Curious methods - pedagogy through performance

This article focuses on the links between performance and pedagogy in the work of artists and scholars Leslie Hill and Helen Paris, co-directors of London based performance company Curious. Hill and Paris often tie the creation of a live performance to the development of performance-making workshops. This article examines three case studies: 1) the 'Autobiology' workshops which explore the generative potential of 'gut feelings', developed as part of making the performance 'the moment I saw you I knew I could love you'; 2) the UpRoot, workshops created alongside the environmental performance Wild Longings; and 3) an online MOOC Paris and Hill taught out of Stanford University called Practice-Based Research in the Arts which 5000 national and international scholar-artists from 30 countries participated in, resulting in a massive online art gallery called Studio West. The article also references Hill and Paris' new book,Devising Theatre and Performance: Curious Methods (forthcoming, LADA and Intellect, 2021) a practice-based methodology book with generative tools for artists designing interdisciplinary, solo and collaborative projects which can used by solo practitioners, collectives and companies and offers teachers creative exercises for students working on site specific, autobiographical and socially and politically engaged live art works.