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ceMAP awarded over £400, 000 for digitising dance project

Posted on January 10, 2008 - Filed Under Interactive Media, Media, Photography, Video |

In June 2006, Professor Sarah Whatley, Director of the Centre for Media, Arts and Performance (ceMAP), was awarded a Resource Enhancement Scheme grant by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the creation and development of a digital archive of the work of the Siobhan Davies Dance (SDD) company. The application was graded A+ and represents the first time that the AHRC has provided such substantial funding to contemporary dance. As such, the archive will be a pioneer for academic dance research in the UK. It will also be the first digital archive of the work of a major dance company in the UK.
Digital archives are a relatively new and rapidly developing area of communication technology particularly in the field of performing arts and specifically dance. The digitization of materials presents tremendous opportunities to develop imaginative and creative approaches to their research value and of exploring the traditional concept of the archive.

Siobhan Davies Dance is one of the UK’s leading independent dance companies. Siobhan Davies began her professional career in 1972 with London Contemporary Dance Theatre and has become one of the UK’s leading advocates of dance as a significant and extraordinary art form. Siobhan Davies Dance Company was established in 1988, and until 2000 the Company produced and toured a new work almost annually. For further information see the companies’ website www.siobhandavies.com.

The project is a wholly collaborative one between Coventry University and Siobhan Davies Dance and is a pioneering project in a number of fields: the academic study of dance; the digitization of two- and three-dimensional found materials; and a collaboration between a major dance company and a university research centre. The combination of these factors makes SDDO a truly unique undertaking of global importance to the dance research community and beyond.
All enquiries about SDDO, including the identification of items of memorabilia relating to the Company which could be included in the archive, should be directed to Paul Allender at Coventry University, e-mail p.allender@coventry.ac.uk or telephone 024 7679 2478 (direct line).

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