Research that transforms how we approach Dance

Alongside the wonderful dance and movement that fills our studio, Copperdot is proud to host groundbreaking research, in the form of dance educator and researcher, Elsa Urmston PhD. Often found in one of our upstairs offices, Elsa has recently returned from the Eleventh Annual Conference for the Performing Arts at the University of Malta, where she presented papers on Educators’ Participation in Educational Change, and Student Citizenship through the Lens of Wellbeing, a paper co-authored with Stephanie De’Ath & Sarah Needham-Beck from London Contemporary Dance School.

Elsa is currently working a broad range of research papers that bring together wellbeing, education and dance:- She is writing a paper with Ashley Brain and Louisa Petts about research as practice in dance medicine and science, and how subjective knowledge of being a dancer informs how we do research- She is exploring embodied approaches to analysing written and visual data for process analysis, which has included dance in Copperdot’s studio, and iswriting a piece for the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science.- Another piece for the same journal is about the importance of grounding theoretical and philosophical assumptions in dance medicine and science research

Beyond these papers, Elsa is working with Rachel and the dancers from the Dance and Parkinsons group following the Autumn Arts Festival to group to evidence the“glow moments” that they have in their dancing experiences. She is also working with the Royal Ballet & Opera on evaluating their cultural champions program, with mid-career teachers in primary schools advocating for creative and cultural education and with local dance group Glass House, to capture professional dancers’ experience of their participation in Folk That!