Dancing, identity and place: Balancing subjectivity and technique in contemporary dance training

This chapter explores connections between pedagogical approaches within two different tertiary dance educational settings—one situated in Ireland and one in Australia. It charts insights from my journey as a dance lecturer from 2011 to early 2013 on the Bachelor of Arts in Voice and Dance at the <i>University of Limerick</i> (UL),Ireland, to my work as a lecturer on the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance/Dance Performance at the <i>Queensland University of Technology</i> (QUT), Brisbane, Australia which commenced in 2013. Drawing on earlier research into the practice of the independent contemporary dancer (Roche 2015) the chapter interrogates how contemporary dance training relates to the development of a moving identity, that is, ‘both an individual way of moving and a process of incorporating different movement experiences in training and in professional practice’ (Roche 2011, 106). The central tenet is the negotiation of the delicate balance between technical training and the subjectivity of the student, so that technique, which often has a fixed meaning within dance training, might have more flexible definitions and applications. This exploration has become more prescient as I have recently completed a report for the Arts Council of Ireland on the current provision for professional level dance training in Ireland, which included proposals for how this level of dance training could be developed. Thus, this more recent research is an additional element that underscores the chapter