Please join us for a CuSPP Seminar online on Thursday 14 May from 5-6. Please refer to the CuSPP email or email Wesley.Lim@anu.edu.au for the link.

Abstract: This presentation by choreographer James Batchelor explores how the pedagogical legacy of modern dance pioneer Gertrud Bodenwieser (1890–1959) can be renewed in contemporary practice. From Vienna to Australia, Bodenwieser developed an influential expressionist dance pedagogy that shaped generations of dancers. Today, much of this lineage survives through embodied knowledge held by a diminishing generation of practitioners, raising urgent questions about its future transmission.

Rather than reconstructing a historical technique, this research approaches the Bodenwieser lineage as a living, evolving practice. Through collaboration with lineage custodians, studio-based experimentation, and participatory teaching contexts, the project will develop a pilot pedagogical framework that places historical movement principles in dialogue with contemporary somatic and inclusive approaches to dance training.

This presentation will outline James’ practice-led methodology and consider how dance pedagogies can be sustained through processes of renewal, adaptation and archival activation. In doing so, it proposes that Bodenwieser’s legacy endures through ongoing reinterpretation in response to the needs of contemporary dance education and practice. 

Bio: James Batchelor (b.1992) is a choreographer from Canberra working between Australia and Europe, with a practice that spans research, performance and teaching. After studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at the Victorian College of the Arts, James’ career has taken a unique path notably for his participation in an interdisciplinary expedition to the Antarctic. His body of work has toured widely, to contexts such as Tanz im August (Berlin), Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Impulstanz (Vienna). He was part of the prestigious Aerowaves program in 2019 with his solo ‘Hyperspace’ and has made commissioned work for companies such as Chunky Move (AU) and Norrdans (SE).