Scott deLahunta

Current Affiliations

Professor of Dance
Centre for Dance Research @ Coventry University

Co-Director (with Florian Jenett)
Motion Bank @ Institut Designlabor Gutenberg @ Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences
http://motionbank.org (first phase 2010-2014) Medium Updates (second phase 2016-)
http://choreographiccoding.org/

Biography (340 words):

Scott deLahunta has worked as a writer, researcher and organiser on a range of international projects bringing performing arts with a focus on choreography into conjunction with other disciplines and practices. He is currently Professor of Dance, Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University (UK) and co-Director (with Florian Jenett) of Motion Bank, part of the Institut Designlabor Gutenberg hosted by Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences. From 2014-2019, deLahunta was a Senior Research Fellow with Deakin Motion.Lab, Deakin University (AUS). From 2010 to 2014, he was Director of the first phase of Motion Bank a Project of The Forsythe Company. He was an Associate Research Fellow with Dartington College of Arts (UK) from 2000-2009 during which time he began a long-term research into creative processes in dance with Wayne McGregor. From 2008 to 2013, he was the Director for R-Research the interdisciplinary research department for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance. From 2006-2010, deLahunta was Research Fellow with the Art Theory and Research and Art Practice and Development Research Group, Amsterdam School of the Arts, where he worked closely with the dance company Emio Greco | PC, a project which culminated with the two year research project (2008-2010) Inside Movement Knowledge. During this period, he also served as an advisor on the Siobhan Davies Digital Dance Archive project and Synchronous Objects, for One Flat Thing, reproduced by William Forsythe. He has held short-term research positions in a variety of contexts including Kings College Cambridge (2005) and serves on the editorial boards of Performance Research and the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. He has published widely and is frequently invited to speak at events internationally. deLahunta has sat on various awarding juries including Arts Council England, NESTA and Prix Ars Electronica. He has taught for different education institutions in the past including the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam (1994-2006) based at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, where he also co-developed the Amsterdam Master of Choreography program. deLahunta's PhD (2010) from Plymouth University is on-line at: http://www.sdela.dds.nl.

Social Media
Twitter

Selected Publications

From 2007 to present are below. Several of these can be found searching on 'delahunta' in Coventry University's Open Collections (PURE).

For additional publications 1999-2007 see PhD On-Line (30 articles). 

Books

deLahunta, S., Hennermann, C. Eds. (2013) Motion Bank: Starting Points & Aspirations. Frankfurt: Motion Bank/ The Forsythe Company.

McGregor, W., deLahunta, S., Barnard P., Wilson, J. & Douglas-Allan, E. (2013) Mind and Movement: Choreographic Thinking Tools. London: Wayne McGregor|Random Dance.

deLahunta, S. Ed. (2008) SwanQuake. The User Manual. Plymouth, UK: Liquid Press/ i-DAT.

deLahunta, S. Ed. (2007) Capturing Intention: documentation, analysis and notation research based on the work of Emio Greco | PC. Amsterdam: Emio Greco | PC and Amsterdam School of the Arts. 

Book Chapters

Rittershaus, D., Koch, A., deLahunta, S. & Jenett, F. (2022) 'Recording "Effect": A Case Study in Technical, Practical and Critical Perspectives on Dance Data Creation'. in: Dance Data, Cognition, and Multimodal Communication. Eds. Fernandes, C., Evola, V. & Ribeiro, C. Dance Data, Cognition, and Multimodal Communication. London: Routledge, pp. 71-88.

Bermudez, B., deLahunta, S., Magnini, F. (2020) 'Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten'. in: Fifty Contemporary Choreographers, 3rd Edition. Eds. Butterworth, J., Sanders, L. London: Routledge, pp. 108-116.

Blades, H. & Delahunta, S. (2020) 'Digital Aptitude: Finding the right questions for dance studies'. in: Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Digital Humanities. Eds. Schuster, K. & Dunn, S. London: Taylor and Francis, pp. 31-45.

deLahunta, S., Vincent, J., Old, E., Stewart, G., Leach, J., Stevens, C. (2018) 'Exploring Creative Thought in Choreography Together: Process Documentation with the Australian Dance Theatre'. in: Performing Process: Sharing Dance and Choreographic Practice. Eds. Blades, H. and Meehan, E. Intellect Books. pp. 369-414.

deLahunta, S., Barnard. P. (2018) 'Seeing the 'Choreographic Mind': three analytic lenses developed to probe and notate creative processes in dance'. in: The Neurocognition of Dance: Mind, Movement and Motor Skills, 2nd edition. Eds. Blaesing, B., Puttke, M., Schack, T. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 88-114.

deLahunta, S. (2018) 'Dance Becoming Data: Version Two'. in: A World of Muscle, Bone & Organs: Research and Scholarship in Dance. Eds. Ellis, S., Blades, H. & Waelde, C. Coventry: C-DaRE at Coventry University. pp. 333-357. (download full copy of E-Book)

Davies, S. deLahunta, S. (2018) 'In Conversation about Archives to Come'. in: A World of Muscle, Bone & Organs: Research and Scholarship in Dance. Eds. Ellis, S., Blades, H. & Waelde, C. Coventry: C-DaRE at Coventry University. pp. 2-14. (download full copy of E-Book)

Vincent, J.B., Vincent, C., Vincs, K., deLahunta, S., McCormick, J. (2018) 'Artworks-spawning-artworks: trans-disciplinary approaches to artistic spin-offs and evolution in the dance and digital context'. in: Digital Echoes: Spaces for Intangible and Performance-based Cultural Heritage. Eds. Whatley, S., Cisneros, R., Sabiescu, A. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 283-299.

Barnard, P., deLahunta, S. (2018) 'Intersecting shapes in music and in dance'. in: Music and Shape. Eds. Leech-Wilkinson, D. & Prior, H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 328-350.

deLahunta, S., Jenett, F. & Cramer, F.A. (2017) 'The Digital and back again: A Conversation on Motion Bank'. in: Fluid Access: Archiving Performance-based Art. Eds. Buescher, B. & Cramer, F.A., Hildesheim: House Georg Olms. pp. 211-224.

deLahunta, S. & Jenett, F. (2016) 'Making digital choreographic objects interrelate: a focus on coding practices'. Performing the Digital Performance Studies and Performances in Digital Cultures. Eds. Timon Beyes, Martina Leeker, Imanuel Schipper. Bielfeld: Transcript-Verlag. pp. 63-79. (Open Access Copy of Book)

Bleeker, M., deLahunta, S. (2016) 'Movements Across Media: Twelve Tools for Transmission'. in: Transmission in Motion. Ed. Bleeker, M. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 3-15.

deLahunta, S. (2016) 'Motion Bank: a Broad Context for Choreographic Research'. in: Transmission in Motion. Ed. Bleeker, M. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 128-137

deLahunta, S. (2016) 'The Choreographic Language Agent'. in: Transmission in Motion. Ed. Bleeker, M. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 108-117.

deLahunta, S. (2016) PREFAZIONE. 'Motion Bank: un ambiente per la ricerca unico e interdisciplinare', in: Choreographic Bodies. L'esperienza della Motion Bank nel progetto multidisciplinare di Forsythe. Author: Letizia Gioia Monda. Dino Audino Editore, Roma.

deLahunta, S. (2015) 'The Utility of Words (the poet's Technique)' in: Research Environments: Reflections on the Value of Artistic Processes. Eds. Haffner, N. & Quast, H. Berlin: Universitaet der Kunste Berlin. pp. 245-254

deLahunta, S. (2015). 'Traces and artifacts of physical intelligence'. in: The Performing Subject in the Spaces of Technology: Through the Virtual, Toward the Real. Eds. Causey, M. Meehan, M. O'Dwyer N. London: Palgrave. pp. 220-231.

deLahunta, S. (2015) 'Annotations: Drawing (out) ideas in movement'. in: Kunstlerische Forschung - Ein Handbuch. Eds. Badura, J., Dubach, S., Haarmann, A., Mersch, D., Rey, A., Schenker, C., German Toro Perez, G.T. Zurich: Diaphanes. pp. 110-118.

deLahunta, S. (2013) 'Publishing Choreographic Ideas: Discourse from Practice'. in: pARTnering documentation: approaching dance, heritage, culture. epodium Muchen: Verlag. pp. 18-25. And in: SHARE. Handbook for Artistic Research. Ed. Mick Wilson & Schelte van Ruiten. Amsterdam: ELIA, pp. 170-177. And in: Synchronous Objects: Degrees of Unison. Ed. Zuniga-Shaw, N. Design by Peter Kwok Chan. Westerville, OH: Robin Enterprises Company. pp. 236-243.

deLahunta, S., Barnard, P. & McGregor, W. (2009) 'Augmenting Choreography: Insights and inspiration from science'. in: Contemporary Choreography: A Critical Reader. eds. Jo Butterworth and Liesbeth Wildschut. London: Routledge. pp. 431-448.

deLahunta, S. (2007) 'Flickering and Change: with Meg Stuart'. in: Knowledge in Motion. Eds: Sabine Gehm, Pirkko Husemann and Katharina von Wilcke. Bielefeld: transcript. pp. 129-135.

deLahunta, S. Groves, R. & Zuniga Shaw, N. (2007) 'Talking About Scores: William Forsythe's vision for a new form of dance 'literature'. co-authors: Rebecca Groves and Norah Zuniga Shaw. in: Knowledge in Motion. Eds: Sabine Gehm, Pirkko Husemann and Katharina von Wilcke. Bielefeld: transcript. pp. 91-100.

deLahunta, S. & Hoerster, E. (2007) 'Rethinking Tools: based on interviews collected during MODE05'. co-author Eva-Maria Hoerster. in: Reverse Engineering Education: in dance, choreography and the performing arts. MODE05. b_books verlag: Berlin. pp. 88-95.

Refereed Journals

deLahunta, S. (2022) 'Knowing: Dance's Trade Literature'. International Journal of Cultural Property, pp. 1-13 doi:10.1017/S0940739122000157

Blades, H., deLahunta, S. & Piquero Alvarez, L. (2021) Editorial: On (Un)Knowns, Performance Research, 26:4, 1-3, DOI: 10.1080/13528165.2021.2005937

deLahunta, S., Rittershaus, D. & Stancliffe, R. (2021). Editorial: Special Issue 'Digital Annotation and the Understanding of Bodily Practices'. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 17(1). pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2021.1893001

deLahunta, S. (2020) 'Language-in-Use: Practical dance vocabularies and knowing'. Biblioteca Teatrale. BT 134. luglio-dicembre 2020, pp. 259-281.

deLahunta, S. Vincent, J. (2020) 'Through the Lens of Choreographic Process: Mixing perspectives on audiences and understanding'. Arts and the Market. 10:1, pp. 53-64.

Stevens, C., Vincs, K., deLahunta, S., Gibbs, E. (2019) 'Long-Term Memory for Contemporary Dance is Distributed and Collaborative'. Acta Psychologica. Volume 194, March 2019, pp. 17-27 (Open Access Copy)

Barnard, P. & deLahunta, S. (2017) 'Mapping the Audit Traces of Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Bridging and blending between choreography and cognitive science' in: Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. 42:4, pp. 359-380. (Open Access Copy)

deLahunta, S., Koch, A. (2017) 'Dance Becoming Data: Parts One and Two'. Comment section of Computing the Corporeal. Special issue edited by Nicolas Salazar Sutil and Scott deLahunta for Computational Culture, a Journal of Software Studies.

Leach, J., deLahunta, S. (2017) 'Dance Becoming Knowledge: Designing a Digital Body'. in: Leonardo. 50:5, pp. 461-467. Posted Online April 13, 2015 available here.

deLahunta, S., Whatley, S. & Vincs, K. (2015) 'On An/Notations (editorial)'. in: On An/Notations. Performance Research. Vol 20, No. 6. pp. 1-2.

deLahunta, S. (2014). 'Publishing Choreographic Ideas: Discourse from Practice'. in: Tanz & Archive: ForschungsReisen, Heft 5: Mobile Notate. Muchen: epodium Verlag. pp. 14-21.

deLahunta, S. & Whatley, S. (2013) 'Choreographic Documentation (editorial)'. in: Choreographic Documentation. Special Issue, International Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media. Vol 9, No. 1. pp. 3-5.

deLahunta, S. (2013) 'Pre-choreographic elements: Scott deLahunta in conversation with Bertha Bermudez' in: Choreographic Documentation. Special Issue, International Journal of Performance Arts & Digital Media. Vol 9, No. 1. pp. 52-60.

deLahunta, S., Barnard, P. and Clarke, C. (2012) 'A Conversation about Choreographic Thinking Tools'. The Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices. 3:12, 243-259.

May, J., Calvo-Merino, B., deLahunta, S., McGregor, W., Cusack. R, Owen, A.M., Veldsman, M., Ramponi, C., Barnard, P. (2011). 'Points in mental space: an interdisciplinary study of imagery and tasks in movement innovation'. Dance Research 29(2), 404-430.

deLahunta, S. & Zuniga Shaw, N. (2008) 'Choreographic Resources: agents, archives, scores and installations'. Performance Research, On Choreography Issue. 13:2. pp. 131-133.

Refereed Conference Papers

deLahunta, S. (2010) 'Publishing Choreographic Ideas'. ISEA2010 RURH conference proceedings. pp. 42-44.

deLahunta, S. (2009) 'The Choreographic Language Agent.' in: Dance Dialogues: Conversations across cultures, artforms and practices, Proceedings of the 2008 World Dance Alliance Global Summit, Brisbane, 13-18 July. ed. Stock, C. OnQUT Creative Industries and Ausdance.

Non-Refereed Journals

deLahunta, S. in collaboration with Hilton, B. (2019) 'The Confusing Evidence (evidence that confuses)'. Researching (in/as) Motion: A Resource Collection, Artistic Doctorates in Europe. Bacon, J., Hilton, R., Kramer, P., and Midgelow, V.L. (eds.). Helsinki: Theatre Academy, University of the Arts, Nivel 10. Online Open Access: nivel.teak.fi/adie

Davies, S., deLahunta, S. (2017) 'Siobhan Davies in conversation with Scott deLahunta: The Matter of Movement'. in: SCORES No. 7: archives to come. Eds. Cram, G. Heun, W., Kruschkova, K., Mehanovic, L. Vienna: Tanzquartier Wien Publication. pp. 38-47.

deLahunta, S., Jenett, F., Cramer, F.A. (2015) 'A Conversation on Motion Bank'. in: MAP (media archive performance) nr. 6. Eds. Cramer, F.A., Buscher, B. Published online.

deLahunta, S. (2010) 'The Choreographic Resource: technologies for understanding dance'. in: Chapbook 1: newDANCEmedia. Contact Quarterly. 35:2, pp. 18-27

deLahunta, S. (Ed.) (2010) NOTATION. rtrsrch Vol.2 Issue 2. Amsterdam. (link to PDF in sidebar)

deLahunta, S. (2009) 'Modelling Inspiration: an interview with Konic Thtr'. Frakcija: Circumscribing Choreography. no. 47-48. pp. 66-69.

deLahunta, S. (2007) 'Schwelle: dancing in a room full of fields and forces' (with C. Salter, M. Schumacher, H. Gilpin, M. Baalman). in Ballettanz. pp. 54-58.