Since 2000, Wayne McGregor and Random Dance have been involved in several interdisciplinary research meetings and projects with other choreographers, designers, artists, scholars and scientists.
Each of these projects has focused primarily on questions related to the choreographic process. They have at times been related to the making of a specific artistic work, other times not. As the range of interdisciplinary perspectives and interest in dance from other areas has increased, so has the understanding of the possible outcomes of this collaborative research.
The current ENTITY research project is taking place in parallel to the creation of ENTITY and will continue through Spring 2010 to culminate in the creation of a second new work.
2007-2010: Entity
To include an intensive three-weekcollaborative research in early 2009 at theUniversity of California San Diego. TheUCSD project aims to analysis thecoordination of choreographic thoughtand action between choreographer anddancers in the rehearsal studio.
2004-2005: Of the Heart
A research cooperation involvingcardiologists and heart specialists leadingto the creation of a new collaborativedance work, the website includes videointerviews with the participants.
2002-2004: Choreography and Cognition
A joint research project seekingconnections between creativity,choreography and the scientific study ofmovement and the mind, the websiteincludes documentation in the form ofessays and papers.
“Dance is something that can beperformed or experienced without acontinual flow of explicit verbalthoughts. Yet in domains of makingdance, notating it, or discussing itthose abstract senses of meaningsare translated into verbal thoughts orgraphic notations. Thus, dance andchoreography provide a uniqueplatform for studying, using bothquantitative and qualitative methodshow thought and abstract senses ofthe embodied self-work.” PhilBarnard, collaborator Choreographyand Cognition. CognitivePsychologist. MRC Cognition andBrain Studies Unit, Cambridge.