“Karole Armitage, Bronislava Nijinska and their Philosophies of (a Contemporary) Ballet: Dancing into the Margins” in The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet

In distinction to many extant histories of ballet, The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet prioritizes connections between ballet communities as it interweaves chapters by scholars, critics, choreographers, and working professional dancers. The book looks at the many ways ballet functions as a global practice in the 21st century, providing new perspectives on ballet's past, present, and future. As an effort to dismantle the linearity of academic canons, the fifty-three chapters within provide multiple entry points for readers to engage in balletic discourse. With an emphasis on composition and process alongside dances created, and the assertion that contemporary ballet is a definitive era, the book carves out space for critical inquiry. Many of the chapters consider whether or not ballet can reconcile its past and actually become present, while others see ballet as flexible and willing to be remolded at the hands of those with tools to do so.

Co-written with Molly Faulkner, PhD.

Farrugia-Kriel, Kathrina and Jill Nunes-Jensen, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet, Oxford University Press, 2021.

“Should there be a female ballet canon? Seven Radical Acts of Inclusion” in (Re:) Claiming Ballet

The collection of essays demonstrates that ballet is not a single White Western dance form but has been shaped by a range of other cultures. In so doing, the authors open a conversation and contribute to the discourse beyond the vantage point of mainstream to look at such issues as homosexuality and race. And to demonstrate that ballet’s denial of the first and exclusion of the second needs rethinking.

This is an important contribution to dance scholarship.  The contributors include professional ballet dancers and teachers, choreographers, and dance scholars in the UK, Europe and the USA to give a three dimensional overview of the field of ballet beyond the traditional mainstream.

It sets out to acknowledge the alternative and parallel influences that have shaped the culture of ballet and demonstrates they are alive, kicking, and have a rich history. Ballet is complex and encompasses individuals and communities, often invisiblized, but who have contributed to the diaspora of ballet in the 21st Century. It will initiate conversations and contribute to discourses about the panorama of ballet beyond the narrow vantage point of the mainstream  - white, patriarchal, Eurocentric, heterosexual constructs of gender, race and class.

This book is certain to be a much-valued resource within the field of ballet studies, as well as an important contribution to dance scholarship more broadly.  It has an original focus and brings together issues more commonly addressed only in journals, where issues of race are frequently discussed.

The primary market will be academic.  It will appeal to academics, researchers, scholars and students working and studying in dance, theatre and performance arts, and cultural studies.  It will also be of interest to dance professionals and practitioners.

Academics and students interested in the intersection of gender, race and dance may also find it interesting.

Co-written with Molly Faulkner, PhD.

Akinleye, Adesola, ed. (Re)Claiming Ballet, an anthology. Intellect Books, 2020.

“Generating, analysing, and organizing movement using the mathematical concepts of vectors” in The Dynamic Body in Space

Excerpt:

Dance can be seen as simple combinations of directed energy. This applies to motion as well as apparent stillness. Directed energy could be a pathway or line of direction with a length or magnitude, a vector. A vector is a mathematical concept, usually represented by a line with an arrow at one end. In its simplest geometric sense, a vector has only direction and magnitude (length).

Vectors allow the possibility to strip dance down to its essential properties in similar ways to Laban's development of Space Harmony and more. "One of the things that gives mathematics its power is the shedding of attributes that turn out to be nonessential. .. " (Hoffmann 1966 p. 10) In developing this research integrating mathematics, kinesiology, physics and dance, there are implications for pedagogic practice as well as analysis and choreographic invention.

Preston-Dunlop, Valerie, and Lesley-Anne Sayers, eds. The Dynamic Body in Space: Exploring and Developing Rudolf Laban's Ideas for the 21st Century. Alton, Hampshire: Dance Books, 2010.