Personal statement

Vicky Hunter is a Practitioner-Researcher and Professor in Site Dance and formerly head of the MA Choreography and Professional Practices programme at the University of Chichester. She joined Bath Spa in October 2023 and leads the AHRC ‘Dancing Otherwise: Exploring Pluriversal Practices’ network and is a member of the Ecotones research project led by Professor Amanda Bayley.

Her research is transdisciplinary and includes site dance practice and theory, embodied research methods and post human feminism, eco-somatic awareness, environmental choreography, practice-research methods, dance and new materialisms.

Vicky convenes the ‘Creative Practice and Embodied Knowledge’ research group with Michelle Elliott at Bath Spa and the cross-institutional ‘Environment and Experience’ research group. She has previously led the BA Dance programme at the University of Leeds; taught on the MA Choreography programme at LIPA; contributed to the delivery of the MA Choreography programme at Fonty’s Academy in Tilburg, Holland; and the BA Dance and Culture programme at the University of Surrey.

Her writing on site dance has been published in Literary Geographies, New Theatre Quarterly, Performance Research, Choreographic Practices and Contemporary Theatre Review. Her edited volume Moving Sites: Investigating Site-Specific Dance Performance was published by Routledge in 2015, and she is co-author of (Re) Positioning Site-Dance (Intellect, 2019) with Melanie Kloetzel (Canada) and Karen Barbour (Aotearoa New Zealand).

Vicky's monograph Site, Dance and Body: Movement, Materials and Corporeal Engagement explores human-environment synergies through material intra-actions and was published by Palgrave in 2021. Her practice-based research includes Dance Site and Body (Barcelona, 2018) and A Holding Space (Kingley Vale Nature Reserve, West Sussex, 2021).

Qualifications

  • 2003-2009: University of Leeds, PhD site-specific choreography
  • 2000-2001: University of Leeds (Bretton Ha) MA Performance Studies
  • 1997-1998: University of Brighton, PGCE Dance, Secondary Education
  • 1991-1994: Middlesex University, London, BA (Hons) Performing Arts (Majoring in Dance)

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Contemporary choreography, a critical reader
book

Butterworth, J and Hunter, V, eds. (2026) Contemporary choreography, a critical reader. Routledge, Abingdon. (Forthcoming)

Encountering environments through the arts: interdisciplinary embodiments, politics, and imaginaries
book

Hunter, V and Chubb, S, eds. (2025) Encountering environments through the arts: interdisciplinary embodiments, politics, and imaginaries. Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032733791 (Forthcoming)

The Routledge companion to site-specific performance
book

Hunter, V and Turner, C, eds. (2024) The Routledge companion to site-specific performance. Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032254104 (Forthcoming)

Site, dance and body: movement, materials and corporeal engagement
book

Hunter, V (2021) Site, dance and body: movement, materials and corporeal engagement. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. ISBN 9783030648022

(Re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives
book

Barbour, K, Hunter, V and Kloetzel, M, eds. (2019) (Re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives. Intellect, Bristol. ISBN 9781783209989

Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance
book

Hunter, V, ed. (2015) Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance. Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9780415713252

‘A holding space’: emergence and entanglement in tree spaces
book_section

Hunter, V (2024) '‘A holding space’: emergence and entanglement in tree spaces.' In: Hunter, V and Turner, C, eds. The Routledge companion to site-specific performance. Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781032254104 (Forthcoming)

Danser la plage : entre terre, mer et ciel
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Hunter, V (2024) 'Danser la plage : entre terre, mer et ciel.' In: Clavel, J, Levain, A and Revelin, F, eds. Des vies avec des plages: expériences, relations, devenirs. University of Rennes, Rennes, pp. 131-142. ISBN 9782753594739

Traversing terrain and staying put: performing endurance
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Hunter, V (2022) 'Traversing terrain and staying put: performing endurance.' In: Salazar, N and Scheerder, J, eds. Contemporary meanings of endurance: an interdisciplinary approach. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 40-59. ISBN 9781032343853

Dancing-walking with trees
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Hunter, V (2020) 'Dancing-walking with trees.' In: Billinghurst, H, Hind, C and Smith, P, eds. Walking bodies: papers, provocations, actions from Walking’s New Movements, the conference. Triarchy Press, Charmouth. ISBN 9781913743093

Performing parks and squares
book_section

Hunter, V (2019) 'Performing parks and squares.' In: Barbour, K, Hunter, V and Kloetzel, M, eds. (Re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives. Intellect, Bristol, pp. 187-216. ISBN 9781783209989

Material touchstones: weaving histories through site-specific dance performance
book_section

Hunter, V (2019) 'Material touchstones: weaving histories through site-specific dance performance.' In: Barbour, K, Hunter, V and Kloetzel, M, eds. (Re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives. Intellect, Bristol, pp. 133-156. ISBN 9781783209989

Sited English folk dance as a form of site dance: heritage, tradition and resistance
book_section

Hunter, V (2019) 'Sited English folk dance as a form of site dance: heritage, tradition and resistance.' In: Barbour, K, Hunter, V and Kloetzel, M, eds. (Re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives. Intellect, Bristol, pp. 77-102. ISBN 9781783209989

Introduction: (re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives
book_section

Barbour, K, Hunter, V and Kloetzel, M (2019) 'Introduction: (re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives.' In: Barbour, K, Hunter, V and Kloetzel, M, eds. (Re)positioning site dance: local acts, global perspectives. Intellect, Bristol, pp. 1-20. ISBN 9781783209989

Scoring and siting: improvisatory approaches to site-specific dance-making
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Hunter, V (2019) 'Scoring and siting: improvisatory approaches to site-specific dance-making.' In: Midgelow, V.L, ed. The Oxford handbook of improvisation in dance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 634-652. ISBN 9780199396986

Radicalizing institutional space: revealing the site through phenomenological movement inquiry
book_section

Hunter, V (2016) 'Radicalizing institutional space: revealing the site through phenomenological movement inquiry.' In: Shaw, D.B and Humm, M, eds. Radical space: exploring politics and practice. Rowman & Littlefield, London, pp. 65-84. ISBN 9781783481521

Introduction
book_section

Hunter, V (2015) 'Introduction.' In: Hunter, V, ed. Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 1-22. ISBN 9780415713252

Moving sites: transformation and re-location in site-specific dance performance
book_section

Hunter, V (2015) 'Moving sites: transformation and re-location in site-specific dance performance.' In: Hunter, V, ed. Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 459-476. ISBN 9780415713252

Spatial translation, embodiment and the site-specific event
book_section

Hunter, V (2015) 'Spatial translation, embodiment and the site-specific event.' In: Hunter, V, ed. Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 178-198. ISBN 9780415713252

Embodying the site: the here and now in site-specific dance performance
book_section

Hunter, V (2015) 'Embodying the site: the here and now in site-specific dance performance.' In: Hunter, V, ed. Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 95-114. ISBN 9780415713252

Experiencing space: the implications for site-specific dance performance
book_section

Hunter, V (2015) 'Experiencing space: the implications for site-specific dance performance.' In: Hunter, V, ed. Moving sites: investigating site-specific dance performance. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 25-39. ISBN 9780415713252

A holding space
article

Hunter, V (2022) 'A holding space.' Ecocene: Cappadocia Journal of Environmental Humanities, 3 (1). pp. 93-96. ISSN 2717-8943

Somatic landscapes and urban identities: mapping emotional engagements through site, dance and body connections in Raval, Barcelona, a case study
article

Moya Pellitero, A.M and Hunter, V (2020) 'Somatic landscapes and urban identities: mapping emotional engagements through site, dance and body connections in Raval, Barcelona, a case study.' Athens Journal of Architecture, 6 (3). pp. 249-272. ISSN 2407-9472

Editorial - Dancing urbanisms
article

Hunter, V, Kloetzel, M and Barbour, K (2019) 'Editorial - Dancing urbanisms.' Choreographic Practices, 10 (1). pp. 3-6. ISSN 2040-5669

Vernacular mapping: site dance and embodied urban cartographies
article

Hunter, V (2019) 'Vernacular mapping: site dance and embodied urban cartographies.' Choreographic Practices, 10 (1). pp. 127-144. ISSN 2040-5669

Situated knowledge, transmissions of practice and parasitic endeavors
article

Palmer, H, Hunter, V, Foley, J and Kucia, K (2018) 'Situated knowledge, transmissions of practice and parasitic endeavors.' RUUKKU - Studies in Artistic Research (9).

Perecquian perspectives: dialogues with site-dance (or, ‘on being here and there’)
article

Hunter, V (2017) 'Perecquian perspectives: dialogues with site-dance (or, ‘on being here and there’).' Literary Geographies, 3 (1). pp. 27-49. ISSN 2397-1797