Exploring Creative Thought in Choreography Together: Process Documentation with the Australian Dance Theatre

February 2014 marked the start of a three-year interdisciplinary research project titled Thinking Brains and Bodies. With funding from the Australian Research Council, the project brought together scientific researchers with artists from the Australian Dance Theatre with the broad aim of investigating “the nature of thinking in dance by investigating creative processes, memory, and expertise” (Stevens, et al). As a part of this project, in-depth interviews were used to develop a set of protocol for documenting aspects of the company’s creative process. The chapter is divided into four parts. The first places this project into historical context with similar projects involving scientists and artists where the focus of study has been creative process in dance. The second discusses the concept of collaborative design (co-design) and the challenges of tracing and showing results that do not conform to disciplinary expectations. A third part draws examples from the original interviews to demonstrate how particular documentation protocol are developed and offers descriptions that blend models from previous projects. The final part briefly explores the idea that the results of process documentation manifest as ‘prototype exchange objects’ and ends with a call for allowing more of the unexpected to emerge from such projects.