Institut für Tanz und Performance Forschung

Institut für Tanz und Performance Forschung
Name	Institut für Tanz und Performance Forschung
Native name	Institut für Tanz und Performance Forschung
Established	20XX
Type	Research institute
Location	Vienna, Austria

Institut für Tanz und Performance Forschung is a research institute dedicated to the study, documentation, and presentation of contemporary dance and performance. It operates at the intersection of practice-based inquiry, archival work, and interdisciplinary scholarship, engaging with international festivals, universities, and cultural institutions. The institute situates its work within European and global networks of performance research, curatorial practice, and artistic pedagogy.

History

Founded in the 21st century, the institute emerged amid renewed institutional attention to dance studies in Central Europe, following developments at institutions such as Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, The Juilliard School, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and Rudolf Laban Centre. Early collaborations involved festivals and venues like ImPulsTanz, Wiener Festwochen, Tanz im August, Sadler's Wells, and Maison de la Danse Lyon. The institute's archival ambitions echoed projects at Dance Notation Bureau, Laban Archive, and Jerome Robbins Dance Division, while research orientations paralleled centers such as Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and Goldsmiths, University of London.

Mission and Research Focus

The institute's mission foregrounds practice-led research, critical historiography, and transdisciplinary inquiry, aligning with approaches from Judith Butler, Gayle Greene, Rosemary Butcher, Pina Bausch, and Merce Cunningham scholarship. Research themes include choreographic analysis connected to Siobhan Davies, Maurice Béjart, and José Limón repertoires; performance ethnography referencing Clifford Geertz and Victor Turner; and moving-body technologies linked to work by William Forsythe, Trisha Brown, and Wim Vandekeybus. Institutional priorities mirror debates visible at European Center for the Preservation and Research of Dance (ECPR), Dance Studies Association, and International Association of Theatre Critics meetings.

Academic Programs and Training

The institute offers postgraduate supervision, practice-based doctorates, and short courses modeled alongside programs at DasArts, Codarts Rotterdam, Stockholm University of the Arts, and Zurich University of the Arts. Curricula integrate methods from historians and theorists like Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, Hal Foster, and Sara Ahmed, and pedagogical strategies derived from conservatoires such as Royal Academy of Dance, Martha Graham School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Batsheva Dance Company. Students undertake residencies with choreographers and ensembles including Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Rosas, Company Wayne McGregor, Complicité, and DV8 Physical Theatre.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The institute maintains partnerships with museums, festivals, and universities: collaborations have included Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum, and Kunsthalle Wien; research projects with European Commission cultural programs and links to funding bodies like Creative Europe and Austrian Science Fund. Institutional exchanges extend to academies such as University of California, Los Angeles, Columbia University, University of Oxford, Università di Bologna, and Freie Universität Berlin, and with companies including Berlin Staatsballett, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet, and Het Nationale Ballet.

Notable Projects and Performances

Major projects have documented choreographic canons and new commissions: reconstructions of works by Isadora Duncan, Loïe Fuller, Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Halprin, Kurt Jooss; archival digitization programs comparable to initiatives at Library of Congress, British Library, and Deutsche Nationalbibliothek; and experimental performance labs inspired by Black Mountain College, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Festivals co-curated by the institute have featured artists such as Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, Akram Khan Company, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and William Forsythe Company.

Facilities and Collections

The institute houses studios, a performance space, and archival holdings including video, notation, and designer archives. Collections echo holdings at Dance Notation Bureau, Rudolf Laban Archive, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln. Technical facilities support motion capture and digital curation, with equipment and platforms comparable to labs at MIT Media Lab, Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, and Imperial College London digital humanities initiatives.

Leadership and Staff

Leadership comprises academics, choreographers, archivists, and curators with profiles similar to figures associated with Hannah Spector, Susan Leigh Foster, Sita Popat, André Lepecki, and Olga Taxildar; staff include researchers trained at Goldsmiths, UCL, New School, University of Roehampton, and Eötvös Loránd University. Visiting fellows and guest artists have included choreographers and theorists such as Judson Dance Theater alumni, scholars from Royal Holloway, and curators from Süddeutsche Zeitung Kultur and The Guardian arts sections.

Category:Dance research institutes