Dr Wendy Timmons
Programme Director: MSc Dance Science and Education, Senior Teaching Fellow
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, ISPEHS
- University of Edinburgh
Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 651 6596
- Email: wendy.timmons@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Moray House School of Education and Sport, SL
- City
- University of Edinburgh (Holyrood Campus)
- Post code
- EH8 8AQ
Availability
Monday -Thursday
Background
Wendy Timmons is Programme Director of the MSc Dance Science and Education at the University of Edinburgh, Wendy has many years of professional arts practice and experience teaching and training dance artists, young dancers and dance teachers. Wendy has a Bachelor in Philosophy (Classical Ballet and Contextual Studies) from the University of Durham and is currently registered for her doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh. Wendy has undertaken substantial knowledge exchange and research developing and validating technology for safe and effective dance teaching and training.
Esteem Indicators
Editorial Board member for Research in Dance Education journal, RIDE, Taylor & Francis Routledge.
Vice Chairperson for the Traditional Dance Forum on Scotland TDFS
Editorial Board, advisory panel, Scottish Journal for Performance Arts
Education Scotland Expressive Arts National Steering Group - core member ( Dance)
May 2012 Invited as Expert member of EU workshop group for Entrepreneurship in Education EE, Dublin
CV

Responsibilities & affiliations
Wendy is Programme Director for the MSc Dance Science and Education and is also responsible for the teaching Dance , Aesthetics and Physical Cultute across the Undergraduate and Post graduate PE programmes.
External affiliations include
Registered teacher (RTS) with the Royal Academy of Dance and a bilingual tutor (Greek and English) for the Professional Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies for the Royal Academy of Dance.
Editorial Board member for Research in Dance Education journal, RIDE, Taylor & Francis Routledge.
Vice Chairperson for the Traditional Dance Forum in Scotland TDFS
Editorial Board, advisory panel, Scottish Journal for Performance Arts
Education Scotland Expressive Arts Steering Group core member ( Dance)
Expert member of EU workshop group for Entrepreneurship in Education EE, Dublin (2012)
Undergraduate teaching
- Aesthetics (MA Physical Education)
- Physical Culture ( MA Physical Education)
- Dance Education & Social/cultural dance in context (BEd Physical Education)
Postgraduate teaching
- MSc Dance Science & Education
- Dance Pedagogy ( MSc Dance Science & Education)
- Preventive Dance Medicine ( MSc Dance Science & Education)
- PGDE Physical Education ( Dance)
- PGDE Primary ( Dance)
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
My own PhD relates to the bio-psycho-social experience of joint hypermobility within the Classical Ballet Environment, I have also many years experience and published research that relates to dance education, the teaching and learning environment for dance and physical literacy.
Projects that I have been involved in include:
- The delopment and validation of technology and protocols for dance . For example the use of Haptic technology as a means to access dance for people with visual impairments
- Digital technology that supports teaching and learning in the dance studio
- Dance and Wellbeing
- Dance and Dementia
Publications, book chapters and presentations that relate to this work are available on my CV
Current PhD students supervised
2018 Full Time PhD student, Traditional, Folk and Cultural dance
2018 Part time PhD student , examination of the physical demands within Freestyle and Competetive dance styles
Research summary
The scientific principles of dance; Dance and Health; injury prevention and performance enhancement; Screening for dance training; Technology and dance.
Current and recent research
January 2013 Registered PhD part time (University of Edinburgh) Title: The embodied experiences and health risk of hypermobility in a dance narrative
Current research interests
My current research is about the experience of disordered connective tissue, Joint hyper-mobility and Dance training I am also currently carrying out a service evaluation for the Dancing with Dementia project, this is an evaluation of the development and delivery of dance sessions for elderly people in care settings with Dementia The development of Technology for use in the dance environment is another area that I am involved in .Knowledge exchange
- Welcome Trust: Body Language project PI Rachel Hosker ( Special collections UOE), CO I’s: W Timmons , M Mcdowell , J Ravenscroft, Proposed duration of project: 2 years (September 2017-September 2019) Total: £129,961.84 - awarded ( May 2017)
- STANDARD INNOVATION VOUCHER SCHEME AY2016/17, Partner organisation: Dance Base in kind costs £6800, UOE W Timmons Voucher Funding £5000. Total £11800 – Successful (May 2017) service evaluation of the Seated Swing project Seated swing BBC short documentary film internet sensation 21 million views (2017) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04wb721
Project activity
I am currently involved in the Body Language project ( Welcome Trust funded) and in particular looking at the Margaret Morris Archive
I am also the innovator and mentor for the ongpoing MHSE Dance Artist in Residence , new residency to launch in November 2018 ( Nic gareiss ) will be in residence for 9 months and will work alongside me researching and Scottish Studies Archive (UOE) and the Traditinal Dance Forum of scotland in order to promote and devellop Traditional Dance in Scotland.
Current project grants
Seated swing BBC short documentary film internet sensation now @ over 21 million views
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04wb721
STANDARD INNOVATION VOUCHER SCHEME AY2016/17, Partner organisation: Dance Base in kind costs £6800, UOE W Timmons Voucher Funding £5000. Total £11800 – Successful (May 2017) in service evaluation of the seated swing project - ongoing
Welcome Trust: PI Rachel Hosker ( Special collections UOE), CO I’s: W Timmons , M Mcdowell , J Ravenscroft, Proposed duration of project: 2 years (September 2017-September 2019) Total: £129,961.84 - awarded ( May 2017) ongoing
2018 Nic Gareiss , traditional dance artist in residence in partnership with the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland ( Successful funding application £12,750)
Past project grants
1. 2011 AHRC Digital Transformations research development, Lycouris S, Timmons W, Ravenscroft J
Enhancing the experience of dance performance for the visually impaired using real time Haptic feedback, £30,000
2. 2012 Knowledge Transfer grant, Timmons, W. Clough, S.
£2940, funding for dissemination event in August 2012 related to Choreo-Haptic project.
3. 2012 Lycouris S, Timmons W, Ravernscroft J. University of Edinburgh’s IKTF scheme application, reference 9bP-12/0773, £11,766 Knowledge Transfer funding to develop the Choreo-haptic technology
4. 2012 -2015 CHSS, UOE Successful Exchange Fellowships and funding, collaborator, Timmons W
Organisation and mentorship of successful Dance Artists in Residencies at Moray House School of Education,
a. 2012 Vincent Hantam, (former principle at Scottish Ballet) Collaborative Residency to investigate the work of Margaret Morris (Colours) (WT Successful application to Creative Scotland, £15,000,
b. 2013 Chris Kidd (freelance dance Artist and Educator) Collaborative Residency to investigate Socratic choreographic methodology in Dance education (Heavenly View project) (WT Successful application to Creative Scotland, £9,000, further £10,00 Cashback for Creativity application Jan 2016, unsuccessful )
c. 2015 White & Givan (Former Errol White Dance Company) Unique 2 year Dance Company in Residency across the UOE & Traverse Theatre. The residency will focus on developing new audiences for Dance retour of existing work (Breath Spring 2016) (WT Successful applications to Creative Scotland total of £71, 000 awarded Jan 2016)
5. 2016, Seedcorn funding awards UOE
a. Body Language project: McDowell M & Timmons W, £2500
b. Teacher resilience project: Mulholland R & Timmons W, £2500
6. 2016, open project funding award £30,000 Jan 2016, Creative Scotland. Margaret Morris Archive Alive project in collaboration with Margaret Morris Movement International
-
An exploration of heart rate and perceived exertion differences between class and competition in freestyle-disco dance
(18 pages)
In:
Research In Dance Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2020.1798392
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The challenges of providing a quality certificated dance education within secondary schools - findings from a comparative study exploring the experiences of eight English and Scottish dance teachers
(18 pages)
In:
Research In Dance Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2020.1746254
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Using expressive movement and haptics to explore kinaesthetic empathy, aesthetic and physical literacy
(13 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315111353-18
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Effect of Skilled Dancers' Focus of Attention on Pirouette Performance
(12 pages)
In:
Journal for Dance Medicine and Science , vol. 22, pp. 148-159
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12678/1089-313X.22.3.148
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Towards a developing construct in dance education: Exploring the relation of emotional intelligence to teachers’ sense of efficacy and teaching experience among British dance education students
In:
Research In Dance Education, vol. 19, pp. 14-38
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2017.1354843
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Method and monitoring device for the objective evaluation of the progress of health and wellbeing
Research output: › Patent (Published) -
(Choreo)-haptic experiments for blind dance audiences: Digital Scholarship: Days of Ideas 2
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Paper (Unpublished) -
The Choreo-haptic project: Haptic device as choreographic medium: Multi-modal communication conference
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Paper (Unpublished) -
(Choreo)- haptic device: MOOT Digital Transformations
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Paper (Unpublished) -
Haptic Experiments with Blind Audiences:: Kinaesthetic Sensation in Dance beyond the Visual
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Paper (Unpublished)
Conference details
International Association for Dance Medicine & Science,
Papers delivered
Wendy Timmons & Simon Blaschke, title: Dancing With Dementia, 10 min scientific presentation. International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, Helsinki , Finland 24th October 2018
Wendy Timmons, title: Interoceptive sensibility and proprioception in classical dancers with hypermobility10 min scientific presentation. International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, Helsinki, Finland 24th October 2018
Helen Gould, Wendy Timmons, Mark Pace title: Dancing with Parkinson’s 10 min scientific presentation. International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, Helsinki, Finland 24th October 2018
Sian Salmond Wendy Timmons, Dave Saunders title: Heart rate and perceived exertion differences between class and competition in freestyle-disco dance, 10 min scientific presentation. International Association for Dance Medicine & Science, Helsinki, Finland 24th October 2018
More video
- Expressibe Arts BEST 2 conference
- Seated swing BBC short documentary film internet sensation now @ over 21 million views
In the press
Oxygen 2013 Footage: http://www.blendedlearning.me/public/Oxygen2013/ Oxygen 2014 performances http://theheavenlyview.wordpress.com/ Oxygen 2014 Footage http://www.blendedlearning.me/public/Oxygen2014/ October 2016 Co Curated exhibition Movement https://issuu.com/horsecrossarts/docs/movement_exhibition_guide 2017 Seated swing project https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04wb721