In this movement-based class, you will explore what a dance library could be. Drawing on Natifah’s process of building a community dance library, you’ll experiment with what counts as ‘reading material’ for dance and body-based practices.
Alongside books and texts as useful companions, Natifah also thinks of physical reading materials (you! / us!) as ways that dance information, histories and knowledge move and circulate. In this context, the words ‘reading’ and ‘material’ can take on expanded, somatic and speculative meanings, opening up what else dance librarianship could be.
Natifah White (she/her) is a Nottingham-based dance artist currently applying movement principles to reimagine archive and library systems. She describes her work as a referential web spanning performance (credits include: Seke Chimutengwende, Florence Peake, SERAFINE 1369 and Elinor Lewis/ Joe Garbett) and a personal practice based on guiding questions.
A question anchoring her work right now is: ‘How do we take the immaterial into the material?’ (ref. Joseph Zeal-Henry). She uses this to reimagine archive/library systems, thinking about how these structures might be experienced and circulated through movement and collective care. Her approach is relational—she’s interested in learning from others, building on existing practices, and finding ways to carry that work forward.
These enquiries extend into her digi-practice, ‘thisishappening‘, which experiments with archiving as an “amplifying practice“, using crediting, repeating, and sharing as “strategies of solidarity“. (ref. Archival Textures)
Independent Dance is resident at Siobhan Davies Studios. To find out more about accessibility and the amenities available within the building please see here.
If you have any questions about the accessibility of our programme and would like to discuss any specific access requirements, please feel free to reach out to us via email info@independentdance.co.uk or by phone on 0207 091 9650, to speak to a member of the Independent Dance team.
During class, all participants are welcome to take breaks, observe, exit and enter the space as they wish. Lounge areas are available on the first and ground floors of the building. Yoga mats, blocks, cushions and ear defenders are available for use. We also welcome you being in contact if you would like to discuss the option of bringing your access support worker. Please speak to a member of the ID team if you require any assistance.
Prices for classes are kept very low and are subsidised by ID in order to support artists to attend. To keep admin manageable for our small team, we don’t offer refunds if you cancel or can’t attend a class, and we can’t transfer your booking to a different class/event. We hope this is understandable. If a class is cancelled or changed by ID however, we do offer refunds/transfers to everyone who has booked.