Chris Lewis-Smith (Subject Leader: Dance)

Personal Statement

Personal Statement

Senior Lecturer/Subject Leader: Dance. School of Music and Performing Arts.

BA(Hons) [Bath Spa University], MA [Bath Spa University]

Personal Statement:

Chris is Subject Leader for Dance at Bath Spa University. His teaching draws on his experience as a performer, a choreographer, and a filmmaker.

He has performed and made work for theatres, festivals, television and communities across the UK, in Europe and in both North and South America.

In his work as a choreographer, he has a history of collaborative experiences. Using text, film and live music he co-created a series of productions from 1998 to 2005, working with Carol Brown (TAN Dance) and Welsh writer and poet John Howell Jenkins. Further collaborations have included work with filmmaker Nick Spollin, composer Dan Jones, and the Red Choir. In 2005, he worked with filmmaker Joel Skinner and composer Stewart Jackson (Phantom Limb), producing work that has been shown nationally and internationally. Recent work has included experimental documentaries of site specific performance projects with Cornwall based Attik Dance, and a video installation commissioned for the Royal West of England Academy.

Chris's work has been featured on BBC Radio 4 (Today), in local and national press (Telegraph, Express, TES, Observer), on TV (S4C Wales, Disney Channel), at the European Parliament Brussels, and for the secretary General of the United Nations. His film work has been screened at festivals and events both in the UK and overseas. In addition to teaching and making work, he writes, photographs dance and keeps bees. His teaching work focuses on 2 main areas. 1. 'Collaborative Practice - Sound and Sight', investigations into the relationships and dialogues between sound, movement, and site, in the context of interdisciplinary/collaborative practice. 2. 'Screendance', explorations concerning the moving body and the lens, and the practicalities of designing and making video. In addition he supports students in the building of their Professional Portfolio and their transition into the professional arena as confident, employable and enterprising artists. Chris' PhD studies, Emergent Texts, concerns the exploration of how bodies and landscapes transform each other in their shared viewing through film.

visit: www.chrislewis-smith.com

Professional Qualifications:

Cert. Ed. Southampton University
Cert TEFL, International House, London.
Dip. Dance Therapy, Association of Dance Therapy, London

Membership of Professional Bodies/Subject Associations:

Foundation for Community Dance (National Development Agency)
Dance UK

Teaching Specialism:

Collaborative Practice - Sound and Site. Investigations into the relationships and range of dialogues existant between sound, movement, and site. Interdisciplinary and collaborative practice between composers and choreographers.

Screendance. The relationship between the moving body and the lens. Editing as choreographic process. The design and construction of short video dance works.

Professional Portfolio. Supporting the student towards graduating as an inspired, employable, enterprising artist.

Key Publications/Exhibitions/Performances:

Productions from 1996:
Come As You Are 1996 - Hartcliffe Boys Dance Company, Bristol Cathedral, Clifton Cathedral, Bristol Hippodrome (film - Warner Bros. Cinema. Cribbs Causway, Bristol).
Launching celebration for The Mathew 1996 - Bristol International Festival of the Sea.
Angels Unplugged 1997 - Hartcliffe Boys Dance Company, Bristol Hippodrome, Victoria Rooms, Bristol.
Rites of Passage 1997 - Hartcliffe Boys Dance Company, Bristol Hippodrome, European Parliment, Brussels.
Promethius 1998) - Hartcliffe Boys Dance Company, (film - Watershed Media Centre, Bristol).
Paper Angels 1998 - TAN Dance, Theatre Taliesin, Swansea.
The Mud Crawlers 1999 - TAN Dance, Theatre Taliesin, Swansea.
Over To You 2000 - TAN Dance, Theatre Einon, Swansea.
Sleeping Among Rocks on Crow Hill 2000 - The Arc Dance Project, Arc Theatre, Trowbridge.
From Here 2001 - The Arc Dance Project, Arc Theatre, Trowbridge.
Gathering of Shadows 2001 - TAN Dance, Hendrefoilan House, University of Wales, Swansea.
Alpha Magnifico 2002 - TAN Dance, Theatre Talyesin, Swansea.
Why Do You Always Do That? 2002, The Arc Dance Project, Arc Theatre, Trowbridge.
Echo 2003 - TAN Dance, The Orangery, Margham Park.
Desire of The Light Sweet Crude 2004 - TAN Dance, Theatre Einon, Swansea.
Broken Free 2005 - TAN Dance, Theatre Taliesin, Swansea.
Bodies of Text (film) 2005 - Bath Spa University, Dec '05. Dancefilmday, London 'Jan '06. Rough Cuts, Swindon 'Feb '06. 'Cultural Hub', Dance South West. '06. Watershed Media Centre, Bristol, June '06. Cinedance International Dance Film Festival, Amsterdam. July '06. Tor Dance Festival, July 06
Hell or High Water (film) 2006 Attik Dance.
Noah’s Train, (film) 2006 (director, editor, producer).
The Enterprising Artist. Paper, Palatine. Bath Spa University June 2006
Watergate Bay, (film) 2007 - Encounters International Short Film Festival, Bristol '08. Brighton International Short Film Festival, 2008. Leicester International Short Film Festival 2009.
Swimmer (video installation) 2008 - Royal West of England Academy '08
Invisible, (film) 2008 - Bath Spa University
Bodmin Whale (film) 2009 - In The Palace International Short Film Festival, Bulgaria.

Mirrorland (film) 2010 - Chapter Arts, Cardiff. Bath Spa University, Plymouth, Newport, MECAL International Short Film Festival of Barcelona. BBC Big Screens, Plymouth, Swindon, Bristol.

Publications:

'Desire of the Light Sweet Crude', 'Animated' 2004, Journal of the Foundation For Community Dance.
'Out Of The Dark', (chapter) MA2. Sussex, UK. 2003.

Photographs: Juice magazine, 2006, 2007. RWA Magazine 2008. Bristol Magazine 2008.

The Water Of Light. 2010. Novel. Traeth Publications.

Screendance 3. 2011. Film. Contemporary Arts Media. Brisbane.