Dance Commons^™

Dancers Of The Book: Yemenite, Persian, And Kurdish Jewish Dance, Quinn Bicer

Anthós

Despite the cultural significance of dance in Jewish communities around the world, research into Middle Eastern Jewish dance outside of the modern nation-state of Israel is sorely under-researched. This article aims to help rectify this by focusing on Yemenite, Persian/Iranian, and Kurdish Jewish dance and explores how these dancers have functioned and been received within the societies they have been a part of. The methods that have gone into this article are a combination of analyzing primary source recorded dances and existing secondary source research into the dance of these communities. Through these methods, this article reveals how Yemenite, Iranian, …

Soul Furnace / فرن الأرواح, Isa Ghanayem

Masters Theses

“This is the good washing, this is (the washing) which separates the dirty body from the pure body. This is like silver mixed with lead, it is separated from it by this (process): one makes for it a cupel of bones, which is what is called the “head of the dog” and of which the common name is kūja-which is the crucible—and this must be made of burnt bones. One melts the silver in it, one gives it a strong fire: the cupel will absorb and receive the lead, the fire will make its subtle (part) fly away and extirpate …

Transnational Ritual Poetics Of Blackness In Performance, Nina A. Mercer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I investigate transnational ritual poetics of Blackness through a historical, cultural, and spatial lens, centering my exploration on the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and waterways. I show how these formal poetics activate Africana cosmologies, cosmogonies, and mythologies dramaturgically by centering contemporary New York City performance works that bring together dance, theatre, and music. I contextualize NYC performance case studies in relation to performance practices in contemporary Salvador da Bahia. I am particularly interested in how the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and water as formal poetics catalyze interventions along contested water-ways and landscapes marked by Black …

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 …

Dance/Movement Therapy Used As An Intervention To Heal Racial Trauma Within The Black Community: A Literature Review, Jennifer Noboise

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The history of dance within the black community has served an important role while living through a racist and discriminatory society. Dance has been used to express anger, grief, and joy during hardships and moments of rejoicing from the black experience. African American people have endured years of trauma and abuse from oppressive systems. Research has been conducted to demonstrate that dance/movement therapy has been effective in treating those who have experienced a form of trauma since the trauma is stored in the body. Examining trauma symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and substance use, the research found these symptoms diminished …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

Spring Dance Concert, Jennifer Backhaus, Liz Curtis

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

Blacklash: Phenomenological Hermeneutics In Black Dance, Darvejon A. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The horrors inflicted on Black bodies, souls, and spirits in the United States during the transatlantic slave trade, the Jim Crow era, and the current era (2023) have a lasting legacy of trauma metabolized through the body and transmuted generationally. Jones uses this data to contextualize the work of Black dance artists as hermeneutic phenomena in which the Black dance artist is a hermeneut tasked with delivering a message of the Black body/spirit complex: “I AM HUMAN. DO NOT KILL ME.” This paper examines how Black dance artists frequently petition for their survival — incessantly subjugated to the interpreter’s empathy, …

For What Is A Man?: Towards Languaging Contemporary Dance In A Black, Queer, Male-Presenting Body, Thomas Ford

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines Queering Blackness: Solo on a Theme of Reconciliation, a performance event that invokes movement, spoken text, projections and sound to explore the mechanisms of identity. Engaging performance, Black, queer and dance studies, the paper contextualizes cultural identity markers, towards an understanding of what it means to be Black, queer and male-assigned in Black spaces.

Gloria Rehearsal (Excerpt) A Feminist Mechanism For Metabolization, Eleanor Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Weaving embodied trauma studies with feminist theory, non-hierarchical creative structures, and research in dance improvisation, this thesis paper written by Eleanor Smith contextualizes the dance performance gloria rehearsal (excerpt). The performance piece was choreographed and performed by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, who have been co-choreographing feminist dances since 2006.

Blackfriars Spring Dance Concert 2023 Poster, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Spring Dance Concert 2023

Thursday & Friday, May 4 & 5, 2023, 8pm

Blackfriars Spring Dance Concert 2023 Playbill, Providence College

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Angell Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Spring Dance Concert 2023

Thursday & Friday, May 4 & 5, 2023, 8pm

Director of Spring Dance Concert, Dr. Wendy Oliver

Choreographers - Olivia Dailey, Bianca LaBella, Grace Heffernan, Olivia Krupa, Bridget Maynard, Katelyn Salvato, Mary McDonald, Shaila Murthy, Kellie Greene, Ally Lynch, PCDC's Class of 2023

Dancers: Olivia Dailey, Ally Lynch, Grace McEvoy, Ally Renaud, Sophia Callahan, Emma Daigneau, Kellie Greene, Grace Heffernan, Bianca LaBella, Julianna Martin, Bridget Maynard, Mary McDonald, Shaila Murthy, Alyssa Rago, Kiley Vallee, Katie Cota, Katie Kudla, Olivia Krupa, Liddy Graney, Katelyn …

The Mental Side-Effects Of Commercial Dance, Katie Carnaroli

Honors College Theses

This research evaluates the spectrum between mental adversities and mental triumphs that commercial dancers face within the four professional settings of auditions, training, rehearsals, and performances. As a senior commercial dance major at Pace University, I have found myself in many facets of the dance industry within my four years of higher education wondering how certain environments either took away or fueled my love for dance. I sought to conduct a Qualtrics survey that was completed by college dance majors and professional dancers expressing their experiences of the positive and negative connotations of the mental grit that is required of …

A Qualitative Case Study Of The Role Of Reflective Practices In Pre-Service Dance Teachers' Development Of Pedagogical Content Knowledge And Critical Consciousness, Josey Marie Pickett

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigates the ways stakeholders in a senior/seminar teaching practicum construct and engage in reflection. It also explores the ways these modes of reflection intersect with pre-service dance teachersâ?? development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and critical consciousness (CC). Specifically, the study contributes to the minimal amount of literature on the use of reflective practices in dance teacher education by using the theoretical framework of reflection-in-action and embodiment to bring greater attention to the informal, social, dialogical, and embodied dimensions of teaching and learning. Themes identified related to pre-service dance teachersâ?? development of PCK and CC in …

Frameworks Concert, Amanda Kay White

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

Dance And The Self: An Analysis On The Psychological Impacts Of Dance, Morgan Etzinger

Honors Projects

Professional dancers spend numerous hours immersed into dance culture every single day, learning new technique, practicing choreography, and exercising to stay fit. This study explores how dance affects the self-confidence and self-esteem of dance students. Utilizing surveys, the self-confidence and self-esteem of dance students at BGSU is compared to non-performing arts students. The study of psychology allows for proper analysis on the differences between the two groups, why a difference might occur, and how self-confidence and self-esteem is affected. After gathering data on emotions, perfectionism, comparison, group versus individual performances, personal thoughts, and body image, it was found that dancers …

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 …

Navigating Gifted Pathways, Ashley Rosenthal

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Programs for gifted students have been used to identify and advance youth who show talent and academic potential in their academics for years. These programs separate the course load for gifted students from the typical education of their peers and allow them to further explore knowledge with advanced and accelerated work programs that manage the pace, content, and applications of their intelligence and talents. This research project investigates what it means to be a gifted student, how these students are identified, what the mental health trends of burnout are, the social-emotional relationships between peers, and how gifted students later bridge …

Paige Mulick Bfa Dance Graduating Presentation, Paige Mulick

Honors Theses

Paige Mulick’s Graduating Presentation/Honors Thesis was created to be a piece that explored recurring dreams and built a dream on stage. Mulick developed this piece beginning with a concept, auditioning dancers, developing choreography, designing costumes, developing a lighting design, and rehearsing the piece for multiple months before it was performed on stage. As supporting research for this choreographic project, Mulick drew on her personal experiences, the experiences of her dancers, and readings from texts about the science and history of dreams. In addition to her work in choreography, Mulick took on the roles of Production Coordinator and Schedule Coordinator for …

Mary Grace Geise Bfa Graduating Presentation, Mary Grace Geise

Honors Theses

The Bathers takes inspiration from the late 19th-century impressionist painter Paul Cézanne and his series of paintings known as Bathers. Cézanne believed in the harmony between art, emotion, and nature. This piece explores the healing powers of nature and how it reflects the human experience, beauty, ugliness, and inner peace. The Bathers endure a journey to rebirth by ways of nature, traversing through moments of desertion, cleansing, surrender, ecstasy, and freedom.