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Dancing Tower: Choreography Meets Architecture on a Vertical Line

Ed Frith, architect and Caroline Salem, choreographer, have collaborated for over 25 years. The context of the conference presentation and published paper was the start of a process of reflection and review of 25 years of practice between architect and choreographer. This was developed through the High-Rise presentation, a dialogue between ‘architect’ and ‘choreographer’ and further explored through a Somatic dance conference in Coventry and the Transgression AHRA conference in Bristol. The research looks into the early work featuring patterns and labyrinths from New York in the 90s, to collaborations in Spain, the development of a house and choreographic studio, and to a large project in China.

This reflective practice was applied creatively via the Alvar Aalto symposium to the symposium theme of a tower or high-rise. The presentation looked back though the collaborations between architect and choreographer, as well as linking in to contemporary postgraduate projects. From this paper five themes were and are being investigated: horizon, ground, within, climbing, and height. More information on the wider context and video can be found at the web site http://thinkersandmakers.wordpress.com.

The paper and presentation in Finland was followed by an exhibition and performance, http://thinkersandmakers.wordpress.com/posts/page/3/, in the Stephen Lawrence Gallery investigating the somatic within the city and towering proposals of the students - Gateway Games developing into the Body-Architecture-Movement Symposium http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/architecture/2012/02/01/open-event-body-architecture-movement/. Caroline Salem was appointed as a Visiting Fellow at Greenwich University to explore the collaborative work that can be found at www.movingarchitecture.com.