Professor Christine Harrington

National Teaching Fellow 2004 Institution at the time of Award: Bath Spa University Chrissie Harrington has worked extensively in higher education and, most especially, has been at the forefront of developments of dance and performance within the UK university context. Chrissie's research, papers and publications are concerned with investigating and evaluating approaches to teaching and learning in and through performance. Her most recent research, 'Architecting the Body through Live Performance and Digital Media', was undertaken initially through a PALATINE Development Award (UK) and developed and advanced through her National Teaching Fellowship funded activity. The investigations explore the interface between the body and digital media through the construction, experience and reconstruction of space, as well as the dynamic processes by which students and tutor investigate, construct and reconstruct knowledge. Central to the research is the body as subject of learning and of performance experience. A pedagogical model was refined over four years, informed by the integration of theory and practice. Under-graduates and graduates disseminated their learning and performance processes at national and international conferences and taught students and colleagues at universities in the UK and in New Zealand. Chrissie has collaborated with other NTFs, arts practitioners and HE colleagues within a range of disciplines including law, textiles, film, music, architecture and fine art. She has been solely responsible for the introduction, development and leadership of dance at Bath Spa University where she was also Senior Artswork Teaching Fellow for Performance in Bath Spa's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. As a key player in a Leonardo Da Vinci project, her work also informed the first performance degree collaboration between Silesian Dance Theatre and the Krakow Theatre School, Poland. Since taking up her post at University Campus Suffolk, in 2007-8, she has been instrumental in developing arts and pedagogical initiatives. For example, the UKs first BA (Hons) Dance in Community Degree is due to start in 2009, in partnership with DanceEast, a leading dance organisation. An Arts Council England East Escalator performance project is being delivered in collaboration with Gecko Theatre Company, and an Arts Intervention project, undertaken by an international artist, will create opportunities for students and the community to experience outstanding art work.