Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

The pattern of global traffic is particularly concentrated on the UK, US, Canada, Australia,
Germany and Norway, and on individual pieces which have received extensive festival
exposure, such as Trace, Splice, Flicker and Text Field, which average 20 viewings per
month. The list of works presented shown on their website is impressive..
www.shiftwork.org.uk
Support networks
As digital knowledge becomes more widespread and technology more affordable, its use will
become a part of the way all artists and organisations work. However, in the short to medium
term, lack of access to facilities and lack of knowledge/confidence about usage are barriers to
progress. Many artists working in the field feel isolated and dislocated from other dance
sectors depending on virtual networks, blogs, etc.
This could be seen as a strength as these artists value their independence and are
comfortable exchanging ideas in virtual environments – the medium being appropriate to the
ideas. At the same time the informality of interaction and the small size of the sector mean
that a good deal remains invisible to the ‘mainstream’ of dance.
Some dance agencies such as South East Dance, DanceXchange and the re-launched
DanceDigital (formerly Essex Dance), as a national expert in digital dance, is a possible way
of ending the artists isolation by mainstreaming the activity and providing necessary training
to develop this area of dance.
An agency-based network could be complemented and extended through work with the
higher education sector if ways can be found to open up the expertise and physical resources
that exist within a number of key higher education establishments. Institutions at the forefront
of development in dance/performing arts and digital technology include the universities of
Bedfordshire, Chichester, Smart Lab at the University of East London, Leeds, Salford,
Newcastle, and Brunel. These universities are fairly evenly distributed across England and,
have indicated a willingness to find ways to share their knowledge and resources with the
dance sector.
Dance development and advocacy
As many of the artists in the digital field are well-established, a good deal of discussion in ‘live
literature’ spaces is high-level, drawing on long careers in dance. These offer a rich resource
for ongoing dialogue, generally on dance development and particularly digital dance.
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