Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Poetically Embodied Out-Of-Body Experience, Natalie Sunseri

Honors Theses

The choreographic project Euphoric Dysphoria emerged as a response to the choreographer’s gender dysphoria and personal observations about the way that feminine-presenting people are perceived and approached in dance spaces, particularly in comparison to masculine-presenting people. The dance originated as a choreographic exploration of extreme femininity and masculinity, and it evolved into a manifestation of performative gender and experiential gender. The choreographer was guided by her poem “Uneven Envy” when developing movement and building relationships among the dancers. She considered the contributions of Judith Butler, a scholar who writes about gender manifesting in the body due to socialization, and Laura …

Reflections: A Meditation On Ballet And Pain, Claire Madeline Silverman

Honors Theses

The defining details of the character of Giselle are that she loves to dance even though she knows it could kill her (for she has a frail heart), and that she is in love with a peasant boy named Loys, though she knows her mother dislikes him. She is defiant, determined to follow her desires.

Giselle wasn’t one of the ballets that stuck out to me when I was younger. I loved the Tchaikovsky ballets — Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker — and later Romeo and Juliet (Macmillan’s version) became my favorite. Giselle existed at my periphery. It’s …

Movement As A Way Of Knowing Earth: An Ecosomatic Approach To Developing Movement Choices, Brittany Tolbert

Honors Theses

The senior choreographic project The Spirit of Gaia aims to not only build awareness for individuals about the impact humans have on the climate crisis but also to inspire change in the way in which humans utilize movement practices for the benefit of Earth. As a creative process based in somatic exploration and a performance contingent on a live audience, The Spirit of Gaia exists as a living moment of dance. Acknowledging the power movement has to be the progenitor of a larger environmental consciousness and an eco-friendly change on the individual level, the dance acts as a means of …

Self-Efficacy Development In Elementary-Aged Learners Through Dance As An Algorithmic Thinking Tool, Niva Shrestha

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a transdisciplinary approach in teaching computational thinking through dance to elementary-aged learners, with primary attention to females. With limited literature available on how pre-adolescents begin to construct conceptions of computer science and other engineering domains, including potential career pathways, the incentive of this project was to leverage a day camp for about 20 rising 3rd - 5th-grade learners to assess their identity development in computer science. Modules that teach computational thinking through dance paired with Unruly splats (block-based programmable electronic gadgets) were implemented. By conducting pre-and post-surveys and a …

Moving Through, Moving On: Examining The Life Well Lived Through The Lense Of Impermanence, Aidan O'Leary

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the themes from Walking Each Other Home, the work I choreographed as part of my graduation requirements in the Alonzo King Lines BFA Program at Dominican University. I begin by making the case for the academic discussion of dance, including barriers to the development of the field and my place in it. Asserting that dance is a subject of religious merit, I place my piece within a broader context of dance pieces that deal with topic and themes of myth and spiritual truth. I then give a brief overview of Buddhism, centering around the Four Noble Truths …

Oscar. Delta. Echo. A Study On The Physical Poetics Of Gratitude, Victoria Michalowsky

Honors Theses

This document chronicles my choreographic process during my final year at Dominican University of California. It explores how loss can be understood through the embodied experience and expression of gratitude. The arc of relationships, through the process of introductions, intimacy, and absence, is communicated as a tender ode, expressed both in words and in dance.

The primary source comes from the finished dance and the choreographic process itself. The themes also draw inspiration from the works of Oscar Wilde, John O’Donohue, and Kimerer LaMothe as well as the poetry of David Whyte, Mary Oliver, and Jane Hirschfield. Through this process, …

Composite Bodies: Construction And Deconstruction Of Our Identities Through Movement, Pauline Mosley

Honors Theses

This thesis examines some of the roles artists take on as humans, separate from their lives as artists and how said roles impact in the forming of our identity. Applying the deconstructionist theory by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, phenomenology by Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau- Ponty, and the journals of students involved in the study, the idea that the body and mind must work as one in order to create movement is dissected and reconstructed. Beginning with investigating the roles artists are born into, create for themselves and think they have, dancers involved in the study use their own …

Idiosyncratic: The Formation Of Artistic Voice Through Movement Research And Choreographic Processes, Kerry Healy

Honors Theses

This project seeks to answer how individual voices are formed through dance and choreography. The answer to this question was discovered through physicalized research and embodying concepts and tasks during my Senior Project choreography process. My dancers and I experimented with the idea of self versus society: how do we differentiate our own artistic voices from the voices of those around us? How do we remain ourselves when we are so greatly influenced by society? Artistic voice greatly influences and forms our identities as humans. The answers to these questions lie within personal aesthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and …

Saudade: An Exploration Of The Choreographic Process And The Power Of Dance, Audrey Erickson

Honors Theses

This paper serves as a reflection on my choreographic process as a LINES BFA senior and as an investigation into the innate power of human creative movement. I will document the challenges and joys of producing movement in the dancing arts, as well as illuminate the physical and psychological power of movement harbored within the practice of Dance Movement Therapy, an enduring form of psychotherapeutic movement used to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical well-being. The main goals of my personal choreographic experience, as well as those of my fellow Dance Majors were three-fold: 1) the cultivation of an encouraging …

16:9 - A Study Of Manipulating Perceptions Through Movement, Samantha Weeks

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the concepts of editing and manipulating through the deconstruction and rebuilding of ideas. Inspiration sprung through researching the job of a film editor, and noting how an editing action takes place in everyday life. Using Thelma Schoonmaker’s body of work, which includes her film editing on a number of Martin Scorcese's films, I examined this idea of manipulation through choreographing my Senior Dance Project. Titled 16:9, the dance also shows the power of deconstruction through a thoughtfully constructed short film, which is presented halfway through. A film editor can take documentary footage and make the end result …

Authoritarian Pedagogical Practices In Dance Teaching And Choreography, Charlotte Carmichael

Honors Theses

This paper examines the authoritarian pedagogical practices found in educational settings and more specifically, in Western classical and contemporary dance training and rehearsals. These practices have been a part of dance for centuries, and their legacy has had severe impacts on the ethical, psychological, and political undercurrent of students’ educational and professional experiences. First, the historical roots of authoritarian teaching techniques are presented. Next, the ways in which dance teachers and choreographers employ authoritarian teaching behaviors are considered and examined. Finally, in hopes of providing a better template for the future, an overview of the ways in which some dance …

Dichotomy: A Creative Exercise In Theming Artistic And Emotional Dance Around Scientific Fitness Principles, John P. Davenport

Honors Theses

The creative dance work entitled Dichotomy investigated the following research question: is it possible to choreograph an artistic dance work that is firmly related to exercise science principles yet can still evoke an emotional response from the audience? This concert dance was performed in the Fall 2016 Studio 115 Dance Concert in Hattiesburg, MS by three Repertory Dance Company members. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between modern dance and exercise programming, to describe the methodology implemented to generate movement from exercise programming and testing, and to investigate the emotional response that the audience had to the work based …

Books And Bodies: A Collaborative Process Between Dance And Literature, Sarah Dexter Givens

Honors Theses

This senior choreographic project, Reading Response #6, was created and performed in the fall of 2016 in collaboration with five dancers, one apprentice, and the choreographer. The project was a collaboration of dance with literature by Emily Dickinson, Leo Tolstoy, Richard Wilbur, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, and Walt Whitman. The final product was performed in the Studio 115 Dance Concert in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Theatre and Dance Building in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This paper investigates the relationship between dance and literature and explores methods of integration between the two art forms.

Bleaching: Hierarchy And Commercialization In Contemporary Queer Club Culture, Harry Hoke

Honors Theses

The assertions of this work are rather broad: that there is a trend in a certain segment of queer nightlife towards hierarchy and commercialization, and that this may be a result of absorption of queerness into mainstream societal structures. As a first step in a research series, the purpose of this work is to establish that there is a trend in queer nightlife towards hierarchy and commercialization, and speculate about the potential consequences and manifestations of such a change. By establishing the presence and potential manifestations/consequences of hierarchy and commercialization within queer club culture, it is my hope that future …

Bridging The Gap: Making Modern Dance Accessible To The General Public Through Elements Of Art And Entertainment, Samantha S. Russell

Honors Theses

My senior choreographic project, DoRaMiFaSoDoSiDo, was inspired by and dedicated to the relationships I share with my six siblings. It was set to the song "Attaboy" off of the collaborative album The Goat Rodeo Sessions by Chris Thile, Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, and Edgar Meyer. Influenced by the bright and fun atmosphere of barn dances, this seven-person concert dance was performed in the Repertory Dance Company Fall Dance Concert at the Mannoni Performing Arts Center in Hattiesburg, MS in the fall of 2015. This paper investigates different choreographic methods that I discovered through the process of creating my senior project …

Co-Authorship In Action: Curation & Collaboration In American Post-Judson Dance, Sara Gibbons

Honors Theses

This essay aims to illuminate and champion concert dance through an investigation into a sliver of American postmodern dance, which I term post-Judson dance, in an attempt to better understand, define, and assert dance in academe, art, and culture. This thesis examines the use and benefits of collaboration in today’s dance devising processes and the influences that constructed collaboration as a choreographic working method. Through historical, theoretical, contemporary, and practice-based evidence, this essay argues that through choreographer and performer participation, leading to the transformation of content, style, structure, and discovery, choreographers harvest an expansive collection of information that they use …

Incite, In Mind, Ashley M. Deran

Honors Theses

I create because I am more fluent in the language of movement than any other dialect. Performing and choreographing serves as an outlet through which I convey my feelings, thoughts and opinions in the most direct and innate way possible. My capstone project illiustrates that movement and language hold equal potential to impact an audience. This comprehensive work serves as a culmination of artistic exploration and includes a video of original choreography entitled Under Ouse for the 2012 Graduating Presentation Concert, Incite, In Mind. Under Ouse explores weight and momentum as well as dependence in relationships while drawing from the …