Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Paradigms Of Communication In Performance And Dance Studies, Nicoleta Popa Blanariu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Paradigms of Communication in Performance and Dance Studies" Nicoleta Popa Blanariu approaches from an interdisciplinary perspective the measure in which performing arts (theater, music, ballet, Indian classical dance, folk dance, etc.), as well as ritual performance constitute a corpus that may be analysed by means of theoretical and conceptual tools in communication studies and semiotics. Popa Blanariu analyses the relation between signification and communication in performing arts, between different codes and artistic expressions through which these are realized, between verbal and the other artistic "languages," and takes into consideration how "linguistic" functions manifest themselves within "languages" specific …

Choosing The Right Steps: Management Decisions Of Dance Businesses, Jessica B. Rosina

Business and Economics Honors Papers

Fundamental dance researchers have found that dancers have some of the lowest Human Capital returns. Today, the average dancer has a median pay of $15.87. Only six percent of public schools offer dance as a part of their curriculum. This situation poses a threat to the transmission of culture in our country and will have negative impacts. Children receive little to no dance education in public schooling, leaving private dance education organizations as the only option left. Using a sample of 100 privately owned studios in the tristate area, business decisions will be analyzed to uncover the impact on enrollment.

Spring Dance Concert (April 23-25, 2015), Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

Event program for Spring Dance Concert (April 23-25, 2015), Lindenwood University.

Digital Expressionism And Christopher Wheeldon’S Alice’S Adventures In Wonderland: What Contemporary Choreographers Can Learn From Early Twentieth-Century Modernism, Kelly Oden

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

How can classical ballet adapt to a world that is in an ever more rapid state of flux? By uncovering an example of the kind of interdisciplinary artistic collaboration that contributed to the thriving artistic environment of the early twentieth century, a model for artistic success emerges. By examining modernism and Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in relation to Christopher Wheeldon’s groundbreaking 2011 ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a correlation between the success of the Ballets Russes and the success of Wheeldon is exposed. I argue that by applying the modernist practice of interdisciplinary interaction to his own productions, Wheeldon …

Summer Dance Intensive Field Study, Amy Gunter, Nathan Balser

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Gaga, created by Isreal’s Ohad Naharin, is an innovative movement practice focused on enhancing sensations within the body through movement. It is used both as a training method for dancers, and a movement practice for the general public. Because the emphasis of Gaga is to explore sensation and availability for movement in a completely unique way, it is becoming increasingly popular in the dance world today. Gaga is also unique in that there are no expectations of what your body should look like while doing it. Each person must take the instructor’s cues and interpret them inside their own bodies; …

Project: Dancing In The Light, Charis Dexter, Shayla Bott

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There are many ways that light is perceived, it can be seen, felt, measured, ignored, blocked, and directed. The project I successfully completed was a tangible experiment with light. I choreographed a dance for the BYU Ballet Showcase company called “Dancing in the Light”, the light of Christ. The experiment was within the experience of creating a dance that could carry a message of light, that through the dancers the audience could literally feel something being communicated to them. What I aimed to learn from this project was to polish my execution in the delicate craft of choreography, in order …

Fandangos And Bailes: Dancing And Dance Events In Early California, Anthony Shay

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Perceived Effects Of Dance For Individuals With Parkinson’S Disease And Healthy Amateurs, Taylor Marie Mastin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the present study was to compare the effects of dance participation on physical and psychological functioning as perceived by two distinct groups of dancers: dancers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthy amateur (HA) dancers. Dancers in the Parkinson's sample group were gathered from participants in the Dance for PD® program, while healthy amateur dancers were recruited from university dance departments and through social media. Both groups were administered measures related to affect, self-efficacy, quality of life, and which aspects of dance classes were most helpful and/or challenging. Several open-ended questions for both groups were included, along with …

Testimony Coming To Life: Revealing The Lord Through Dance, Rachil L. Reynolds

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This honors project is a choreographic work based on a testimony of a woman named Ashley Abercrombie who went from a journey of excellence, to drug abuse, to salvation. The objective of this project was to create an artistic social action piece based on faith. The final work of choreography was movement that was directly related to the story line of Ashley Abercrombie’s testimony, at seventeen minutes in length, and includes a cast of eleven. The final work was publicly presented at the Paul A. Daum Theater, Kolbe Hall, The University of Akron on April 24-25, 2015 as part of …

Enter The Movement: Generating Stimulus From Sceneography And Proposing 'De-Sign' As A Tool For Choreographic Invention, Helene Gee Markstein

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to provide the notion of ‘de-sign’ as a proposed aid for movement composition and is the core framework of my research, which is aimed at empowering the dancer/choreographer with a multi-disciplinary aesthetic and a focus for dialectic discussion and experimentation with all material enclosed within the scenographic. De-sign is a method for decoding scenography (as a deconstruction tool to extract the components of composition classified as elements and principles). The play on words is a deliberate acknowledgement of the ‘design’ in the scenographic environment which, in this study, takes into account that all forms …

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 …

Exploring The Relationship Between Text And Dance: Seeking Music In Spoken Word, Anastasia Ellis

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

I assert that dance exists as more than a worthwhile ,inventive ,and ever-advancing art form; it also thrives as a language. The language of dance cannot say everything on its own, for body language is limited to the interpretive. Yet, speech carries limitations as well. Spoken language houses the potential for dishonesty and fails to encompass all that we notably call thought, seeing as the human mind can think in pictures and invent concepts that present themselves without labels. The two languages therefore have the opportunity to complete each other-an opportunity that I, as a dancer and choreographer, fully believe …

Dancing By Numbers: Dance's Expanding Presence In Library Classifications Of The Progressive Era, Dominique Bourassa

Library Staff Publications

Library classifications are artificial systems that use numbers, letters, and symbols to map knowledge as the basis for organizing the contents of libraries. Inevitably influenced by social forces and cultural values, the Dewey Decimal, Cutter Expansive, and Library of Congress classification systems offer a unique perspective to study the status and identity of dance between 1876 and 1930. From the standpoint of library taxonomies, dance evolves during this period from an indoor amusement with moral implications to a recognized art form and discipline.

A Movement Tool Kit For The Divergent And Convergent Cps Guidelines: Instruction Cards And Activity Floor Mats, Adela Vangelisti

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

A Movement Tool Kit for the Divergent and Convergent CPS Guidelines:

Instruction Cards and Activity Floor Mats

Movement is as natural to humans as breathing is, and, yet, passivity starts early in schools. We are taught to sit still and in silence for long periods of time. By the time we reach adulthood and enter the workforce, we have almost forgotten our sense of embodiment. This lack of movement is counter-productive, not only to learning but to the development of creativity as well. For this project, I designed a tool to recapture the joy and playfulness of movement. Furthermore, the …

Fall Dance Concert (November 20-22, 2014), Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

Event program for Fall Dance Concert (November 20-22, 2014), Lindenwood University.

Lindenwood University Dance Artist Showcase, (October 24-25, 2014), Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

Event program for Lindenwood University Dance Artist Showcase, (October 24-25, 2014).

The Psychology Of Competitive Dance: A Study Of The Motivations For Adolescent Involvement, Samantha Sobash

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

"Competition is a social process that is so pervasive in Western civilization that no one can escape it" (Robson 2004). Dance training for most people begins at an early age, and thus the art form akin to sports introduces youth to competition. The booming dance competition industry has only enhanced the competitive aspect of the art form. Currently there are upwards of 200 local, regional, and national competitions held annually with participants as young as four years old. Is competition innate or are we introducing it as part of youth development in the Western world? Youth are increasingly pushed by …

Performance Sculpture--An Exploratory Collaboration Between Sculpture And Dance, Cesia G. Kearns

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Kinetic sculpture suggests new visual possibilities when combined with dance. Wishing to explore such avenues of interaction for sculpture, this artist sought to develop pieces that could be incorporated into choreography. An artist and a choreographer wove their concepts and styles together to create a performance art piece that rose from the reciprocal influences of interactive sculpture and dance. The creative process included development of concepts, visual imagery, and movement as the artist and choreographer shared ideas. The choreography of the original dance influenced the form, structure, and conceptual elements of the sculpture, which was developed in reaction to the …

The Effects Of Minimalism/Indeterminacy On The Merce Cunningham And John Cage Collaboration, Janelle M. Morrison

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Minimalism is movement in both the visual and performing arts that strive to focus attention on the subject as an object, reducing its historical and expressive content to a bare minimum or art without meaning. John Cage’s music stems from the idea of minimalism and expands itself into what he calls “indeterminacy.” Indeterminacy means that chance operations will produce the score and performer’s choices. Through Cage’s study of Zen he learned about The Book of Change, I Ching. Using his charts, based on this book and the toss of three coins, Cage could layout the format of his compositions. Merce …

Introduction: Grotowski's Evolving Influence In Poland, Kathleen Cioffi

Mime Journal

In this introduction, Kathleen Cioffi discusses the physical basis of Jerzy Grotowski’s practice and describes how it developed through the various stages of his career, from the Laboratory Theatre stage to the Art as vehicle stage. She also surveys Grotowski’s Polish reception, including various controversies surrounding his work, and analyzes the evolution of his influence on several generations of physical theatre practitioners in Poland.

It’S In The Backbone: Dance From Africa Through The Diaspora, An Interview With Deama Battle, Deama Battle, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

Classically trained in dance, DeAma Battle became interested in Africa-rooted dance in the 1960s. She started performing the traditional dances from Africa that spread, via the Atlantic slave trade, to the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. She not only has performed those steps and movements, Battle has studied them, with master dancers from West Africa, Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. One of her teachers and mentors was Chuck Davis, a leading African American teacher of traditional African dance. Her research has probed deeper, into the field abroad, on dance-study tours to Haiti, Jamaica, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, and other …

Fascism, Flamenco, And Ballet Español: Nacionalflamenquismo, Theresa Goldbach

Theatre & Dance ETDs

The nationalist regime of General Francisco Franco (1936-1975) dramatically and forcefully reshaped every element of Spanish culture including dance and flamenco. Many flamencologists derisively refer to the resulting product of this system as nacionalflamenquismo or national-flamencoism. The bureaucratic mechanics that created nacionalflamenquismo evolved throughout the first three decades of the regime to fit with changing economic and political realities. As Spain re-entered the global community following its Civil War (1936-1939), flamenco and Spanish dance proved useful tools for international public relations as well as domestic propaganda. By discerning the various factors that linked the art of flamenco to the political …

Spring Dance Concert (May 1-3, 2014), Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

Event program for Spring Dance Concert (May 1-3, 2014), Lindenwood University.

The Ballerina, Natasha M. Dones

Student Publications

Little in the world can be as delicate and poised as the small

ballerina you bought me. She dances motionless upon my

bookshelf, as she did for many years before...

Behold Your Little Ones: A Senior Project In Dance, Raquelle Madsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My assignment was to create a dance at least ten minutes in length. I decided to use this assignment as a way to inform people about the effects of child abuse. Because dance is abstract it can be used to combat things that are hard to face. I chose this topic because I have seen the effects of abuse on children and have had friends that were abused as children. Their lives can never be “normal.” By creating this dance I could help in the fight against abuse by showing people in Utah that child abuse is even common here. …

Awa Yio … (We Are Glad), Melanie Morrow

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The final product was everything I had hoped it to be! The piece was 10 minutes in length with two sections and was performed March 31st andAprillst, 1994. It involved approximately 60 past or present members of the BYU’s Men’s Chorus using only live percussion and voices. There were eight dancers, including myself. The lighting and visual effects completed the image of what I envisioned for the piece, with slight deviations from the original proposal. All in all, it seemed to be an edifying experience for those involved.

At Our Crossroads, Jocelyn Lockhart, Jennie Creer-King

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dance is a unique art form in that it utilizes body movement to express ideas beyond the capacity of the spoken or written word. My project was to choreograph a ballet that explored some of the many transitions faced in life. I chose this subject because, although everyone does not undergo the same transitions, we all experience times of change in our lives. It is a universal subject that we can all relate to. Transitions are times that force us to define who we are, what we are doing, and where we are going. They are moments where we stand …

A Choreographic Medley Of Latin American Dances, Divina Teruel Wakefield, Cathy Black

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dance productions often involve several different numbers or dances. A single number in a production is usually created with one selection of music. Everything else such as the style, mood, and theme relate to the music. When a medley or suite of dances are arranged in a single number, the components become much more complicated.

“Earthcries” Experimentation On Elements Of Choreography Within The Frame Of Creating A Performance Piece Under Request Of The Ballet Division Of Dance At Brigham Young University, Anna Manja Larcher, Jennie Creer King

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In my ORCA project, my aim was to create a contemporary ballet piece for the BYU Theater Ballet Dance Company that would then be performed and judicated at the ACDF (American College Dance Festival) choreography competition and art festival in New Mexico, March 2001. I have focused on four major areas of choreography, experimenting with a.) dance form and movement (dance choreography), b.) lighting, film and costume (scenery), c.) music, and d.) the whole piece as a work of art.

Images Of Earth And The Human Form, Heather Heiner, Pat Debenham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There is much beauty in the natural world that leaves me, as a dancer, stimulated with choreographic ideas. It was through the collaborative medium of dance and photography that I sought to share those experiences with others. I traveled with three other dancers from the BYU dance department and a photographer, Erin Holmberg, to Arches National Park, where we explored the connections and similarities between the human form and the elements of the natural environment. The visual aspect of the experience was captured through photography. We utilized the environment on both a large and small scale, with some improvisations being …