Dr Gillian Arrighi

Biography

Originally from New Zealand, Gillian Arrighi relocated to Sydney to do undergraduate studies at the University of New South Wales and a subsequent three-year Diploma of Acting (1984). She spent many years working as a performance collaborator and performer including a decade with the Sydney-based performance group, The Cahoots Company whose creative output included theatre works as well as indoor and outdoor performance works for museums, festivals, public authorities, and high school audiences. Gillian's interest in dance led her to Spain where she studied Flamenco dance (1985) and upon her return to Australia she continued dance studies and performance for a further decade. Her practical experience of contemporary live performance and industry practice is not limited to theatre production but also extends to the music industry where she worked for almost seven years developing an understanding of all aspects of the contemporary music industry. During that time she spent six years as the editor of the AustralAsian Music Industry Directory and three years as the editor of the Australian Sports Industry Directory.

In 2003 Gillian completed a research-led-practice/practie-led-research Master of Creative Arts that focussed on the neutral mask and its pedagogical worth to performers, and in 2007 she completed a PhD thesis about the FitzGerald Brothers' Circus, the largest circus working throughout Australasia at the close of the nineteenth century. Her contribution to the emerging field of Circus Studies is demonstrated through her journal articles, conference presentations, and book chapters whilst her contribution to the newly emerging field of Popular Entertainments is demonstrated in her co-editorship of the peer reviewed academic journal Popular Entertainment Studies, her contribution to related conferences (both as convenor and as presenter), and the recently published book A World of Popular Entertainments (Cambridge Scholars, 2012) which she co-edited.

Gillian received a Strategic Pilot Grant in the first year of her on-going appointment at UoN to investigate the role of children in the entertainment industry. That research trajectory has drawn her into a global network of researchers currently contributing to an edited book on the topic. A subsequent external ARC grant for the e-Research project AusStage: Gateway to the Australian Performing Arts has enabled her to develop research in the e-Humanities within a research network that includes researchers from 18 different Australian Universities. In 2011 Gillian was invited to join the prestigious Emerging Research Leaders Programme at UoN (2011-2012).

Her current teaching and research is informed by her applied knowledge of the creative industries in Australia.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 2007
• Master of Creative Arts, University of Newcastle, 2004

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Research

Research keywords

• Animals and performance
• Children in entertainment
• Circus studies
• Performer pedagogies
• Popular entertainments
• Social circus and community health

Research expertise

Circus Studies and Popular Entertainment Studies during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

Whilst much of my work is grounded in archival research it also extends to the cultural and political contexts for the cultural productions at the centre of my investigations. This research interest led to my PhD thesis concerning the largest circus working in Australia and New Zealand during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, from which subsequent research into the use of animals in performance, and into the contribution of children to the entertainment industry has since developed.

Role play and simulation education in interdisciplinary education contexts; improvisation and play as pedagogical paradigms for creative production; masks as a pedagogical paradigm for the gestural and physical training of performers.

Collaboration

My primary research interests span performance history and historiography, performance praxis, and e-research.

E-Research: AusStage: Gateway to the Australian Performing Arts. During the current ARC LIEF-funded phase four, researchers in Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Newcastle (Callaghan) are trialling visualisation and mapping outcomes for their research into live performance in the greater Hunter region (with Assoc Prof David Watt).

A research initiative into the contribution of children to the transnational entertainment industries of the UK and Australasia was commenced in late-2008 with Emeritus Professor Victor Emeljanow and is ongoing.

My recent research focus upon social circus has drawn me into a discussion network that includes FaCHSIA (Western Desert) and Cirque du Soleil's Cirque du Monde Programme.

Languages

• English

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
190404	Drama, Theatre And Performance Studies	80
080799	Library And Information Studies Not Elsewhere Classified	20

Memberships

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Member - Australasian Association for Theatre Drama and Performance Studies
• Member - International Federation for Theatre Research
• Member - Australian Circus and Physical Theatre Association
• Member - American Society For Theatre Research

Editorial Board.

• Member - Associate editor, Popular Entertainment Studies e-Journal

Appointments

RHD and Hons convenor, Creative and Performing Arts (Callaghan and Ourimbah) University of Newcastle (Australia)	01/02/2012
Discipline Convenor, Drama (Callaghan) University of Newcastle (Australia)	01/07/2011 - 01/12/2011
Visiting Fellow, University of Warwick, UK Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Warwick, UK (Australia)	01/05/2011 - 01/07/2011
Chair, Research Training Committee, School of Drama, Fine Art and Music University of Newcastle (Australia)	01/06/2010 - 01/12/2010
ADSA Secretary Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama, and Performance Studies (Australia)	01/07/2010
Executive Board Member Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (Australia)	01/07/2009
Conference Co-Convenor 'A World of Popular Entertainments' International Conference (Australia)	01/09/2008 - 01/06/2009

Invitations

Macquarie University Macquarie University, Australia (External Examiner.)	2012
New Directions in Circus Research, Cente for Creative Arts, La Trobe University La Trobe University and ACAPTA, Australia (Invited Presenter)	2011
University of Toronto, Faculty of Physical Education and Health Univesity of Toronto, Canada (Invited Presenter)	2011
University of British Columbia, Dept of Theatre and Film University of British Columbia, Canada (Invited Presenter)	2011
American Society for Theatre Research ASTR, United States (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2011
Victorian Arts Centre: Entertaining children; children's employment in the entertainment industry, Australia, Britain and New Zealand, 1885-1920 Victorian Arts Centre, Australia (Keynote Address)	2011
IFTR, Osaka, Japan IFTR, Japan (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2011
Politics, Performance and Popular Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain Lancaster and Birmingham Universities, United Kingdom (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2011
University of Warwick, UK, Theatre and Performance Studies University of Warwick, UK, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2011

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

Hons and RHD convenor, Creative and Performing Arts, Callaghan and Ourimbah, 2012

Discipline convenor, Drama, Callaghan, 2011

Honours and RHD convenor, Drama, 2010-2011

Chair, Research Training Committee, School of Drama, Fine Art and Music, 2010

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Australian performance histories
• Contemporary performance practice
• Devising performances
• Masks in training and performance
• Performance and intermediality
• Performer pedagogies (Meyerhold, Lecoq, Copeau, Leigh, Stanislavski)
• Popular entertainments
• Theatre, Drama and Peformance Studies

Teaching expertise

Performance and new media technologies.

Devising performance.

Contemporary performance practice.

Popular entertainments.

Australian performance histories.

Performer pedagogies (Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Lecoq, Copeau, Leigh).