My research is about exploring new practical working methods to recreate touch-like sensations over distance or online. My findings will be seminal to how touch will be understood or negotiated online in the future.

Greta Gauhe is a freelance choreographer, dancer, producer, and researcher based in London. Making work since 2015, her performative works are eclectic and multidisciplinary, with a distinct focus on political, social or ecological issues.

Much of her current focus is on the medium of dance as a means of coming together, exploring empathy, touch, and connection. Challenging the formal separation between spectator and performers, Greta’s works are seen in both theatres and art institutions and she was amongst the first to stage a fully socially distanced performance with a live audience, exploring touch and connection in late 2020.

After graduating with a MA in Performance from the London Contemporary Dance School, Greta enrolled onto the MFA in Choreography at Trinity Laban to further investigate her artistic practice. She continues her journey as a researcher during her PhD, investigating new methods to recreate touch-like sensations over distance or online at the Centre for Dance Research at Coventry University.

As the artistic director of the Follow Through Collective,Greta has managed various stage productions for theatres, museums, and outdoor spaces. Her works were performed at many festivals in the UK and Europe, including the Resolution Festival, RichMix, Chisenhale Dance Space, the Emerge Festival, October Gallery, University of the Arts Berlin, Albany Theatre and the Camden Fringe Festival.

Alongside her artistic work, Greta has been involved in various Community Dance projects working with people of all ages and she has taught creative dance classes and workshops for both professional and non-professional dancers. 

She is honoured to have received the Leverhulme Arts Scholarship during her time at Trinity Laban, the TL Ignite Grant for creating a new doorstep performance as part of SE19 Dance Project, and the M4Cities studentship to support her PhD studies.

• dance
• dance research
• theatre
• memory
• performance art
• touch research

My Master's project during my MFA in Choreography at Trinity Laban investigated the role of touch and proximity in performance and beyond and seeks to explore how touch and related concepts may connect people both physically and emotionally when employed as artistic tools during participatory performances.

For more information and documentation of the research please visit: Research: Memories of Skin

The project contributes to our understanding of the role of touch and closer proximities as a strategy for connection in contemporary performance and the impact of such methods on the audience experience. The emerging applications and insights are likely to resonate with theorists and practitioners in the field. More broadly, the research highlights the social and artistic potential of touch through an arts-based practice, demonstrating that touch in choreographic events can act as a catalyst to build empathy and connection between participants.