Hetty Blades, Principle Investigator
I am an Associate Professor in the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University (UK). I trained in contemporary dance at Trinity Laban (BA (Hons) 2007) and have an MA in Dance Studies from Roehampton University (2010). I completed a PhD at C-DaRE in 2015, before joining the Centre as a Research Assistant.
I have previously worked on funded projects examining dance, disability and law, dance and human rights and dance ownership online. Please see my Coventry University profile for more information.
Vipavinee Artpradid, Research Fellow
Vip’s research applies embodied and inclusive qualitative research methodologies for social change and draws from her background in media anthropology, social anthropology, and cultural studies. She is currently leading funded projects on mapping and evaluating the AHRC Dance Research Matters Networks (AHRC AH/Y002105/1) and collaborating with FRONTLINEdance to develop embodied phenomenography for inclusive dance programme evaluation (British Academy SRG2324\240089). Her PhD (2020) applied phenomenography to dance audience engagement to explore variations in ways of understanding disability. She has written on integration and inclusion in dance (2022), embodied hearing technologies (2022), and kinaesthetic empathic witnessing (2023). Vip is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University.
Lily Hayward-Smith, Research Assistant
Lily Hayward-Smith is a dance artist and researcher specializing in improvisation, interdisciplinary collaboration, somatic practices and curation. She is a research assistant at the Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University and co-editor for the Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices. Lily completed a master’s in dance making and performance in 2009 at Coventry University and was co-director for Decoda-UK until 2017. Other dance and research interests include, creative writing, practice research, philosophy and embodied modes of being. Please view Lily’s Coventry University profile for more information.
Advisory Group
Robert Hylton, Dance Artist and PhD researcher, Coventry University
Dr Anna Pakes, Independent Researcher and Senior Honorary Research Fellow, Roehampton University
Subathra Subramaniam, Dance Artist and Artistic Director and joint Chief Executive Officer of Akādemi.
Vidya Thirunarayan, Dance and Ceramics artist, PhD research scholar, University of Chichester
Professor Charlotte Waelde, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Coventry University
Mentor
Professor Scott DeLahunta, Professor of Dance, Coventry University
Partners
Robyn Cabaret, Producer, Sadler’s Wells Theatre
Andrew Hurst, Chief Executive, One Dance UK
