Dr Michelle Man - Edge Hill University

Department: English & Creative Arts

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0715-6003 View full profile

Profile

Biography

On graduating from Elmhurst Ballet School in 1989, Michelle developed her professional career in Madrid, Spain, establishing her own company in 1996 ‘Michelle Man & Friends’ collaborating extensively with composers, architects, lighting designers, musicians, costume makers, choirs, circus artists and multi-media artists. Her work has been received in Brazil, Chile, Korea, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Spain as well as the UK. She has been commissioned by the Spanish Government, CDN (Spanish National Theatre), Teatro Real, Teatro Circo Price, and has been awarded funding for research and artistic production. Michelle continues to choreograph internationally across a diverse range of contexts and disciplines that include contemporary dance, circus, theatre and music performance. She holds a Masters in Making Performance (awarded Distinction) and a PhD in Dance from the University of Surrey, under the supervision of Dr Rachel Hann and Dr Adam Alston with the thesis title ‘Light and the Choreographic: dancing with Tungsten’.

Research Interests

Contemporary Circus; Light and the Choreographic; Leonora Carrington; Interdisciplinary and collaborative performance making;

Teaching

Dr Michelle Man is a highly committed and experienced academic who is passionate about curriculum design as a pathway for educational responsibility and as a means for ensuring democratic pedagogies that allow for the growth and development of both students and staff. She is the FAS Senior Fellow Lead for Learning and Teaaching, and her academic trajectory builds on a career as a performer, choreographer, pedagogue, advisor, and mentor that spans over thirty years and across a range of professional, institutional, and community contexts worldwide. Of British-Asian heritage, she is an advocate for promoting teaching and learning environments that are inclusive and celebrate diversity. Her research expertise focuses on interdisciplinary and collaborative performance making methodologies, which are rooted in an ethos of care, compassion, and celebration of other. These are the values she brings to creating sustainable and safe learning spaces that enable creativity, innovation, and a sense of community. Michelle lecturers in Dance delivering research embedded teaching with specialisms in: choreographic practice; improvisation and composition; dance analysis; collaborative performance making; embodied practices of flamenco, ballet, jazz and contemporary forms of dance; and mentoring of student projects.