Dance Commons^™

Honor Thyself, Alonzo O. Williams

Dance (MFA) Theses

The black male experience and identity in America are filled with complexity. We struggle to know ourselves. We work to see the way of love and the peace of an unviolated free spirit. We want to engage with ourselves with the highest degree of freedom and comfort, not to continue to question our identity in a life-threatening white patriarchal masculinity ideal. Honoring oneself from the lenses of the Reconstruction era of the United States is essential. Reconceptualizing this history explores the significance of emphasizing Reconstruction in my life as a black male to go through a process of self-discovery and …

Traces: Embodied Ephemera From Here To There, Alice Svetic

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis work explores contemporary queer dance making through the concept of ephemera - what is left after performances "end." Taking heavy inspiration from José Esteban Muñoz's Cruising Utopia: the then and there of queer futurity, the research situates one young queer dance maker’s own past, present, and future choreographies as a site for the extraction of queer embodied experience. The textual and written research culminates in a gallery installation which houses a series of vignettes that act as preserved documents of these queer performance histories. The live performance calls the alive, dancing body into the conversation of the ephemeral. …

Healing Through Mother Earth, Taylor A. Russell

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis deals with mental health, with a focus on Black women. Historically, Black women are often so compromised, being constant caregivers and helping everyone else, that they forget to help themselves, not having the time and financial means to do so. If we go back in the time of slavery, many Black women were taking care of slave owners' children and suckling the white women’s babies instead of their own. By the time they got home and after diligently caring for other people’s children they were focused on their own children, who they had been away from for hours …

The Means To Escape, Devonn Mckenna

Dance (MFA) Theses

This research interrogates what it means to utilize escapism, transforming it from passive to active consumption, drawing strong ties between performance and social media. Through audience awareness and participation, this research aims to cultivate a social collective within performance viewing and social media. Framing escapism as a social collective experience resists contemporary notions suggesting that escapism is an individual experience. This work argues that social media and performance have become a space allowing for social collective awareness. Thus, escaping together is the only way to move forward.

Tapping In: A Movement Meditation For Wellness, Victoria Rodriguez

Dance (MFA) Theses

Victoria Rodriguez’s thesis paper and accompanying video explore the somatic movement sequence Tapping In. Tapping In was born to facilitate the mind-body connection, muscular balance, and flexibility as well as implement tools for the physical and mental release of trauma. The written manifestation explores the practices that allowed for the creation of the Tapping In movement sequences such as Pilates, Yoga, Emotional Freedom Technique, Physical Therapy, and more. Each method provides a unique and valuable stance on navigating the previously mentioned goals, but no single technique led to the results Victoria was looking for. As a result, it is through …

Different Versions Of Myself, Anya Smith

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This is a research-informed screenplay exploring the relationship between religion and recreational pole dancing. While the popularity of recreational pole dancing has grown over the last two decades, it remains a controversial topic in some circles. This study employed interviews, autoethnography, and a literature review to examine the tensions between pole dancing and religion. Creative Analytic Practice was employed as a method of evaluating and presenting the research, which culminated in a fictional screenplay.

The story is about Louise, a young woman caught between two worlds. She feels pressured to conceal her recreational pole dancing activities in order to retain …

Choreographing The Line: Exploring The Art/Obscenity Paradox Of Feminine Sexuality Within The Context Of Recreational Pole Dance, Cameron Boucher-Khan

Scripps Senior Theses

This project seeks to explore the relationships between pole dance and pole fitness, art and obscenity and respectability as it relates to work, class, and social systems. It analyzes the way female sexuality is accepted or rejected within society and explores the boundaries between the two through the staging of pole and contemporary dance. The dichotomy between art and obscenity is explored in the relationship between stripper pole dance, and the fast-growing pole fitness community. Within this relationship, strippers are demonized as obscene, while pole fitness dancers' labor is viewed as artistic, despite the sexuality present in both. The difference …

Tap Dance In Post-Secondary Dance Education: Why Is It Disappearing And How Can We Fix It, Natalie Riddick

Dance Department Best Student Papers

Tap dance is an artform that is rapidly declining in popularity in dance training, especially in post-secondary dance education. To answer the questions of how and why a quintessentially American artform has so faded in dance teachings, this paper analyzes the history of tap and its creation by marginalized individuals, the Eurocentric legacies that influence our definitions of 'technique' in dance training, and how tap dance is currently being taught today. Evidence for the conclusions of this paper include current discussions of tap among dancers and dance educators as well as a review of recent scholarship on the history of …

รำโจ๋ง ตำบลท่าโรง อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี จังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์, นิศากานต์ ชอุ่ม

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์ หัวข้อ รำโจ๋ง ตำบลท่าโรง อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี จังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์ มีวัตถุประสงค์ เพื่อศึกษาความเป็นมาของการละเล่นรำโจ๋ง และศึกษากระบวนท่ารำ องค์ประกอบของการละเล่นรำโจ๋ง ตำบลท่าโรง อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี จังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์ ผู้วิจัยใช้กระบวนการวิจัย จากการศึกษาข้อมูลเอกสารงานวิจัย การสัมภาษณ์ และการลงพื้นที่สังเกตการณ์การแสดง ผลการวิจัยพบว่า รำโจ๋ง มีพัฒนาการมาจากรำโทน ประมาณหลังสงครามโลกครั้งที่ 2 โดยนายธวัช ธูปมงคล ได้นำการละเล่นรำโจ๋ง เข้ามาแสดงในหมู่บ้าน เป็นที่นิยมสืบต่อกันมา แสดงในเทศกาลวันสงกรานต์ ประมาณปี พ.ศ. 2562 คุณกาญจนา ทองมา ผู้บริหารโรงเรียนอนุบาลกาญจนา ได้นำการละเล่นรำโจ๋ง เป็นหลักสูตรการอบรมให้กับนักเรียน และปี พ.ศ. 2564 ถึงปัจจุบัน วัฒนธรรมอำเภอวิเชียรบุรีได้จัดสรรงบประมาณ โครงการอบรมการแสดงรำโจ๋งให้กับตัวแทนนักเรียนใน ระดับอนุบาลถึงชั้น ประถมศึกษา ในเขตอำเภอท่าโรง อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี จังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์ ได้เรียนรู้และสืบทอดการแสดง จากผู้เชี่ยวชาญการแสดงรำโจ๋งให้อยู่สืบต่อ ลักษณะการรำโจ๋ง แบ่งผู้รำเป็น สองฝ่าย ฝ่ายชาย สมมุติเป็นวัว รำอยู่วงใน ฝ่ายหญิง เป็นผู้ต้อนวัว รำอยู่วงนอก รำเป็นวงทวนเข็มนาฬิกา ท่ารำ คล้ายกับการต้อนวัวเข้าคอก ประกอบการตีโทน เป็นจังหวะ การแต่งกายผู้แสดงชายสวมเสื้อคอกลม นุ่งโจงกระเบน ผ้าขาวม้าคาดเอว ผู้แสดงหญิงสวมเสื้อแขนยาว ห่มสไบ นุ่งโจงกระเบน การละเล่นพื้นบ้านรำโจ๋ง ปัจจุบันมีการถ่ายทอด และสืบทอดท่ารำ เป็นหลักสูตรในโรงเรียน เพื่ออนุรักษ์ให้การแสดงท้องถิ่น ตำบลท่าโรง อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี จังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์ ให้คงองค์ความรู้สืบทอดต่อไป

So You Think You Know Dance?: Fundamentals Of Dance, Mary Francis “Cissy” Whipp, Roshanda Spears, Susan Perlis, Vanessa Kanamoto, Peter Klubek (Editor)

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

The Dances Of Diplomacy: French Social Dance Culture In The United States, 1780-1800, Kaylar Gina Moser

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores how social dancing in the United States formed a noteworthy aspect of political, diplomatic, social, and class exchange for U.S. elites both domestically and overseas; and how the cultural dominance over dance that France enjoyed during this period created an informal cultural diplomatic relationship between the United States and France in the 1780s and the 1790s. I argue that U.S. elites utilized this dance culture as a form of upper-class status legitimation that could serve diplomatic purposes. This project increases the purview of U.S. cultural diplomatic studies by centering on the eighteenth century and by utilizing an …

Mindfulness, Recovery-Stress Balance, And Well-Being Among University Dance Students, Peta Blevins, Gene Moyle, Shona Erskine, Luke Hopper

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Dance students face many physical and psychological stressors in their training and daily lives, therefore methods for coping with stress are essential for performance enhancement and general wellbeing. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between mindfulness, stress, recovery, and wellbeing among university level vocational dance students. Seventy-two dance students at two Australian universities completed online self-report measures of mindfulness, recovery-stress states, and affect. Correlation coefficients indicated a significant positive relationship between mindfulness and positive affect, and significant negative relationships between mindfulness and stress, and mindfulness and negative affect. MANOVA revealed differences between high mindfulness and low mindfulness groups on …

Put On Your Dancing Shoes: Boosting Divergent Thinking In Older Adults, Megan Itagaki

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis will explore the influence of two dance modalities (dance improvisation and Zumba dance) on divergent thinking (i.e., an aspect of creativity) in older adults using a quasi-experimental design. Given the existing research on dance as a creativity intervention in the younger half of the population, this study may address a gap in the literature by extending these findings to older adults. Once prescreened to ensure cognitive competence and adequate physical mobility, participants will complete a divergent thinking task before their designated 20-minute dance intervention. After the intervention, participants will complete a divergent thinking task. It is hypothesized that …

A Renaissance: The Absurd Retelling Of Mostly True Events, Erica R. Hitzman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the following you will be taken on a fantastical retelling of the exhibition A Renaissance, and some of what lead up to it. Through the eyes of various shifting perspectives you will explore the relationships between the artist, her art, and the viewer in the hopes of unveiling how the work plays into feminist theory, its place in the Zeitgeist, and the motivations behind it. Each perspective is formatted differently, to visually mirror the shift in perspective. Presented in the first person and aligned to the right, the account of the artist discusses the process, emotion, and inspiration behind …

Perceptions Of Strength Training For Dancers At A Midwestern University, Abigail Boenig-Dombek

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of the research is to gain a deeper insight into the perceptions of strength training within the dance community. The research aimed to receive feedback from individuals over the age of 18 who are currently studying, practicing, or teaching dance. METHODS: The survey utilized was replicated among a convenience sample of adult dancers associated with The University of Akron’s dance program from the research of Farmer and Brouner (2021) in their scholarly article, “Perceptions of Strength Training in Dance.” The survey contained 14 questions requiring the individual to assess their personal involvement in strength training. The questions were …

How Screendance Embraces What Cannot Be Done On Stage, Maya Reddy

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

Due to the recentness of the field of dance filmmaking, little research exists on the difference between dance films designed to be watched as films (referred to as screendance) and dance videography (videos of performances created to be viewed by a live audience). This paper contends that what separates screendance from dance videography is the unique appeal screendance has for the viewer. Through the use of instantaneous location changes or inaccessible locations, unusual camera perspectives (such as a birds’ eye shot) that allow the viewer to feel as if they or the dancers are defying gravity, and technology-mediated changes to …

Our Sheep To Slaughter, Courtney Collado

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis paper and accompanying film explore the reality of mothering a school-aged child in America. The written document describes the creative manifestation and explains the stalemate at which American parents and gun sense advocates find themselves: over the past four decades of documented school rampage shootings in America, precious few laws have been enacted to protect American schoolchildren from gun violence. By June of 2021, a year in which many children were taught virtually, nine children have been murdered by gunfire on school grounds. Rampage shootings are a distinctly American issue, with little to no action being taken on …

A Mexican American’S Introspective On Identity And Embodiment Of The Lester Horton Technique, Fernando Carrillo

Dance (MFA) Theses

In this thesis, I analyze the cultural complexity I embody as a Mexican American. By revealing and naming the invisible power dynamics of white supremacy through a multiplicity of perspectives, I explain and give examples of stereotypes imposed on me and how it benefits whiteness. Having adapted to American culture, I have created a cultural multiplicity that has steered me away from my Mexican culture. I express the conflict of my consciousness when I feel I do not belong in specific spaces because of my heritage or tokenism. The embodiment of the Lester Horton Technique is my passport to navigate …

Beginnings, Elizabeth Becker

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Elizabeth Becker uses personal experiences of pregnancy alongside scholarly research on the developmental movement patterns of the human embryo, fetus, and newborn’s first year of life to explore the multiplicity of these movement patterns within and outside the womb. Becker explores the relationship between the fertilization, germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages in relation to a newborn and its mother. These movement patterns within the beginning stages of life are valuable to research because they simulate neurodevelopmental patterns, which help wire the central nervous system in early childhood. These movements also help lay the foundation for sensory-motor development and life-long …

Trauma-Informed Performance Art Education, Yvonne Houy, Kymberly Mellen, Alethea Inns, Morgan Iommi

Creative Collaborations

Trauma is the emotional response to a disturbing event or series of events, and can cause symptoms such as unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, headaches, and nausea, according to the American Psychological Association (2022). Learning activities in the performing arts - such as adjusting the body through touch, or the emotional content of scenes - can retraumatize students unintentionally. In contrast, creating the conditions for emotional states that enhance learning is a science, and an art, that can support conditions for optimal performance including Flow states

Performing arts educators can proactively support students and performances by becoming trauma-informed and actively using intimacy …