Ruth Way

Academic profile

Mrs Ruth Way

Associate Head of School - Performing Arts
School of Art, Design and Architecture (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business)

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The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Ruth's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

Goal 04: SDG 4 - Quality Education

About Ruth

I completed a three year professional training in dance and choreography at the London School of Contemporary Dance and also trained at the Merce Cunningham School, New York. I performed and taught with Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre and toured internationally with Dance Theatre Company Earthfall and Lusty Juventus Physical Theatre. I am a graduate of Eastwest Somatics Institute and a registered somatic movement educator with The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA).

Developing a teaching career in the fields of performance, dance education and community dance practice and previously serving on the Board for Dance in Devon and Plymouth Dance I am passionate about the role dance and movement can play in our lives and how ‘being in movement’ can support wellbeing, improve mobility and develop our sense of community and belonging .  

I began working at the University of Plymouth in 1996, joining the Subject of Theatre and Performance and was appointed Associate Professor in 2009. My teaching and research  expertise draws from the embodied knowledge and experience gained  in the fields of dance, somatic movement practice ,  intergenerational community dance practice, dance as a cultural discourse, performance and technology choreographic practices and  screendance practice.  I have acted as an External Examiner for several PhDs and currently supervise PhD dance projects, please do get in touch if you have a project proposal you would like to discuss.

My practice research has been presented through articles, screenings, performances and conference papers internationally. As co-director of Enclave Productions with visual artist Russell Frampton dance films Enclave (2008 ), Utah Sunshine ( 2009) , Blind Torrent  ( 2012),  and Florentis ( 2015 ) were selected for major festivals in Europe, Australia and USA.

Dance film Heaven is a Place  ( 2017 ) made in collaboration with Professor Roberta Mock and Dr Kayla Parker was screened at mutiple international festivals and academic conferences and we co-authored the chapter  Heaven is a Place The politics and poetics of LGBT location in a community dance film’ ( 2017)   Roberta Mock, Kayla Parker and Ruth Way In Sarita Malik, Caroline Chapain and Roberta Comunian (eds), Community Filmmaking: Diversity, Practice and Places. London: Routledge. My current research focuses on applied somatic movement practice and I have been working in partnership with AgeUK, Plymouth delivering somatically informed seated movement sessions. My recent  dance film ‘ Arcanium’ ( 2023 ) is informed by this seated movement practice and research theme ‘ Bodies Matter’. I have also formed an interdisciplinary research team with Dr Sophia Hulbert and Dr Feisal Subhan to research Dance and Parkinson’s.

I have held a number of senior management  roles, including Subject Head Theatre and Performance, Director of the School of Humanities and Performing Arts Showcase, Associate Head of School Performing Arts and Employability, Co- Director for Plymouth Conservatoire and Portfolio Lead  Music and Theatre.  Currently I am Associate Head of School Performing Arts in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture.

I also work closely with the Bridge team to Programme the Performance Strand, programming a diverse and exciting range of contemporary performance work which speaks to our audiences today. Working strategically with artists, companies  and researchers our aim is to find innovative ways to share and disseminate performance practice, develop its ideas and grow its impact.

 

 

 

Supervised Research Degrees

I have supervisied Masters Research Dance and ResM Dance degrees and supervised Phd to completion. I am currently Director of Studies for several dance PhD projects and  second supervisor for dance and performance related projects, particulary for students engaged with practice as research. 

Teaching

Specialist teaching areas and research informed teaching include:

  • Embodiment Practices: Somatic Movement Practice
  • Applied Dance  : Arts & Health 
  • Screendance Practice 
  • The Body in Performance
  • Performance Training
  • Dance as a cultural discourse
  • Embodied knowledge: Practice as Research and new methodologies
  • Digital Dance, performance and technology 

Contact Ruth

Room 306, The House, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 585241