Phillip J Barnard
Philip Barnard was a programme leader at the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge until 2011. Over the course of his career, he has carried out research on how memory, attention, language, body states and emotion work together in the normal healthy, human mind. He is committed to seeing the types of basic cognitive theory developed in scientific laboratories put to good use in the real world. His theoretical model of the architecture of the human mind has been applied to the problems of designing ‘easy to use’ everyday technologies and computer interfaces. He has applied the same theory to help understand and treat emotional disorders like depression, as well as using it to account for the way in which human mental and emotional skills have developed over the long-term course of evolution. Dance shares with these other areas of interest an intricate blending of intellectual, communicative, physical and emotional skills. From 2003 until his recent retirement, Philip has collaborated with Wayne McGregor | Random Dance on interdisciplinary research projects with the aim of developing productive synergies between choreographic processes and our knowledge of cognitive neuroscience.
Scott deLahunta
As a Senior Research Fellow at Coventry University, Scott deLahunta (PhD) continues his research collaboration with Wayne McGregor which began in 2000 when deLahunta was an Associate Research Fellow with Dartington College of Arts and continued through his post as Director of Random Dance’s research group, R-Research. He is an Affiliated Researcher with Crucible (Cambridge University Network for Interdisciplinary Research) and serves on the editorial boards of Performance Research, Dance Theatre Journal and the International Journal of Performance and Digital Media.
Ruth Way
Associate Head of the School of Humanities and Performing Arts, Plymouth University. Ruth Way studied at the London School of Contemporary Dance and has been a professional dancer, choreographer and academic. She plays an active role in the region’s dance community and acts regularly as a mentor for emerging dancers and choreographers. She is a steering board member for Plymouth Dance and an external assessor and dance consultant for Cygnet Training Theatre.
Roberta Mock
Professor of Performance Studies, Plymouth University. Professor Mock is Director of the Doctoral Training Centre in the Arts & Humanities, a member of the Arts & Humanities Research Council Peer Review College, and an advisory board member of the innovative site-specific performance group Part Exchange Co and an executive member of the Theatre and Performance Research Association..
Adam Benjamin
Lecturer in Theatre & Performance, Plymouth University, Adam Benjamin is an award-winning choreographer and improvisational dancer. He is a Wingate Scholar, was an Associate Artist at The Place and has received an International Artists Fellowship from Arts Council England. In 2006 he became one of the first choreographers to be awarded a Rayne Foundation fellowship. Eloise Malone – founder and CEO of Plymouth-based dance group Effervescent, the award-winning company which has rapidly established a national reputation for audacious, cutting edge creative work which transforms individuals and communities through a uniquely supportive approach to developing cohesion, communication and consultation through art.
Ben Dunks
Artistic Director Of Attik Dance in Plymouth, a creative dance organisation that specialises in participation and training, creating fresh ways of bringing dance into the community. He trained in Performing Arts (majoring in Dance), at the Queensland University of Technology and then at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. He subsequently performed with a multitude of companies in Australia, Ireland and the UK, working with more than 25 directors and choreographers.
