Robert Hylton
all things dance
PhD
Dr Robert Hylton
PhD - C-DaRE (Centre for Dance Research), Coventry University (fully funded by Coventry University)
ABK Research
My research focus is on street and hip hop dance, and their relationship with the African diaspora as an embodied practice of archive, past, present and future and as a site for cultural transmission. Explored through my PhD on Black British Popping through the concepts I call Active Bodily Knowledge and ABK Research methodology — an examination of dance improvisation as time-based theory. and embodied practice. Further examined through film, and what I call haptic editing — as a tool to develop theory-based creative work — around the theme of doing: cultural exchange, memory, experience and innovation.
My main research is popping improvisation as a somatic process, through a study of time-based theory on consciousness and interior sensation — as explored in my thesis, based on the concepts I call Active Bodily Knowledge, and ABK Research methodology as a practice-based approach to examine the temporal interrelation between consciousness and interior sensation in popping improvisation. In turn, I define what I call the bit before as part of the real-time millisecond experience of popping improvisation, as part of the pre 'active' temporality of Active Bodily Knowledge.
A presentation and practice-based film on Active Bodily Knowledge and ABK Research methodology, and movement workshops on Active Bodily Knowledge are available on request.
For further information on my research, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Related Research Interests
Film theory & cultural transmission
Black British cultural expression
British social dance
UK Jazzdance, social dance, hip hop & streetdance
Migration, otherness, embodied identity & place
Cultural transmission, archive & writing
Aim
Researching the presence of African diasporan street dance in both the UK and the US to enable a broader access and understanding of an often hidden or unspoken representation of Black performance and dance over the past 300+ years in Britain. With the aim to enhance and promote the visibility and presence of African diasporan street dance through a British perspective pre and post UK Jazzdance (late 60s-early 70s) and hip hop dance in education, academia, performance and research.
The research will develop into a future exhibition, performance and film work.
For more information or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Related Qualifications
MA - Northampton University (bursary)
BPA - Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD)
Selected Writing
Books
Hylton, R. (release date 8 June 2026). Forthcoming chapter in:
Akinleye, A., Bourne, S., Glean, B., Katerega, L., Romans, H., & Cheng, J. (Eds.). (2026). The Palgrave handbook of Black British dance. Palgrave Macmillan. Available:
Hylton, R. (2022). Dancing in time: The history of moving and shaking. British Library Publishing.
A Japanese translation of Dancing in Time is available
Papers
Hylton, R. (2024). A Conversation on the Nature of Practice in Hip-Hop Creativity, Skill, Integrity, Intelligence and Community, Edinburgh University Press. BLOG
Link: https://euppublishingblog.com/2024/02/12/a-conversation-on-the-nature-of-practice-in-hip-hop/
Hylton, R., & Burrows, J. (2023). Creativity, Skill, Integrity, Intelligence and Community: A Conversation on the Nature of Practice in Hip Hop. Dance Research, 41(2), 170-180.
Link: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/drs.2023.0401?journalCode=drs
Hylton, R. (2016). Reacting, Shifting and Momentum of a Developing 21st Century Dance, Blurring Boundaries: Urban Street meets Contemporary Dance, P18-27, Serendipity, Du Montfort University.
Contributions
Chambers, C. (Ed.). (2023). The Methuen Drama Encyclopaedia of Modern Theatre (1st ed.). Hardback. Published on April 20, 2023.
Role: Hip hop theatre contributor: focusing on the ways in which street/urban/popular dance styles have impacted on theatre.
Link: https://www.magersandquinn.com/product/METHUEN-DRAMA-ENCY-OF-MODERN-T/25013671
Hylton, R. (2021). Where we are now: Charting screendance’s recent growth and development and what it means for creators. Hotfoot Online, Autumn 2021, 38–39.
Link: https://www.onedanceuk.org/media/bt1jmgl2/2768-hotfoot_magazine_autumn_2021.pdf
Hylton, R. (2020). British Library Eccles Centre BLOG 'Dancing in the Archives...'
Link: https://blogs.bl.uk/americas/2020/07/dancing-in-the-archives.html
Hylton, R. (2019, Spring). Layers of resilience and blackness. Hotfoot Online, 40–43. In Hotfoot Online Spring 2019 Edition. One Dance UK.
Link: https://www.onedanceuk.org/media/3qujiio0/1smlsmlhotfoot-online-spring-2019-edition-final.pdf
HOTFOOT Magazine, (2016), ADAD: 21st Anniversary Edition, LONG TERM INVESTORS, P75-77
Link: https://issuu.com/onedanceuk/docs/adad_21st_anniversary_oct-edition_f_29f8a8fc438656
Hylton, R. (2011), Skills n Drills, Animated Magazine.
Link: https://www.communitydance.org.uk/DB/animated-library/skills-n-drills?ed=14075
Fellowships, Associates, Talks, Panels & Memberships
Fellowships
Former Associate Research Fellow in the School of Arts at (Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre), University of London, 2019-2023
Former Visiting Fellow at The Eccles Centre, British Library, 2019
Associate Artist
Former Associate Artist at Laban, London
Former Associate Artist at The Place, London
Talks
Introducing Cultural identifiers and their methodology: Reading Improvisation in Black British Popping - PSi #29 Assemble! Hoxton Hall - Palmer Room, June 21st, 2024
Creatively Innovating the Archive: In Conversation with Robert Hylton: Monday, 6 March 2023
De Montfort University's 'Funmi Adewole speaks with first-generation UK Hip Hop Theatre pioneer, Robert Hylton.
Talking Back: Hip Hop Through Research and Practice - curated by Dr Rosa Cisneros
Rich Mix, London – Hip hop dance archive, commissioned by State of Emergency
Southbank University – The role of Artistic Director
The Place, London – The life of a choreographer
University of East London Dance: Urban Practice - Hip Hop Pedagogies
University of East London Dance: Urban Practice - Hip Hop Theatre
Northampton University - Hip Hop Dance and Theatre
Dance UK (One Dance) AGM at Sadlers Wells - Websites, culture and information
Panel
Moving Online Research Group: Ontology and Ownership of Internet Dance - 2024. Run by Hetty Blades, Coventry University
One Dance UK Awards - Judging Panel 2023
Memberships
PoP Moves UK committee member: an international research group for popular dance and performance. (on a break)