world around us. Through discussions on queer methodologies, improvisation, somatic practice, and collective action, the conversation considers how movement can foster new relationships between people, places, communities, and more-than-human worlds. 
Exploring response as an alternative to control, the episode reflects on how embodied practices can support care, collaboration, activism, and more sustainable forms of resistance in times of uncertainty and change. The conversation highlights how new possibilities can emerge through attention, connection, and lived experience, inviting listeners to reflect on their own relationships with others, their environments, and the ways they might participate in social change. 
Contributors: Avni Sethi, Eve Young, Sujeong Seok, Becca Townsley, Manal Tass, Iona Hannagan Lewis, Rhiannon Colvin, Jo Parkes, Ruth Pethybridge. 
Profiles of the staff and students in conversation can be found here: ⁠https://theplace.org.uk/lcds-courses/madancepca⁠ 

MA Dance Participation, Communities, Activism  
This MA Programme is for students who want to develop a socially engaged dance practice which addresses the urgencies of our times. You will join a global community of artists and researchers working at the intersection of community dance and arts activism. You may have an emerging community, participatory or activist movement practice which you want to develop, or you may be an established maker who wants to interrogate and develop your practice in the light of the shifting discourses and challenges of the moment. 
Artwork by Moe Nakagawa (2026)
For more information please visit: ⁠https://theplace.org.uk/lcds-courses/madancepca⁠  
Instagram: @ma_dance_pca   
Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research inaction.

ResDance Series 11: Episode 4: The Language of Pain: Stories, Bodies and the Knowledge of Experience with Rebecca Stancliffe, Ruth Barber and Jo Young

In this episode, Rebecca, Ruth and Jo share their experiences of The Language of Pain — a research project that placespeople living with pain at the heart of creativity, research and community. They explore how arts-based and co-creative approaches can open up new ways of expressing experiences that are often difficult to put into words. Moving beyond medicalised understandings of pain, the project uses creativity, somatic practices and shared exploration to recognise strength, identity and the many ways people live alongside pain. From finding new language and forms ofexpression to building connection, care and community, this conversation explores how changing the way we talk about pain can transform how we understand and support those living with chronic conditions.

About our research
The Language of Pain is an arts and health research project that gives ‘voice’ to the invisible and often denied experience of chronic illness and pain. Through various arts-based methods, underpinned by somatic practice, the project interrogates understandings and orientations toward chronic pain. By listening to pain rather than seeking to cure it, the project emphasises chronic illness as a socially situated and embodied phenomenon. Resisting the deficit model of ill-health, we focus on what it means to live well with chronic illness. The research is co-constructed, centres lived experience, and is grounded in shared leadership and collective decision-making. We adopt an ethics of care where the body comes first, we show up as we are, and resist performing wellness. Our creative research takes place solely online to accommodate our health and comfort needs, addressing the need for and importance of remote practice for public engagement. 

Contributor Bibliography: Rebecca Stancliffe 
Rebecca Stancliffe is a Research Fellow at Trinity Laban where her research focuses on arts and health and digital practice. Rebecca's current project The Language of Pain (2023-present) explores co-production in research, the expression of pain narratives through arts-based methods, and online environments for community practice. 

Contributor Bibliography: Ruth Barber
Ruth Barber is a yoga teacher and mum who has lived with pain for 20 years. She loves walking and music she can dance to. Ruth enjoys calm and peace, and often find this by being in or near water. Breathing and moving with kindness help her live with pain. Ruth loves growing vegetables with her family and watching the deer and hares that leap about in my wee village near Glasgow. She has usually got a cup of tea in one hand and a library book in the other!

Contributor Bibliography: Jo Young
Jo Young is a beach love / spoonie warrior who loves tortoises, e-bikes, art, music and tai chi. I'm on a healing creativejourney. One wobbly step at a time. Jo has been a co-researcher on The Language of Pain creative research project since 2023.

Also, with thanks to the following project co-researchers:
Charlotte Mackie; Dominique Rivoal; Emma Saunders; Mira Hirtz; Rob Miller; Peter Nagle; Tefnut Huntress Asante; Tim Atkinson

Contact details
Email: R.Stancliffe@trinitylaban.ac.uk 
Instagram: rebeccajstancliffe
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-stancliffe-phd-38609a4a

Other social media handles
Instagram: @thelanguageofpainarts
Instagram: @trinitylaban
Blog: https://medium.com/@thelanguageofpain2025

Resources of interest
Eventbrite page for September event: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-language-of-pain-centring-lived-experience-and-experiential-knowledge-tickets-1990783736747?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true
 Resources and materials relating to the project: https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/research-and-knowledge-exchange/our-research/the-language-of-pain/

AHRC Funded Dance Research Matters Network Series: Episode 8: Reflections on the South Asian Dance Equity (SADE) network with Prarthana Purkayastha, Royona Mitra & Anusha Kedhar
In this episode, we explore the South Asian Dance Equity (SADE) project, a research collaboration examiningequity, inclusion and representation within British South Asian dance. In addition to asking how South Asian dance is marginalised by the wider arts sector in the UK, the project turns its attention inward, asking whose voices, practices and histories are centred—and whose remain overlooked. Theepisode explores how issues of caste, faith, gender, sexuality, disability and geography shape opportunities, visibility and belonging within the dance ecology. Reflecting on collaborative research and the challenges of navigating difficult conversations, Prarthana, Royona and Anusha discusswhat it means to approach equity as an ongoing practice of listening, care and critical reflection. This episode offers an insightful look at how research can create space for dialogue, challenge established narratives and imagine more inclusive futures for British South Asian dance.
South Asian Dance Equity (SADE)
SADE examines systemic inequities within British South Asian dance, focusing on five key areas of minoritisation: the dominance of Indian/Hindu dance forms and artists;LGBTQI+ artists; caste-oppressed artists; disabled artists; and folk and Adivasi (indigenous) arts and artists. The network aims to build a more equitable dance sector through exchanges between artists and scholars from South Asia and the UK.
Website: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and-education/subjects/drama-and-theatre/research/sade/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southasiandanceequity/
Contributor biography: Anusha Kedhar
Anusha Kedhar is an Associate Professor of CriticalDance Studies at the University of California Riverside. Her teaching interests include South Asian dance and diaspora, caste and performance, global political economy, and critical dance ethnography.  She is the author of Flexible Bodies: British South Asian Dancers in an Age of Neoliberalism (2020). She is also the convener of the Caste and Corporeality conference, chair of the DSA South Asian Dance Studies Working Group, and a founding member of the University of California Collective for Caste Abolition. 
Email: anusha.kedhar@ucr.edu  
Contributor biography: Royona Mitra
Royona Mitra is Professor of Dance and Performance Cultures at Brunel University of London. She is the author of UnmakingContact: Choreographing South Asian Touch (2025, OUP) and Akram Khan: Dancing New Interculturalism (2015, Palgrave).  Her research examines systems of oppression in dance and performance cultures at the intersections of bodies, social power regimes, and choreography asresistance. Royona was Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded #DanceResearchMatters “South Asian Dance Equity” project (2023-2025) alongside Drs Prarthana Purkayastha (PI, RHUL) and Anusha Kedhar (Co-I, UC Riverside).  
Email: Royona.Mitra@brunel.ac.uk
Contributor biography: Prarthana Purkayastha  
Prarthana Purkayastha is Reader (Associate Professor) in Dance and Performance Studies in the Department of Music, Drama and Media Arts at Royal Holloway University of London. She is the author of Indian Modern Dance, Feminism and Transnationalism (2014, Palgrave Macmillan) which won the 2015 de la Torre Bueno Prize and the 2015 Outstanding Publication Award from Dance Studies Association. Her second monograph is The Archives and Afterlives of Nautch Dancers in India (2025, Cambridge University Press) and she is co-editor with Anurima Banerji of the Oxford Handbook of Indian Dance (2026, OUP-New York).
Email: prarthana.purkayastha@rhul.ac.uk

AHRC-funded Dance Research Matters Networks
For more information, please visit:⁠danceresearchmatters.coventry.ac.uk⁠
Instagram and Twitter: ⁠@danceresearchmatters

ResDance Series 11: Episode 3: Dancing Together: The Transformative Power of Community Dance with Natalie How
In this episode, Natalie shares insight into her socially engaged dance practice, exploring how accessibility, participation, and joy create spaces for connection, expression, and belonging. Drawing on her Master’s research and experience across diverse communities, she reflects onhow dance can build confidence, encourage dialogue, and inspire social change. The conversation explores the role of language, equity, and reflective practice in creating inclusive dance environments, as well as Natalie’s hopes for futurework with intergenerational groups and adults with learning disabilities. This episode highlights the power of community dance to bring people together and transform experiences through movement.
Biography
Natalie is a Community Dance Practitioner who believes in movement that does good and feels good. She recently graduated with Distinction and received theHighest Achievement Award for her Master’s degree in Dance Leadership and Community Practice from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Natalie graduated from Royal Holloway University in 2020 with a First-Class degree inDance. Originally trained in Ballroom and Latin, she has since explored a wide range of movement practices including Contemporary, Jazz, Commercial, Hip-Hop, and Somatic Practice. With many years’ experience as a dance teaching artist, Natalie has facilitated creative movement experiences for participants aged 4–80 across diverse communities and dance styles. She is passionate about making dance accessible to everyone and creates spaces where movement can support physical and mental wellbeing, connection, and self-expression. Natalie believes in the transformative power of dance as a tool for positive social change. Her practice centres individual experiences and personal stories, usingperformance art, film, installation, and movement to explore identity, challenge social norms, and create opportunities for care, empowerment, and collective connection.
Contact details
Email: nataliehow19@gmail.com
Website: www.reflectiontoaction.co.uk/about-2-1
Social Media
Insta: @_nataliemoves_
Resources of interest
https://arestlessart.com/co-creation/
https://www.communitydance.org.uk/DB/animated-library/what-do-we-do-now-the-deconstruction-of-four-decades-of-dance-development-i
https://www.campaignforthearts.org/the-state-of-the-arts-one-year-on/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere%20is%20a%20very%20real,Service%20year%2Don%2Dyear
Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research in action.