Joe Moran

As part of Bodies of Knowledge, Joe Moran ran workshops with professional wrestler Thomas Dawkins (aka Cara Noir) and Dr Claire Warden, leading performing arts students and trainee wrestlers in an exploration of the notion of “the real” as it relates to wrestling and performance, with attention to the ways in which this concept plays into representations of violence and gender in both disciplines.

The Injunction, an experimental documentary film of the workshop was produced by the filmmaker Sam Williams: this was shown at the Bodies of Knowledge Exhibition at Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester, in November 2019, and can be viewed above. A conversation featuring Moran, Dawkins and Warden alongside the dramaturg Martin Hargreaves, wrestler and dancer Claire Heafford, and researcher and wrestling promoter Sam West features in Bodies of Knowledge, published by Radar and the Live Art Development Agency.

Joe Moran is a British-Irish artist and choreographer based in London with a wide-ranging practice incorporating theatre and gallery performance, curatorial projects, lecture-performance, drawing and spray paint works. Joe is Artistic Director of Dance Art Foundation through which his performance and curatorial work is produced. He is currently in residence at Wysing Arts Centre and is a Dance4 Associate Artist. Recent and forthcoming commissions and performances include Sadler’s Wells (2019), The Lowry (2019), London Contemporary Dance School (2019), Wysing Arts Centre (2018), Bluecoat (2018) coinciding with the Liverpool Biennial, Kettle’s Yard (2018), Sadler’s Wells (2017), Whitechapel Gallery (2017), Delfina Foundation (2016), Block Universe/ fig-2 at the ICA (2015) and DRAF (Frieze 2014). Joe contributed to the publication Who Cares? Dance in the Gallery & Museum and Nothing About Us Without Us, a recently commissioned essay on artist advocacy was published by Siobhan Davies Dance in November.

Projects

Bodies of Knowledge

Three commissions using performance workshops and experimental documentary to explore the body as a site for the production and retention of knowledge. Read more

Project Partners

Cara Noir


Read more

Dr Claire Warden

Senior Lecturer in English and Drama
Read more

Live Art Development Agency


Read more

Sam Williams


Read more

Events

Movement with Meaning: Dance, Identity, Knowledge

Wed 24 February 2021

19:00pm - 21:00pm

An online event with film and discussion exploring how dance produces meaning for audiences and dancers. Read more

Bodies of Knowledge in Residence at Attenborough Arts Centre

Fri 25 October 2019

00:00am - 00:00am

Radar presents ongoing work exploring the body as a site for the production of knowledge. Read more

Texts

Wrestling and Embodied Knowledge: Reflections on a Workshop

Dr Claire Warden reflects on Joe Moran and Cara Noir's workshop exploring wrestling's relationship to embodied knowledge. Read more

Publications

Bodies of Knowledge: Three Conversations on Movement, Communication and Identity

Read more