Research Catalogue

Dr. Vânia Gala is choreographer and researcher. She is a Lecturer in Dance and the Module Leader of Examining Practice in the MA/MFA in Choreography programme at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She supervises MA/MFA dissertation students and teaches Examining Practice in the MA/MFA Choreography. Prior to Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance she taught release-based technique, composition and choreography at Northampton and Kingston Universities. She holds a BA in Dance from EDDC-ArtEZ (Hogeshool voor Kunst Arnhem, Netherlands) and a Master of Arts in Choreography with Distinction (Trinity Laban). She received her PhD from Kingston University funded by a university scholarship. She works at the intersection of critical dance studies, performance philosophy and experimental practices in dance, theatre and visual arts performance. Her interests lie in experimental practices with an emphasis on notions of refusal, choreo-thinking, fugitivity, improvisation(s), black (non)performances, negotiation, dissensus, hospitality and value. Gala's choreographies and conversational performances explore (non)performance(s) and opacity. Latest performative interventions include Table for Upside Down Practices at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal). Collaborations as performer involved Les Ballets C.de La B., Constanza Macras, Dina13 and B. Valiente Kompani. She collaborated as choreographer with artists Sonia Boyce, Harold Offeh and Griot theatre-company. Commissions include Cooling-Down Signs a Pan-European creation performed at DanceWeek Festival (Croatia), D.I.D (Austria), Front@Festival (SIovenia), Bakelit (Hungary).