On Monday 14 November, 2-5pm, artist-scholars Kate Elswit and Megan Nicely will present Breath Catalogue for Corkscrew.

Breath Catalogue is a collaborative dance theatre work which combines choreographic methods with medical technology to create a cabinet of breath curiosities in performance. With different tasks, the performers’ breath becomes unpredictable, messy, and varied. The catalogue makes it possible to collect and retrieve different breath samples through the process of live dance in order to make breath perceptible to the spectator. The piece uses capacitance resistance sensors from StretchSense, a wearable technology which gathers breath data during the Breath Catalogue performance and transmits it. Doing so is more than “tracking”; it enables the development of feedback loops that create new choreographic structures, in the process allowing the dancers to interact with their own breath in new, intimate, and palpable ways.

Kate and Megan will present a lecture demonstration version of Breath Catalogue, incorporating moments for Q&A with the audience. This event will be of interest to practice-based researchers working in the fields of performance, visual culture, medical humanities and digital humanities.

Breath Catalogue will take place in G10, Birkbeck School of Arts.