Dr Martin Leach

Dr Martin Leach is a Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University where he teaches anatomy, physiology and philosophy to dance students. He originally read English and Drama at the University of Hull. He witnessed Tadeusz Kantor’s Wielopole, Wielopole at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival.

Inspired by this experience he went on to win a Polish government scholarship to study theatre directing in Poland from 1982–1983 where he attended performances of Kantor’s The Dead Class in Kraków. Martin trained as a teacher of the Alexander Technique where he acquired his interest in relating scientific and philosophical ideas to practice.

More recently Martin returned to Kraków to research his PhD on Kantor. He is currently working on a book project: ‘Even the thing I am …’: Tadeusz Kantor and the Poetics of Being'.

Drama, Dance, and Performance Studies

Doughty, Sally; Francksen, Kerry; Huxley, Michael; Leach, Martin (2008) ‘Technological enhancements in the teaching and learning of reflective and creative practice in dance’, in: Research in Dance Education. 9 (1): 129-146.

Leach, M. (2009) ‘The problem of feeling in dance practice: fragmentation and unity’ In: Global Perspectives On Dance Pedagogy: Research And Practice. CORD Special Conference, De Montfort University Leicester, June 2009, Champaign, Ill., University of Illinois Press, pp. 130–138.

Leach, M (2012) ‘Even the thing I am…': Tadeusz Kantor and the Poetics of Being, PhD, DMU

Leach, M. (2012) ‘Tadeusz Kantor as Hunger Artist in the Poor Room of the Imagination’, Studia UBB Dramatica, Theatre Studies Magazine Issue 1/ 2012:Tadeusz Kantor and Polish theatre: presence and perspectives: 41–61.

Leach, M. (2013) Speaking a ‘Stammering Speech’: Tadeusz Kantor as ‘Poor’ Messenger, for Bodies of Failure issue of Somatechnics 3.1 (2013), Edinburgh University Press): 72–97.

Leach, M. (2013) L’objet pauvre de Kantor: une icône de la vérite / Tadeusz Kantor’s ‘Poor Object’ as Icon of Truth, in: Carole Guidicelli (ed.) (2013) Surmarionnettes et mannequins : Craig, Kantor et leurs héritages contemporains / Über-marionnettes and mannequins: Craig, Kantor and their contemporary legacies, Les éditions L’Entretemps/Institut International de la Marionnette: 173–191.

Leach, M. (In Press) ‘“Letting Tattered Clothing Sing”: Tadeusz Kantor’s Anatomy Lesson’ in Tadeusz Kantor’s Memory: Other pasts, other futures, ed. by Michal Kobialka & Natalia Zarzecka, London & Wrocław: Polish Theatre Perspectives.

Leach M. (In Press: 30 July, 2019) ‘Tadeusz Kantor and Modernism’ in: Magda Romanska and Kathleen Cioffi (eds) Theatermachine: Tadeusz Kantor, Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Leach M. (2018) ‘Psychophysical what? What would it mean to say “there is no ‘body’ ... there is no ‘mind’” in dance practice?’, Research in Dance Education, 19, 2018 (2), pp.113–12.

View a full listing of Martin Leach's publications and outputs.

My research is informed by my practical experience as a teacher of the Alexander Technique and applying these principles to working with dancers on performance problems. It currently focusses on philosophy and performance, developing ideas from my work both on the ideas of Tadeusz Kantor and F. M. Alexander in the context of Heideggerian and post-Heideggerian philosophy.

Anatomy, Physiology, Philosophy, Alexander Technique, Performance Theory

BA English and Drama, University of Hull, 1982

Professional Association of Alexander Teachers: Alexander Technique Teaching Certificate, 1989

PhD in Philosophy, Theatre and Visual Arts, DMU, 2012

BA Dance / MA Arts

Professional Association of Alexander Teachers (PAAT) 1984 – Professional association for training and CPD

Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) Alexander Technique 2014

Accredited register of health practitioners

Performance Philosophy International Network 2012– a research network in the field of performance philosophy

Alexander Technique Teaching Certificate, Professional Association of Alexander Teachers (PAAT)

Leach, M. ‘Even the thing I am …’: Tadeusz Kantor and the Poetics of Being (book proposal)

Door, V, Leach, M. and Whyman, R: Being and Performance: Explorations in Philosophy, Science and Practice for Actors, Dancers and Teachers (co-authored book proposal with Dr R. Whyman, University of Birmingham and Dr V. Door, Keele University, for Palsgrave MacMillan)

Hay, M. and Leach M.(Co-authored Article): ‘Things Taken as Obvious … Distort: The (Speaking) Dancer as Paradigm in the Question of Being’ for Journal of Artistic Research

Symposium (Organisers: L. Douse, University of Bedfordshire, M. Hay, DMU and M. Leach, DMU: From Heidegger to Performance  to be held at DMU in w/c 17 September 2018, confirmed guest speaker Professor Stuart Grant, Monash University, Australia.

Marie Hay, PhD in Dance and Philosophy, Practicing speech in live contemporary dance: disclosing the dancer, 2^nd Supervisor.

Marguerite Galizia, PhD in Dance (awarded DMU Graduate Bursary), Multiplying the Self: technology and solo choreographic practice. 1^st Supervisor.