ResDance Series 8: Episode 5: Dwelling in the interstice: Cross-disciplinary research as a mode of discovery with MaryKate Connolly

In the episode, Mary Kate shares insights from her experience as a writer and curator, and her particular interest in performance legacies and the material remains of performance. Situating our conversation around her recent monograph, In Smithereens: The Costume Remains of Lea Anderson’s Stage (Intellect, 2024), we discuss therole of costume in contemporary dance and explore hands-on practices as means of revealing what gets left behind in the wake of performance. In this episode, Mary Kate reflects on her preoccupation with the intersections between disparatefields of research and a willingness to embrace the role of the novice when inhabiting them.

Dr Mary Kate Connolly is a writer and curator based in London, UK. She is currently undertaking research in partnership with Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne. Mary Kate is Co-Editor (with artist David Caines) of COMPOST, a multidisciplinary arts zine.

Her monograph In Smithereens: The Costume Remains of Lea Anderson’s Stage (Intellect, 2024) is the culmination of a longstanding collaboration with choreographer LeaAnderson; many years spent experimenting in the costume archive, writing about the fabric remains of performance and curating exhibitions of costume artefacts. Mary Kate continues to be preoccupied with performance legacies (both material and immaterial). Looking to find alternative ways in which theycan be unfolded.

She has curated exhibitions and live events at studio 1.1, London, Barbican Pit Theatre, TACO! Gallery, and Anthony Wilkinson, Soho. Edited publications include Lea Anderson's The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs: 40 Years of Style and Design (2024), People Show: Nobody Knows butEverybody Remembers (2016) and Throwing the Body into the Fight: A Portrait of Raimund Hoghe (2013).

Mary Kate is former Programme Leader of the MA and MFA creative practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She has performed at Prague Quadrennial, Brut Wien and as part of SPILL festival, UK.

Contact Details:

Email: marykate@compostartzine.com

Social Media:

@connolly.marykate

@compost_art_zine

Recent Publications and Related Links:

In Smithereens: The Costume Remains of Lea Anderson’sStage:

https://www.intellectbooks.com/in-smithereens

COMPOST Art Zine:

www.compostartzine.com

Lea Anderson’s The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs: 40 Years of Style and Design:

http://www.leaanderson.com/40th-anniversary-book

Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, andinterdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research in action.