Twelve*

Twelve* began in 2019 as an experiential performance research initiative envisioned as twelve partnership encounters between scientists and other professional thinkers and professional movement artists. Guided to the discovery of mutually compelling issues of our time, and tasked with the development of twelve-minute audience engaged performance work.

Conceived and launched in 2013, 2023 marked the 10-year anniversary of Transportation Transformation: Migration, Teleportation, and Railways (TT:MTR), a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Arts and Science Performance Research project based at the University of Oxford and at the Carol Sorhaindo Art Studio in Chapeltown, Leeds, UK. In its first phase, TT:MTR produced a theater performance work – with a script base on narratives collected from both Oxford and Leeds community members through semi-structured interviews and a set design based on Windrush generation aesthetics. 

TT:MTR’s performances were held at three local theaters, reaching general audiences, which included students and faculty members from three universities, elder members of the Chapeltown Leeds community, former members of the Leeds constabulary, K-12 educators, policymakers, railway personnel, nonprofit and private sector leaders, and the media. 

This first phased also resulted in  several cross-sector engagements within and between the African Caribbean community in Chapeltown, Leeds, the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford and at the University of Leeds, and community members from varied sectors. In addition, a comprehensive website was launched documenting the research and engagement process and cultural productions produced by TT:MTR. 

The second phase of TT:MTR focussed on dissemination of TT:MTR to academic audiences with presentations of peer-reviewed conference papers at international conferences in the UK, Jamaica, Barcelona, Belgium, and Malta, including but not limited to the AHRC Showcase, University of Liverpool, 2014; “The Creative Industries: Sustainability and Social Transformations”/ Rex Nettleford Arts Conference at the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts, Kingston, Jamaica, 2013; and “Re-Routing/Reclaiming Performance” – International Federation for Theatre Research Conference (FIRT/IFTR) Conference at the Institut del Teatre, Barcelona, 2013. The third phase of TT:MTR, currently in progress, is the development of a book-length manuscript exploring the process and launch of the project – addressing intersections of race, gender, technology and migration in 21st century national identity and belonging.

Conceived and launched in 2012 at the University of Leeds, in 2022, Break-in’ Point in celebrated its10-year anniversary with the publication of Break-in’ Point: Somatic narratives: The convergence of arts and science in the transformation of temporal communities in the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices.

The Break-in’ Point performance (the rehearsal and performance process) explored human vulnerability, cross-cultural notions of masculinity, physical and psycho-social health, and spiritual resilience. The Break-in Point team invited him to join in the development of a conference paper, under the same title as the 2022 publication, which was first delivered at the 2015 Society of Dance History Scholar (now Dance Studies Associations – DSA) Annual Conference in Athens, Greece.