f Unsettling materials: Lively tensions in learning through ‘set materials’ in the dance technique class

An explorative engagement with learning through set materials in the dance technique class enables embodied knowledge. This qualitative dance research, framed through practitioner-led inquiry, reflects upon the experience of a deliberately unsettled process of bodily learning in the studio. Set materials in contemporary dance technique classes are considered through two intertwined strands of learning; exploration and embodiment. A series of ‘lively tensions’ are articulated through the student participant data that reveal the multidimensionality of dance technique practice. The pedagogical considerations and theoretical framing of what it means for set materials to enable rather than restrict dance student agency are discussed. The teacher/researcher reflects on how unsettling the process of learning in the studio might encourage dance students to more thoroughly engage with bodily inquiry. The voices of students as research participants, are quoted in order that their words articulate the nuances of the experience of learning in dance technique.