The Institute for Choreology

The Institute for Dance Science at the Department of Dance at HAMU was founded in 1998, and its research and publishing activities have developed significantly, particularly since the year 2000.

The active staff of the Institute include Prof. Dorota Gremlicová MA Ph.D, Prof. Helena Kazárová, MA PhD, Dr. Daniela Stavělová, CSc, Elvíra Němečková, Ph.D, Lucie Hayashi, MA Ph.D, Prof. Božena Brodská. Other collaborators, graduates and students, mainly in the field of dance science, are involved in research activities, including Doctoral students, and students of Master's and Bachelor's programmes.

The Institute is one of the few institutions in the Czech Republic dealing specifically with dance research , cooperating with other research institutions, systematically with the Institute of Ethnology of The Czech Academy of Sciences (AV ČR), The Arts and Theatre Institute , NIPOS-Artama, the Research Centre of the Faculty of Music and Dance Arts in Bratislava etc. The employees of the Institute participate in international projects, are members of international professional organizations such as the Study Group on Ethochoreology at the International Council for Traditional Music and the European Association of Dance Historians, and participate in professional conferences and symposia in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Research aims and areas
Recently, the staff of the Institute have been researching the historical context, theory and artistic practice of 18th century dance, including the staging of dance performances using historical and theoretical knowledge (Ludwig van Beethoven's ballet The Creatures of Prometheus , choreographed by Prof. Helena Kazárová performed by the Hartig Ensemble accompanied by Musica Florea, premiered in 2016, with a renewed premiere in 2020). Another thematic area is the study of the development of dance art in the Czech environment in the period of artistic modernity and in the second half of the 20th century (Prof. Dorota Gremlicová, Mgr. Elvíra Němečková, Ph.D). The phenomenon of Spanish dances in European dance culture is a new topic (Prof. Helena Kazárová). In recent years, grant projects carried out by members of the Institute (Prof. Helena Kazárová) within AMU and in cooperation with other research entities (Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, NIPOS-Artama), professional publishing and artistic activities have all been linked to these topics. Over the last period, research activities focused on dance production, cultural policy in relation to dance and various economic aspects of dance events have also been developing (MgA. Lucie Hayashi, Ph.D).