Theatre contemporary vs. commercial contemporary dance: helping UK conservatoire dance students navigate these two worlds. / Adrian Lawrence (2021)

Theatre contemporary and commercial contemporary are sub-genres of contemporary dance that differ in a variety of ways. Previous research has identified how these differences may negatively affect the education of dance students studying at a conservatoire in the US. ‘Theatre contemporary vs. commercial contemporary dance: helping UK conservatoire dance students navigate these two worlds’ is a project by Adrian Lawrence which researches the views and experiences of people with commercial contemporary dance backgrounds who studied theatre contemporary dance at a UK conservatoire. After reviewing the existing literature on this topic, indepth interviews were undertaken with eight conservatoire alumni who had previously trained extensively in commercial dance. Analysis of the responses revealed that some participants struggled to adapt to training in an unfamiliar dance style or navigate the creative agency that they were afforded, though they acknowledged that their previous commercial dance training also gave them some advantages over their peers. Participants expressed a variety of reasons for choosing to study at a UK conservatoire and, since graduating, several of them have worked in both the commercial and theatre dance industry. A lecture demonstration was presented which proposed a number of ways in which the conservatoire experience could be enhanced for students whose pre-vocational training lies predominantly within commercial dance. Improving the accessibility of dance education in this way is important in helping students reach their full artistic potential.