Bertha Bermúdez

Bertha Bermúdez is a former dancer in some of Europe's leading dance companies, Frankfurt Ballet, Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, and since 1998 with Emio Greco | PC. Having turned towards research work in dance documentation and notation in 2005, Bermúdez is since 2007 part of the research group Art Practice and Development where her interest on the theme Dance Transmission as a source for dance documentation are deeply explored through various research projects. Bertha has co-directed and coordinated the interdisciplinary research projects Capturing Intention and Inside Movement Knowledge. Since 2009, she is the coordinator of the Accademia Mobile section of research and education within ICKamsterdam, where she develops different initiatives around transmission, documentation and interaction. A strong relation with cinema has been established through the relationship with Maite Bermúdez as well as through the integral artistic collaboration with film director and photographer Gregory Colbert. Since 2009 Bertha also is artistic director of Las Negras Productions. Bertha has started a PhD under the program Digital Media at New University of Lisbon.

Dance Transmission as a source for dance documentation
Dance Transmission as a source for dance documentation has evolved out of the interdisciplinary research project Capturing Intention, initiated in 2004 by dance company Emio Greco | PC in collaboration with the Art Practice and Development research group. Capturing Intention focused on the investigation of existing methods to transmit, document, notate and preserve essential elements of the company's creative work and on understanding dance’s volatile nature, departing from its intentional directions. Bertha's actual research trajectory continues exploring diverse ways in which dance can be transmitted and suggests new approaches to its documentation and preservation. Dance Transmission as a source for dance documentation aims to contribute to dance’s artistic and professional development and enhance the potential of its social benefits by making it more accessible for specialist and general audiences. “It is the process of verbal and non-verbal communication within the dance practice, not the final result (i.e. the performance), that contains the information used to achieve transmission. A close look and careful analysis of the different ways in which artists/communities pass on their work will open new windows on what actually is captured inside the dance, its paths, and traces.”

Dance Transmission as a source for dance documentation includes two major projects: Inside Movement Knowledge (IMK), a two-year collaborative, interdisciplinary research into new methods for the documentation, transmission and preservation of contemporary choreographic and dance knowledge and (In) Tangible Traces a three year research on documentation, transmission and preservation of “endangered” dances from Mongolia, Mexico, and Brazil.

Selected publications

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