Carla Trim-Vamben is a senior lecturer and programme leader of the BA (Hons) Dance: Urban Practice degree at the University of East London. Carla’s provocation related to ‘the fear of being free’ in improvisational dance forms. In her words:
“I deliver an undergraduate degree programme that focuses on popular and social dance forms. I often ask why students are afraid of freestyling and feel safer staying in the boundaries of technique exercises? Is the transmission of popular and social dances within academic institutions creating a culture of fear? How do we ensure that the freedom that is inherent in these styles is accessible?”
– Carla Trim-Vamben
Keep Listening, Keep Talking (2020–1) is a partnership initiative by Independent Dance, Dance in Higher Education, Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University and Centre for Performance Philosophy at the University of Surrey.
Carla Trim-Vamben is a senior lecturer and the programme leader for the BA (Hons) Dance: Urban Practice degree at the University of East London. She is a practice led researcher with interests centred around club culture, specifically house dance.
She completed her Master of Arts in Dance Anthropology at Roehampton, writing her thesis on freestyle practice in UK house dance. Carla is also a community dance practitioner and has danced for choreographers such as ADiaspora Collective in Frusted (2010) at the Breakin’ Convention Festival. She has published and presented her work, ‘From Club to Stage: The Integration of House Dance within Performance Practice’ (2013) and at conferences such as ADAD’s Re: Generations.
She is currently developing her research project for a PhD application and is leading the evaluation for an ACE-funded Transforming Leadership project, ‘We Move’.
Bio is from 2021.
