Kinesthetic Transference in Performance – Erika Batdorf

Research focus

An exploration of principles that would increase the ability of dancers and/or physical actors to ‘move’ an audience, through the performance technique called Kinesthetic Transference. What is the physiological communication that happens in performance between performer and audience? How is it technically controlled by the performer and what are the obstacles that the performer/creator must manage to help the audience not block information coming from the performer? (See PR  28 for a subsequent exploration of these techniques.)

About the reseearcher

Erika Batdorf is an international artist who lives north of Toronto and has been performing, directing, animating art openings and creating award-winning performance work for over 30 years shared in 14 countries and 14 US states. Batdorf works in a number of mediums, mostly performance. Though known as a solo performer and theatre director/devisor, lately she has been developing large site-specific immersive projects. She also created the performance training technique called The Batdorf Technique (TBT).

Collaborators and credits

Kate Digby, Denise Fujiwara, Matthew Romantini and Suzanne Jaeger, with Nightswimming’s Brian Quirt and Naomi Campbell.

December 10-12, 2007 at the Glen Morris Studio, University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Drama.