Dance pedagogical practices in contemporary times: a new BA in Dance Pedagogy
(2025)
author(s): Camilla Reppen
published in: Research Catalogue
The Bachelors’s Programme in Dance Pedagogy at Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden, have gone through a major restructuring leading to an updated program, on demand by students and staff.
This exposition gives you an overview of the process of changing the program during the years 2020 - 2023. It guides you through the phases of the change project, highlights documents governing and forming the changes made, and links to research that were conducted during the project period and that deepened the knowledge created through the change process.
Our first step was to listen into the field’s concerns and ideas about dance education today. We scanned the field for signals of change and created a collaborative map of dance pedagogical practices in contemporary times. From this map we derived design principles and scenarios for a new BA in Dance Pedagogy. After a workshop series with students of the department, it was decided that the new program should be based on the hybrid research methodology A/R/Tography. A new educational plan and course plans were created for the new BA. Courses corresponding to the positions as artist, researcher, and teacher of A/R/Tography were developed for the program, and dance genre specific courses were also created. All new courses of the program combines theory and practice, and students are prepared for a changing and complex work life combining artistic, teaching and researching practice.
This exposition is part of the peer-reviewed article: Østern, T. P., Reppen, C., O’Connell, S., & Daneberg, M. (2025). Choreographer/researcher/teacher: Developing a/r/tography as an approach to dance pedagogy at Stockholm University of the Arts in a professional learning community of teachers. Nordic Journal of Art & Research, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.7577/ar.5460
To beat or not to beat
(2017)
author(s): Jean-Loup Gagnon
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Jean-Loup Gagnon
Main Subject: Harpsichord
Research Supervisors: Bert Mooiman, Peter Van Heyghen
Title of Research:
To beat or not to beat: reflections on musical leadership practices in the 18th century
Research Question: What did musical leadership mean in the 18th century?
Summary of Results:
In the last century, historically informed performance practice has gained more and more popularity within the musical scene. In fact, musicians have being increasingly interested in historical articulation, phrasing, instrumentation, ornamentation, tempi, etc. Surprisingly, historical conducting practices have not been significantly investigated and hardly ever in a practical way. It may be the reason why there is a lack of experimentation in this domain, why even Early Music ensembles are using the modern way of conducting, which is to have an interpretative conductor that stands in front of the group. Would it not also be relevant to know how composers like Mozart, Handel or Bach would have “conducted” their works? Did Mozart conduct his wind serenade “Gran partita” by making gestures like we can see in Forman's movie Amadeus? Can we learn from their practical experience? This research demystifies conducting practices in the 18th century and brings a practical to the subject.
Biography:
Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in maestro al cembalo at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Jean-Loup Gagnon studies improvisation and leadership from the harpsichord with Patrick Ayrton and harpsichord performance with Fabio Bonizzoni. His researches focus on leadership practices in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and on stylistic streams like the Mannheim School and the Galant Style, which constituted the musical grammar for genius composers such as Mozart.
Guiding Inner Journeys: Choreographing Inner Conflict in a Diverse Group of Dancers
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Marjolijn Breuring
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This research was conducted with a diverse group of dancers, varying in age, background, and dance experience, and was guided through somatic embodiment and artistic articulation. Through a somatic approach, the body was explored as both an archive of lived experience and an oracle for emergent knowledge, offering a strong gateway into authentic dance material.
The creative process unfolded through four phases: somatic exploration and improvisation, composition, structuring, and refinement. Throughout, leadership shifted fluidly between an open, facilitative mode, amplifying the dancers’ voices, and a more directive mode, articulating the artistic vision.
The methodology highlights how initial somatic explorations were gradually shaped into choreographic form, maintaining a dialogue between internal embodiment and external composition throughout the process.
Key insights include that this process proved particularly effective within a diverse group context, demonstrating that, regardless of formal dance training, each individual, when guided somatically, can access embodied memory and, through compositional shaping, transform authentic movement into coherent choreographic structure.
Both the research and the resulting performance, Equilibrium, do not seek to offer resolution, but rather to evoke recognition and the possibility of coexisting with tension.
Den emotionellt hållbara filmprocessen
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Emilie Löfgren
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Hur skapar och utvecklar jag metoder för en filmprocess som värnar mitt eget och mina medarbetares mentala och känslomässiga välbefinnande när vi gör film om svåra frågor? Hur tar jag hand om mina medverkande? Hur ser min film ut som är sprungen ur en sådan arbetsprocess? Hur har arbetet med terapeuten Cilla Holm, tidigare filmproducent, bidragit till en hållbar filmprocess? Filmbranschen präglas av högt tempo och utmattningssyndrom är inte ovanligt. För fyra år sedan blev jag utmattad och efter att ha sörjt mitt gamla jag och min nya stresskänslighet kom jag fram till att jag inte tänker acceptera att jag inte ska kunna arbeta med det jag älskar, film och skrivande. Jag tänkte att det måste finnas andra sätt att arbeta med film och fortfarande få må bra.
En exposition om skapandet av min dokumentärfilm Om sorg (2022) och metoden som jag kallar för den emotionellt hållbara filmprocessen.
English abstract:
How do I create healthy working methods that benefit my own and my team members mental and emotional wellbeing while making film about difficult subjects? What does a documentary sprung out of these methods look like? How has the collaboration with Cilla Holm, film therapist and former film producer, contributed to make the process emotionally sustainable? The film industry is fast paced and burnout is not uncommon. Four years ago it happened to me and I had a total identity crisis. After grieving my old self, my ability to multi-task and my newfound stress intolerance, I came to the conclusion that I will not accept that I have to leave the film industry. I wanted to keep working, I just had to find another way to do it.
An exposition about the creation of my documentary About Grief (2022) and the method that I call The emotionally sustainable film process.
Project Description Artistic Research Project n°1 (Marching Session I-VI)
(last edited: 2019)
author(s): Liz Rech
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This is the project description of my first artistic research project within the frame of the graduate school "Performing Citizenship" (HCU/Hamburg).
Title of the project:
Marching Session I-VI. Interaktive (Lecture-) Performance für Mit-Läufer und Schritt-Macher.
In the first phase I conducted six research workshops to research different topics:
I March and object
II March and film / documentation
III March and choreography
IV March and sound
V March and costume
VI March and voice
The outcome of the six research workshops was presented in a lecture performance at k3 - Choreographic Center in Hamburg/Germany (24.4.2016).
Research & Performance: Liz Rech
Objects: Kathrin Affentranger
After the lecture there was a physical workshop phase together with the audience. Finally the audience filled out a questionary.