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floorspace
…floorspace – room to move… -RESEARCH CLOSED-
“Take average people and put them in a place that allows them to exercise their imaginations without constraint, and they will be childlike and experience freedom and innocence again. Put them in a place of human contact, humour and playfulness where they are celebrated, without condition, simply for who they are, and you will see something within them expand” (Gary Izzo, 1997)
I am conducting some research into club culture, performance and playfulness and I am looking to the Synergy community for some help.
About me: I am a lecturer in Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds. I specialise in socially engaged performance that takes place with groups or communities beyond the reaches of the traditional theatre building. I love to dance and stepping into a club event that has participation and democracy at its heart makes me feel like I’ve come home. It has long been my opinion that clubs are spaces for play and that we have a great deal to learn about ourselves and each other by being playful, playing up and playing around. I am also Creative Director of a performance company called floorspace. We make interactive performances that are site specific to club spaces. We aim to make beautiful pieces that party goers can watch, take part in, create and share with each other.
What you can do: As part of my research I’m looking for people’s opinions on playfulness and clubbing (this can include free parties, festivals and DiY events). This will be used as qualitative data for my PhD thesis and associated publications. I’m interested in hearing people’s stories, thoughts, ideas, dreams. You can contribute a sentence, a page, a poem, a picture, a photo – anything you like – in response to the statements outlined below. You can take as long or as little time on it as you like but whatever you say will be extremely useful, not just for this study but for understanding the role of play, creativity and interaction in a wider context.
What next? All you need to do is read the statements below and if you have anything to share about any or all of them, e mail back your responses to
Clubs are places where adults get to play and be playful In a club everyone is a performer Clubbing allows me to be expressive Clubbing is interactive Clubbing is an important part of my life
By responding to the statements you have agreed to the following terms:
v I understand the nature of the research and wish to participate. v I understand that the responses I give will remain confidential. v I understand that the responses I give may be used in future publications.
Many thanks for taking part in this study. It couldn’t happen without the kindness of strangers. It’s not often we get the opportunity to sit back and think about what we do and why we do it, so now’s your chance!
I really look forward to hearing from you,
Alice Bayliss Lecturer in Theatre and Performance University of Leeds
“We must learn to judge a society more by its sounds, by its art, and by its festivals, than by its statistics” (Jacques Attali, 1985)