Sarah Roe, Course Director

Sarah Roe

Course Director

Sarah has been a Senior Lecturer in Dance at Leeds Beckett University since May 2013. Prior to this Sarah was Course Leader for the Undergraduate Dance Programme based within the Hull School of Art and Design, Hull College. Over the last 10 years Sarah has worked across a number of Higher Education Institutions within the UK lecturing in Choreography, Community Arts Practice, Dance Techniques, and Critical Dance Studies. Throughout that time she has continued to work as a performer and choreographer. Sarah’s broad research interests include the exploration of the relationship between publicly funded arts and the commercial sector, the development of choreographic making strategies, and the impact of digital technologies on teaching and learning within the arts. Her previous professional experience has encompassed dance teaching and project management in a range of educational and community settings, and work as a performer and choreographer spanning across a number of sectors and disciplines. Within the School of Film, Music, and Performing Arts Sarah is Head of Teaching, Learning and Enhancement.

Current Teaching

Sarah Roe teaches on the following modules at Leeds Beckett University:

  • BA (Hons) Dance Modules:
    • Dance in the Community Project
    • Digital Practices
    • Critical Contexts 3 & 4
    • Publishing
    • LAUNCH Project (Independent Choreographic Project)
  • MA Performance Modules:
    • Artist Mentor
    • Performance Matters 1

Research Interests

Research Overview
Following the completion of her Masters Degree in Theatre and Contemporary Practice Sarah’s primary research focus has been the use of reflective strategies in dance pedagogy, both as a tool for teaching and learning but also for ‘Making’. Exploration in this area has led to her current Practice As Research work, which focus on the development of Drew Leder’s (1990) discussions of the Recessive and Ecstatic Body into an approach to generate choreographic material. Using Phillip Zarrilli’s (2004) developments on Leder’s work as a foundation, Sarah’s practice uses and explores the interplay between the ecstatic and recessive body questioning how the aesthetics of the visceral body can be given externality and how this may be presented and developed into choreographic material. In addition to developing practice, this approach has been used to begin a critical analysis on the works of choreographers such as Ohad Naharin.

Research Projects Include:

  • Thinking Dance - July 2014
    Thinking Dance was a two-week research programme ran by Leeds Beckett University and Yorkshire Dance in association with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Phoenix Dance Theatre. Thinking Dance provided a platform for scholars, practitioners and industry professionals to engage in new discourse around current cultural trends, landscapes, practices in contemporary dance and choreography in the 21st century. As one of the artists Sarah was invited to develop a piece of choreographic research over the two weeks, as well as taking part in and hosting a number of artist-led classes, lunchtime provocations, a salon and a practical sharing of work. The two weeks of collaboration, learning and research culminated in a symposium at Leeds Beckett University, titled ‘Questioning the Contemporary in 21st century British Dance’.
Sarah Roe, Course Director