Alice Baldock

Research Topic

Moving Women: Gender and Dance in 20th Century Japan

Supervisor: Professor Sho Konishi

I am a new dPhil student researching women artists, especially dancers, in post-war Japan. I am particularly interested in the way that, in the wake of a global catastrophe which shattered the way people thought, moved, and interacted with one another, these women experienced and shaped different worlds, both within art and beyond.

Currently I am looking at the life and work of butoh dancer, choreographer, and co-founder, Motofuji Akiko, as well as some of the first women noh artists, who began performing in the 1950s.

Whilst researching, I also think it is essential to move, so I also practice, choreograph and teach for various dance projects around the world.  

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Conference and other academic participation:

Organiser of Broken Wings: A Symposium on the Limitations of the Dancing Body. August 2020, details TBC.

'(Un-)Bounded Bodies: Dancers in Post-War Japan', Life on the Edge: Borders and Boundaries in East Asia, Harvard East Asia Conference, 8th-9th February 2020.

'Motofuji Akiko and 20th Century Japan', International History of East Asia Seminar, 27th Janaury 2020.

Academic Visitor, ASWARA – Akademi Seni Budaya Dan Warisan Kebangsaan, Kuala Lumpur, September 2019.

‘Moving Bodies: Post-war Dance, Women, and Protest in Japan’ , Voices of Dissent: Transculturality and Activism, Studierendenrat der Universität Heidelberg Fachschaft Transcultural Studies, 24th May 2019.

‘Moving Women: Gender and Dance in 20th Century Japan’, Oxford Sudbury Transnational and Global History Seminar: Graduate Approaches to Global History, Pembroke College, University of Oxford, 25 May 2018.

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Publications

Foreword to Vangeline, Butoh: Cradling Empty Space (Forthcoming)