11th Annual Conference of the School of Performing Arts

Participation, Engagement and Creativity in the Performing Arts

On March 7, Francesca will present the paper ‘Vocal Encounters: Devising Creative Freedom through Shared Practice’ at the 11th interdisciplinary conference of the School of Performing Arts in Malta: Participation, Engagement and Creativity in the Performing Arts.

https://www.um.edu.mt/events/spaconference2025/

Abstract: The singing voice represents a powerful medium that elicits the engagement of participants across different backgrounds and abilities.

The proven power of collective singing underpins the work of practitioners that centre their research on the transformative power of breath and phonation as connectors between the self and the other. In theatre-making, devising through the voice engenders collective creation, and the realisation of a performance score from collaboration through physical and improvisatory work. This reciprocal encounter underpins a fundamentally relational type of practice, where the performers act in an immersive state of attunement, creating an organic flux resulting from their interactions

This paper stems from experiences derived from the encounter of different vocal practitioners coming together in the same space, and highlights the shared potential of devising through the voice, especially in relation to the narrative emergence of the site where such encounters take place. In particular, my research documents through film an artistic residency undertaken at the Bidston Observatory Artistic Research Centre (Liverpool), in January 2024 by members of the Centre for Experimental Practices at the University of Huddersfield.

The research posits collective creation as a paradigm of the synthesis between vocal practice, improvisation and site-specific performance. By looking at the way voice connects and takes off immanently, this paper models collective creation at the confluence of different lineages of training, and articulates collaborative emergence as paramount in upcoming forms of vocal practice.