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Biography

Dr Jenny Roche is a dance artist who has worked as a contemporary dancer since the early 1990s performing with a wide range of choreographers in Ireland and internationally, including Michael Keegan-Dolan (Ire), Janet Smith (UK), Rosemary Butcher (UK), Jodi Melnick (NYC), John Jasperse (NYC), Yoshiko Chuma (NYC) and in work by Dominique Bagouet, re-staged by Les Carnets Bagouet (France). She has danced for Daghdha Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Ireland, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Cois Ceim and was a founder member of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre. She co-founded Rex Levitates Dance Company (now Liz Roche Company) with her sister, choreographer Liz Roche in 1999 and has performed extensively with the company, most notably in the Meet in Beijing Festival, China, in 2006 and the Baryshnikov Arts Centre, NYC, in 2011. In 2001, she completed her Masters degree in Dance Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, at the University of Limerick and in 2010 she received her doctoral award from Roehampton University, London. Her thesis title was Moving Identities: Multiplicity, Embodiment and the Contemporary Dancer and her area of research continues to be the dancer's creative practice within choreographic processes. From 2007 to 2011, she was Dance Adviser to the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaion. She served as a committee member of the Step up: Dance Project, Ireland, a professional development programme for recently graduated contemporary dancers and was project manager of the inaugural year of the programme. She is currently completing her final year of Amatsu soft tissue therapy bodywork. Jenny continues to work as a performer and choreographer. In recent years, she performed in Time Over Distance Over Time, a collaborative work with Liz Roche Company that took place between Ireland and Australia, with performances in Dublin Dance Festival, Dance Bytes in Sydney and The Brisbane Powerhouse in 2016 and Alternately Terrific Gentle, a collaboration with Liz Roche and Jodi Melnick, performed in Lightmoves Festival of Screendance, Limerick (2023). She has recently collaborated with choreographer Carol Brown and digital artists Gibson/Martelli on a dance film/installation presented in the Pah Gallery, New Zealand in 2017 and Ars Electronica in 2020. She collaborated with Gibson/Martelli and composer Mel Mercier on the performance installation Expanded Fields, Limerick City Gallery of Art (2019), Gazelli Arthouse and Live Collision Festival (2020). Her mongraph, Multiplicity, Embodiment and the Contemporary Dancer: Moving Identities was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015 and Choreography: The Basics, with Stephanie Burridge in 2022.

Research Interests

At the core of my research are questions emerging from the phenomenological perspective of dancers who are both live self-aware participants in the choreographic process and the material through which the choreography is realised and the dance formed. Through practical enquiry and experimentation based on my own experience as a dancer and the experiences of other dancers working within this genre, I continue to explore how contemporary dancers' embodied knowledge unfolds through the choreographic process. My research extends into the fields of dance and somatic practices, particularly in relation to the influence of somatic approaches on dance training. I have had an international career as a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for over twenty years and continue to work on projects within arts practice research contexts.

I have a broad range of skills as a researcher, moving between academic scholarship, arts policy and creative practice contexts. I have published extensively on a range of subjects including creative practice and dance training. Aside from publishing, I have also worked as a collaborator on interdisciplinary creative practice outputs with international artists in recent years. Most recently, Time Over Distance Over Time, which received highly competitive Australia Council funding, was performed in Australia and Ireland and brought together artists and researchers from Ireland, the UK and Australia to develop a new creative work, which was also funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Culture Ireland. It involved an international collaboration across a range of venues, festivals, production companies and funders in a highly complex project. In January 2017, I worked with digital artists Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli and choreographer Carol Brown (Associate Professor from the University of Auckland), to develop a film installation, We Are Here And We Are Everywhere At Once, filmed in Central Otago, New Zealand and presented in galleries in Auckland and London. In 2019, I collaborated with Gibson/Martelli and composer Mel Mercier on Expanded Fields, presented at Limerick City Gallery of Art (2019), Gazelli Arthouse, London and Live Collision Festival, Dublin (2020).

Books

	Year	Publication
	2022	Choreography: The Basics. Jenny Roche and Stephanie Burridge (2022) Choreography: The Basics. London and New York: Routledge. [Details]
	2015	Multiplicity, Embodiment and the Contemporary Dancer: Moving Identities. Roche, Jennifer (2015) Multiplicity, Embodiment and the Contemporary Dancer: Moving Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [DOI] [Details]

Book Chapters

�	Year	Publication
	2020	'Towards a Deterritorialised Field of Dance' Carol Brown, Ruth Gibson and Jenny Roche (2020) 'Towards a Deterritorialised Field of Dance' In: Ann David, Michael Huxley and Sarah Whatley (eds). Dance Fields: Staking a Claim for Dance Studies in the Twenty-First Century. London and New York: Dance Books. [Details]
	2019	'Liz Roche�s Pilgrimage: Shifts in Perception through Proximity to a Dance' Jenny Roche (2019) 'Liz Roche�s Pilgrimage: Shifts in Perception through Proximity to a Dance' In: Miranda Driscoll (eds). ONE HERE NOW: The Brian O�Doherty/Patrick Ireland Project. Cobh, Co.Cork: Paper Visual Art/Sirius Arts Centre. [Details]
	2018	'Dancing strategies and moving identities: The contributions independent contemporary dancers make to the choreographic process' Jenny Roche (2018) 'Dancing strategies and moving identities: The contributions independent contemporary dancers make to the choreographic process' In: Butterworth, Jo and Wildshut, Liesbeth (eds). Contemporary Choreography: A Critical Reader. London and New York: Routledge. [Details]
	2017	'Moving between first-person and third-person bodies in dance teaching' (2017) 'Moving between first-person and third-person bodies in dance teaching' In: Practicing Dance: A Somatic Orientation. Logos Verlag, Berlin, pp. 123-126. [Details]
	2015	'Disorganising principles: Corporeal fragmentation and the possibilities for repair' (2015) 'Disorganising principles: Corporeal fragmentation and the possibilities for repair' In: Attending to Movement: Somatic Perspectives on Living in This World - Conference. 2013 : Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University. Axminster, England : Triarchy Press. [Details]
	2015	'Dancing as Knowledge Production/Dancer as Researcher in Practice-led Research' (2015) 'Dancing as Knowledge Production/Dancer as Researcher in Practice-led Research' In: In Quaresma, Jose & Dias, Fernando Rosa (Eds.) Research in Arts: The Oscillation of the Methods. University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 105-117. [Details]
	2018	'What would it be if it didn't have to be like that?: Undisciplining the travel of dance ideas in the Neo-liberal university' Jenny Roche and Alys Longley (2018) 'What would it be if it didn't have to be like that?: Undisciplining the travel of dance ideas in the Neo-liberal university' In: Carol Brown and Alys Longley (eds). Undisciplining Dance in Nine Movements and Eight Stumbles. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [Details]
	2018	'Dancing, Identity and Place: Balancing Subjectivity and Technique in Contemporary Dance Training' Jenny Roche (2018) 'Dancing, Identity and Place: Balancing Subjectivity and Technique in Contemporary Dance Training' In: Aoife McGrath and Emma Meehan (eds). Dance Matters in Ireland: Contemporary Dance Performance and Practice. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. [DOI] [Details]
	2016	'Moving between first-person and third-person bodies in dance teaching' Jenny Roche (2016) 'Moving between first-person and third-person bodies in dance teaching' In: Coogan, Jenny (eds). Practicing Dance:A Somatic Orientation. Berlin: Logos Verlag. [Details]
	2015	'Disorganising principles: Corporeal fragmentation and the possibilities for repair' Jenny Roche (2015) 'Disorganising principles: Corporeal fragmentation and the possibilities for repair' In: Whatley, Sarah; Garrett Brown, Natalie and Alexander, Kirsty (eds). Attending to Movement: Somatic Perspectives on Living in This World. UK: Triarchy Press. [Details]
	2015	'Dancing as knowledge production/dancer as researcher in practice-led research' Roche, Jenny (2015) 'Dancing as knowledge production/dancer as researcher in practice-led research' In: Quaresma, Jose and Dias, Fernando Rosa (eds). Research in Arts: The Oscillation of the Methods. Lisbon: University of Lisbon. [Details]

Peer Reviewed Journals

�	Year	Publication
	2021	'And then again, I draw myself to the detail: Capturing experiential states in contemporary dance making through Expanded Fields' Gibson, R;Roche, J (2021) 'And then again, I draw myself to the detail: Capturing experiential states in contemporary dance making through Expanded Fields'. Performance Research, 26 :71-77 [DOI] [Details]
	2019	'Writing Wrongheaded' (2019) 'Writing Wrongheaded'. Social Alternatives, [Details]
	2018	'Traces from elsewhere: dancing together across distance and time' Roche J. (2018) 'Traces from elsewhere: dancing together across distance and time'. Text And Performance Quarterly, 38 (1):5-14 [DOI] [Details]
	2016	'Shifting embodied perspectives in dance teaching' Jenny Roche (2016) 'Shifting embodied perspectives in dance teaching'. Journal Of Dance And Somatic Practices. 8(2), Pp. 143-156, [Details]
	2013	'Review: Body and Performance edited by: Sandra Reeve, Triarchy Press (2013)' Jenny Roche (2013) 'Review: Body and Performance edited by: Sandra Reeve, Triarchy Press (2013)'. Journal Of Dance And Somatic Practices. 5(2), Pp. 197-198, [Details]
	2011	'Embodying Multiplicity: The independent dancer's moving identity' Roche, Jennifer (2011) 'Embodying Multiplicity: The independent dancer's moving identity'. Research In Dance Education, 12 (2):105-118 [DOI] [Details]
	2009	'Moving identities : multiplicity, embodiment and the contemporary dancer' (2009) 'Moving identities : multiplicity, embodiment and the contemporary dancer'. Phd By Creative Works, Roehampton University London, [Details]
	2008	'Solo3 [Live Performance (Dance)]' (2008) 'Solo3 [Live Performance (Dance)]'. [Details]
	2015	'Creative adaptations: integrating Feldenkrais principles in contemporary dance technique to facilitate the transition into tertiary dance education' Roche, J;Huddy, A (2015) 'Creative adaptations: integrating Feldenkrais principles in contemporary dance technique to facilitate the transition into tertiary dance education'. Theatre Dance And Performance Training, 6 :145-158 [DOI] [Details]

Other Journals

	Year	Publication
	2015	'Perceiving the interactive body in dance: Enhancing kinesthetic empathy through art objects' Smith, Michael and Roche, Jennifer (2015) 'Perceiving the interactive body in dance: Enhancing kinesthetic empathy through art objects' Body, Space and Technology, (14) . [Details]

Conference Publications

	Year	Publication
	2015	*International Symposium for Dance Studies: Perspectives on Dance in a Changing Environment* Roche, Jenny (2015) Dancing practices from multiple perspectives: the increasingly complex role of the contemporary dancer International Symposium for Dance Studies: Perspectives on Dance in a Changing Environment Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea, [Details]
	2015	*Atelier: European Dance House Network, 11-12 December 2015, Dance House, Dublin* Jenny Roche (2015) Atelier: European Dance House Network, 11-12 December 2015, Dance House, Dublin Atelier: European Dance House Network, 11-12 December 2015, Dance House, Dublin [Details]
	2015	*International Symposium for Dance Studies: Perspectives on Dance in a Changing Environment. 17 October 2015, Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea* Jenny Roche (2015) International Symposium for Dance Studies: Perspectives on Dance in a Changing Environment. 17 October 2015, Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea International Symposium for Dance Studies: Perspectives on Dance in a Changing Environment. 17 October 2015, Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea [Details]
	2012	*Somatics and Technology Conference, University of Chichester* Jennifer Roche (2012) Developing Somatic Sensibilities for Voice and Dance Performance Somatics and Technology Conference, University of Chichester [Details]
	2012	*Mapping Spectral Traces; NUI Galway and Maynooth* Jennifer Roche (2012) Something of the Shape Remains in my Body Mapping Spectral Traces; NUI Galway and Maynooth [Details]
	2012	*Dance Research Forum of Ireland 4th International Conference* Jennifer Roche (2012) Locating Bodies in Space: How to build a moving identity in the information age Dance Research Forum of Ireland 4th International Conference [Details]

Conference Contributions

	Year	Publication
	2018	Panpapanpalya; 2nd joint congress of daCi (dance and the Child international) and WDA (World Dance Alliance) Global Education and Training Network, Jenny Roche (2018) Rainbows, seals and flying lamas: an intergenerational dance project between primary school children and university dance students. [International Refereed Conference], Panpapanpalya; 2nd joint congress of daCi (dance and the Child international) and WDA (World Dance Alliance) Global Education and Training Network, Adelaide, Australia , 08-JUL-18 - 13-JUL-18 [Details]
	2018	Conference of Irish Geographers, Jenny Roche (2018) Traces from elsewhere: dancing together across distance and time. [Invited Oral Presentation], Conference of Irish Geographers, Maynooth University , 11-MAY-18 - 11-MAY-18 [Details]
	2015	Atelier: European Dance House Network, Jenny Roche (2015) Keynote presentation. [Invited Lecture], Atelier: European Dance House Network, Dancehouse, Dublin , 11-DEC-15 - 12-DEC-15 [Details]

Published Reports

	Year	Publication
	2016	The Arts Council Dance and Education Report: Reshaping the Landscape: A Pathway to Professional Dance Training of International Standing in Ireland. Jenny Roche (2016) The Arts Council Dance and Education Report: Reshaping the Landscape: A Pathway to Professional Dance Training of International Standing in Ireland. The Arts Council, Dublin. [Details]

Film or Broadcast

	Year	Publication
	2017	We Are Here And We Are Everywhere At Once. Carol Brown, Ruth Gibson, Bruno Martelli and Russell Scoones (2017) We Are Here And We Are Everywhere At Once. Film or Broadcast [Details]

Performance

	Year	Publication
	2019	Expanded Fields. Jenny Roche, Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli (2019) Expanded Fields. Performance [Details]
	2016	Time Over Distance Over Time. Liz Roche (2016) Time Over Distance Over Time. Performance [Details]

Jennifer Roche

Contact Details