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Dr Yael Flexer

Reader in Dance and Artistic Director of mapdance

Yael Flexer

About

Yael Flexer is co-artistic director of Flexer & Sandiland. Originally formed by Yael as Choreographer in Residence at The Place Theatre, London, to date Yael has created 14 full-length productions for the company, touring throughout the UK and internationally.

The company has been commissioned to create live and/or interactive works for among others: Brighton Dance Festival and Digital Festival, Sadler’s Wells, Woking Dance Festival, The South Bank Centre, Barbican Centre, London & Cinedans (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

Recent & current Flexer & Sandiland projects include: Imagining Otherwise (2021- ongoing) an immersive digital dance performance, Acting Our Age (2020-ongoing) a dance work working with an intergenerational cast aged 24-75 and the Acting Our Age online and live classes for movers aged 55+ (and any interested adults) established as a result of the pandemic.

Past productions include: Curiouser (2019) for children aged 3-6 and their families and carers, a co-production with Norwegian company dybwikdans, the digital work The Hum (2017-2020) commissioned by Brighton Festival premiered and touring across the UK including Without Walls Festivals, Disappearing Acts (2016) which toured  alongside the gallery based digital installation Weighting (2015), the live works Weightless (2012-14) & The Living Room (2010-2011) and digital works Trip Hazard (2013-ongoing) and Gravity Shift (2010).

Yael’s commissions as an independent artist include works for London Contemporary Dance School, The Place, Dance East, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Hull Dance, Three Score, National Youth Dance Company Scotland, Trinity-Laban, Motus Dance Festival, Maslool, Tel-Aviv, Israel, RAS & Stavanger University, Norway, Mapdance, YDance Scotland, Wessex Academy, E-Werk Tanz Festival (Germany), Scottish Dance Theatre, Ludus, Gravity & Levity, Freefall and Cascade Dance Companies and numerous works for University students, C.A.T. programmes and other youth companies across the UK and internationally. Yael regularly leads choreographic Labs, workshops and professional training in the UK and internationally, and mentors emerging choreographers.

Yael is a reader in dance at the University of Chichester and also Artistic Director of mapdance, the University’s MA/postgraduate repertoire touring company.

Key Publications

Further publications available on request

F&S refer to works by Flexer & Sandiland Dance & Digital Works

2018-19 Curiouser, F&S– Internationally touring dance & digital performance work, co-production with Dybwik Dans Norway, Commissioned by Swindon Dance & RAS, Norway

2018 Vortex– Maslool, Tel-Aviv, Israel performance commission, performed Bat-Sheva Varda Studios and touring performances, Israel

2017 Imagining Otherwise– Trinity-Laban performance commission

2017 The Hum, F&S – Brighton Festival Commission, Nationally touring smart phone app presented at outdoor Festivals across the UK, including the Without Walls Network

2017- Digital Traces, F&S– Interactive digital & live improvisation performance, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, part of Draw to Perform Symposium

2016/17 Re|placed– National Youth Dance Scotland performance commission

2016 Act Two– University of Stavanger, Norway performance commission

2016 Act One– Motus Festival, Milton Keynes, outdoor performance commission

2016 Disappearing Acts, F&S – Internationally touring dance & digital performance work

2015-ongoing Weighting, F&S – Brighton Digital Festival, South East Dance Commission, Nationally touring digital work

2014 Apre Moi – 3score Dance Company, Brighton, performance commission

2014 Undoing Undone– Mapdance, University of Chichester

2014 Gravity Shift, F&S- Nationally touring interactive digital work

2013-ongoing Trip Hazard, F&S– Nationally touring interactive digital work

2013/14 Weightless, F&S– Internationally touring dance & digital performance work

2013 Shrink’d (2005), F&S– Cando2 Dance Company, re-staging & adaptation of repertoire performance commission

2010/12 The Living Room, F&S – Woking Dance Festival commission, Internationally touring dance performance work

2011 Points Of View, F&S– The Barbican, London commission, interactive digital installation

2010 The Living Room Outside, F&S– West Sussex County Council site-specific performance commission

2010 What If– Ludus Dance Company commission, Nationally touring performance work

2010 Not About Love– Lila Dance Company performance commission, Nationally touring performance work

2010 Another Way of Remembering– Bath Spa University, site-specific performance commission

2010 Flying Solo, Cat Casbon, South Hill Park, performance commission

2010 Doing, Done & Undone, F&S– Internationally touring dance performance work

Published articles, papers and TV programmes

2018 Disappearing Acts, Liminalities, online journal

2012 Re-visiting A Dance History: Traces of the 1960s in current contemporary dance, Dance Today 2012, Israel, editor Ruth Eshel

2006 Shrink’d, Animated Autumn 2006, editor ken Bartlett

2003 Creative Question & Answer, Animated, Autumn 2003, Editor Donald Hutera

2002 A Certain Flexibility, interview with Donald Hutera, Animated Autumn 2002

Oct 2003 Shrink’d, BBC/BLAST, BBC Learning Zone

Research

Yael’s research and practice centres on generating of a sense of intimacy in live performance and digital installation, in a way that acknowledges the physicality and presence of the viewer.

The work has a subtlety that is apparent in the movement choices, wry humour and informal on-stage dialogue between performers and the audience. Works play with the space in-between formal and informal presentation, reflecting on the overlapping between performance and the everyday.

Research Output

Articles

Flexer, Y. and Sandiland, N. (2020) Disappearing Acts. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 16 (2). pp. 1-12. ISSN 1557-2935

Theses

Flexer, Y. (2013) In-Between dancing and the everyday: A Choreographic Investigation. Doctoral theses, University of Chichester.

Shows/Exhibitions

Flexer, Y. and Liss, G. (2023) Acting our age. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2018) Vortex- Maslool, Israel. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. and Sandiland, N. (2017) Digital Traces. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2016) Disappearing Acts. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2015) Awakening. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2015) Vortex - Project Y 2015. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y., Wright, B. and Charmock, N. (2011) Consequences. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2011) Not About Love. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2010) The Living Room. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. and Sandiland, N. (2010) Orbital. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2010) What If. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. and Sandiland, N. (2007) Doing, Done & Undone. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2007) Shrink'd. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2003) Flexible Shorts. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Flexer, Y. (2003) Exit Plan. [Shows/Exhibitions]

Performances

Flexer, Y. and Sandiland, N. (2023) Imagining otherwise. [Performances]

Flexer, Y., Sandiland, N., Dybwik, S. and Fossdal, N. (2019) Curiouser. [Performances]

Flexer, Y. (2017) Imagining Otherwise (or The Rucksack Club). [Performances]

Flexer, Y. (2017) Re|Place (or the thing I miss most). [Performances]

Videos

Flexer, Y. (2013) Weightless. [Videos]

Flexer, Y. (2010) The Living Room. [Videos]

Flexer, Y. and Sandiland, N. (2007) Doing, Done & Undone. [Videos]

Flexer, Y. (2007) Shrink'd. [Videos]

Flexer, Y. (2003) Flexible Shorts. [Videos]

Flexer, Y. (2003) Exit Plan. [Videos]

Other department members

Abi Mortimer
Senior Lecturer, Contemporary Dance
Alison Woodward
Alison Woodward
Deputy Director, University of Chichester Conservatoire
Programme Coordinator - BA Hons Acting for Film and BA Hons Music
Amy Scarlett Morvell
Associate Lecturer in Dance

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