Artistic Research
Artistic or practice-based research is one of my favourite aspects of devising and show creation. It's an opportunity to explore the intricate connections between physicality and subject matter, to discover methods of layering, contrasting, and combining ideas, and to find new ways of knowing. For me, the aim is always story-making.
I enjoy working with sources , other artists and authors whose work inspires and excites me, as well as nature, ecology, and my personal relationship to them.
I love academia, and enjoy the academic research language of epistemology, praxis, qualitative research and all of the associated jargon, yet I keep finding myself drawn back down to earth, drawn to make my work to be accessible beyond that framework , turning big ideas into bite-sized ways of being that people from all walks of life can engage with.
Play is at the heart of everything. Whether I’m working with juggling, text, movement, or narrative, I follow what excites me, what sparks curiosity, and pair it with practical tasks to generate material. Sometimes it's exciting, sometimes it isn't, and that’s okay. That’s why we need time and space to try things out.
My research is often visual and tactile, making use of diagrams, notebooks, sticky notes, scores, improvisation, and rhythm. I treat the studio like a laboratory for ideas, allowing for both deep dives and sideways meanders. I also see performance itself as research, and many of my projects continue to evolve long after their premiere.
Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding sweetgrass)
"For we are story makers, not just story tellers..new ones
woven from the threads of the old.
The content of my ecological creative work is inspired firstly by nature and our human relationship to the earth, and secondly by other artists and activists who also make work about ecology. Authors, Visual artists and Activists who share progressive views of 'how to live on a dying planet' (Haraway) What we all have in common is an understanding that art is activism and stories shape the world.
While environmental concerns are at the centre of my story-making ideas, the angle from which I approach this is a celebratory one. Aiming only to evoke a reverence for nature through shared experience.
Honey bees communicate through dance and movement and so do I. A pollinator of joy, laughter, and the magic of life.
Toni Cade Bambara
"The Role of the Artist, is to make the Revolution irresitable"
Research Projects
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How does a Bee Juggle through Space?
(2019)- BA Research
Devising as a cycle of finding our edges. (2022/23)
This research led to the first preview of Juggling at the Edge of the World (JATEOTW) and was an invitation to do things differently. I wanted to explore what happens when I step outside my usual devising "eco-system", when, instead of following one idea, I allow multiple musings to entangle and see what stories emerge from that frame. Where are my creative edges, and how can I find them? How can I use the circus techniques I know in new ways, and what new techniques might arise from asking different questions?
This research was funded by a circus bursary from Arts Council Ireland and involved creative consultation sessions with Artist Darragh McLoughlin. We attended the same secondary school in West Cork when we were younger although Darragh was a few years ahead. I admire the conceptual creativity of his work and was grateful for his input and mentorship. One of the most generative ideas Darragh offered was deceptively simple: "What can be done while a ball is in the air?" In JATEOTW, this manifested as a rule, I could only speak while the ball was airborne. This added an unpredictable rhythm to the text and made the act of speaking a physical and playful gesture.
Another early image involved a teacup, which became both a physical prop and a metaphorical "container", a way into Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. A short story which re-frames the idea of a 'hero' into a container. "a thing that holds other things". I explored how circus technique might apply to teacups (a few breakages did occur), and found a satisfying tension in their fragility — much like traditional plate spinning.
Bubbles; which I have been devoted to for many years , finally made it to the studio and I worked with 'Bubbles as Choreographers'; how could they move me and how could I move them? The logistics of what I had imagined as 'giant bubbles floating whimsically onto stage' was a little complicated and involved two people with a fan and some bubble sticks at the side of the stage but I have hopes for a more technical and sophisticated version of this in the near future.
Other areas of exploration were; peacock feathers, I did a large part of this research whilst in India over the winter, on residency at Bliss Circus in Goa, which was just as incredible as it sounds, although rather hot to really get much done in the middle of the day and rather mosquito ridden in the evening, however it was inspiring, and peacocks are revered in Indian mythology, so I wrote, and played and although this didn't make into the JATEOTW preview performance, I aim to include it in the full length show which is still a work-in-progress.
In many ways, this process felt anarchic and indulgent; led by intuition, fascination, and the intrinsic qualities of materials. But as I progressed, each element found its own story to tell and ultimately wove itself into the larger narrative of the piece.
This research also planted the seed for my next project. Darragh encouraged me to experiment with a parallel juggling and writing practice, which I later brought into the Research Design course at SKH Circus, Stockholm University of the Arts. You can read more about that phase in the Research Catalogue.
How does a bee juggle through space? (2019)
An epistemic study into Juggling and Dance as a mode of translation, using Laban’s Movement Theory or Space Harmony.
By approaching dance methods through Juggling, as an extension of my body’s movements, I aimed to discover new methodology for devising within my own practice and to share with other artists.
I was particularly interested in the concept of the kinesphere, the space around one's body that you can reach in any direction. Laban's movement scales are based on this concept. I began to create a diagram of what this might look like. (see right)
For a Bee, movement communication is vital. As this was the topic of my next project I began to integrate them into the physicality of my juggling practice.
I utilised the honeycomb structure as a devising tool, combined with laban's movement scales and effort actions.
The project also involved creative writing exercises around bees and storytelling.
A methodology of integration through text and analogy was a large outcome of this research as well being the seeds of my show Bee-ology.
Other areas of exploration were an icosahedron structure that was used to juggle with and around. Pendulum juggling choreography using laban's scales, siteswap theory combined with laban notation as a written form of choreography and also cyclical sequencing with no start or finish.
The dance theory part of this research is available as a workshop for jugglers and object manipulators to learn how to move through space following movement theory combined with a chosen apparatus.
This research project was also the basis for the formation of Bumble Movement Arts as an organisation and the aesthetics are now part of the logo.
"If we can better understand how we are shaped by the world, we have more power to shape it back"
Third Space Somatics
How can we read somatics and feel semiotics in circus? (2020/21)
Somatics- “a field within bodywork and movement studies, which emphasises internal physical perception and experience.”(Serenity Somatics 2020)
Semiotics- “The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.” (Houter, 2019)
The question aims to contradict these seemingly dualistic terms.
As a circus director and my continued work as a performer, I approach circus theatre as a corporeal and adventurous form of storytelling.
Somatic practitioners describe how our bodies hold memories which affect us subconsciously. The notion of working with subconscious interpretation grew from the seed of this quote.
I theorised, from my own experience of creating circus theatre performance about environmental issues; if a story is told from an internal place of intense feeling, it allows an audience to empathise with that person and therefore the issue.
Embodiment and physical awareness are inherent in circus practices. By becoming deeply aware of what is occurring in both the body and mind during practice, we could slow down and zoom in.
I noticed a duality in methodology, where one can start either from somatics or semiotics and potentially end up in a similar place.
