Theatre and Performance Studies Commons^™

Applying The Principles Of Periodisation To Supplementary Training For Dance To Reduce Risks Of Overtraining, Sophie Molony

Theses : Honours

This research investigated the necessity of individualised training adaptations in dance, informed by physiological and psychological factors to nurture dancer physical and emotional wellbeing. Periodisation is a well known framework used, by professional athletes, as a way of dividing the training plan into smaller training cycles to develop skills and biomotor abilities to allow the athlete to perform optimally (physically, technically and mentally) and ensure peak performance at a specific time (Wyon & Allard, 2023). However, it is not yet well studied and implemented in dance (Wyon, 2010). Preparing the dancer with a periodisation model could potentially assist in supporting …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Dancers, Mackenzie Weakland

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

COVID-19 impacted every person who experienced it. Dancers in particular, were a group of people that were not able to participate in their art form in the way that they were always able to. This project explores how COVID-19 impacted dancers and their ability to learn and grow.

“Breathe Easy And Get A Good Night Sleep” : Exploring Parental Relationships In Hardship, Megan Delaney

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project explores parental relationships with a focus on mother-daughter relationships. I want to focus on the attachment between a parent and a child, and how mental illness and abuse from the other parent affect that relationship. This project derives from a deep love for my mother and the changes between us that I noticed as I grew older. I hope to create a choreographed work that explores our relationship with a hope of creating a stronger bond that suits our new relationship and who we are as people now. I want this dance to aid in our reconnection.

I …

From Pedestal To Power, From Floating Fairies To Feminine Fury: How The Portrayal Of Women In Contemporary Performance Work Reflects Changes And The Lack Thereof In Societal Perceptions Of Women In The 21st Century, Lillany Weber

Theses : Honours

Dance can stand as a social commentary that can improve and progress social and societal development, positively impacting society, widely held views and the world. The research examines shifting gender perceptions in feminist dance practices, delving into how the portrayal of women in contemporary dance performance reflects changes and the lack thereof in societal perceptions of women in the 21st century. Given the extreme complexity of the modern world, this project seeks to build on past research to bring relevant exploration into today’s context. Utilising a qualitative case study analysis of 2023 work Body Body Commodity by Australian choreographer Jenni …

The Man From Figueras, Chris Burnside

The Man from Figueras

Chris Burnside is an artist/choreographer who was inspired to tell stories on stage after seeing performance artist Spalding Gray at an international theater festival in the early 1980s. After retirement and with the encouragement of a lifelong friend, Mr. Burnside started writing some of those stories down, eventually including others. The stories in The Man from Figueras focus on learning experiences, aha moments, and events that have, over the years, changed his perspective and shaped how he has lived his life. The ninety stories are in chronological order and are grouped by the eight decades of his life.

Burnside attended …

Preserving Caribbean Culture Through Dance: Featuring The Trinidadian Dance Troupe, Zante — Sesame Flyers Intl., Aaliyah T. Fisher

Capstones

During Labor Day Weekend in New York City, millions of people from all over the world travel to Brooklyn to highlight and celebrate Caribbean-American culture. This capstone project explores the way one dance troupe, Zante, who specializes in traditional dance styles from the Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago, fights to preserve their culture by way of sharing it with an outside audience.

LINK TO CAPSTONE PROJECT: https://medium.com/@aaliyah.fisher08/preserving-caribbean-culture-through-dance-featuring-the-trinidadian-dance-troupe-zante-sesame-00bc1fc7656a

Fall Faculty Dance Concert

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

Fall Dance Concert (November 9-11, 2023), Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

Event program for the Fall Dance Concert (November 9-11, 2023).

Masters At Chapman, Julianne O'Brien, Ido Tadmor, Dwight Roden

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

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, …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

From Raqs Sharqi To Belly Dance: The Influence Of Western Cultural Values On A Middle Eastern Dance Form, Molly Talbot

Dance Department Best Student Papers

This paper examines the history and development of two Middle Eastern movement forms, raqs sharqi and belly dance, through an analytic lens of Western cultural influence. Raqs sharqi originated around 5500 b.c. and holds strong cultural values in honoring female rites of passage. During Napoleon's occupation of Cairo in the late 18th and early 19th century, raqs sharqi performers split into two paths. Some performers appealed to new norms imposed by French spectators while others refused such norms and removed themselves from the scene to create various movement subcultures. This rift began a theme in belly dance history of subjection …

Examination Of The Cumulative Risk Assessment And Nutritional Profiles Among College Ballet Dancers, Kenya Moore, Nancy A. Uriegas, Jessica Pia, Dawn M. Emerson, Kelly Pritchett, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

This study examined female collegiate ballet dancers’ (n = 28) Female Athlete Triad (Triad) risk via the Cumulative Risk Assessment (CRA) and nutritional profiles (macro- and micronutrients; n = 26). The CRA identified Triad return to play criteria (RTP: Full Clearance, Provisional Clearance, or Restricted/Medical Disqualified) by assessing eating disorder risk, low energy availability, menstrual cycle dysfunction, and low bone mineral density. Seven-day dietary assessments identified any energy imbalances of macro- and micronutrients. Ballet dancers were identified as low, within normal, or high for each of the 19 nutrients assessed. Basic descriptive statistics assessed CRA risk classification and dietary macro- …

Works In Progress, Robin Kish, Julianne O'Brien, Tomas Tamayo, Amanda Kay White

Dance Programs

No abstract provided.

The Reality Of Bipolar Disorder: A Dance Film To Bring Awareness To The Misconceptions Of Mental Health, Julia Woolums

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

For my project, I researched bipolar disorder to create a dance film highlighting the associated symptoms and emotions of hypomanic and depressive episodes. The purpose of this research is to bring awareness to and educate on the reality of these mental health symptoms to reduce mental health stereotypes and stigma. I researched academic texts and peer-reviewed articles about bipolar disorder written from the perspective of those diagnosed with it and used the symptom criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to compose, choreograph, film, and edit my dance film. The completed film showcases what daily life could …

Ritual, Spectacle, And Theatre In Late Medieval Seville (Chapter 1), Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

From the fall of Islamic Išbīliya in 1248 to the conquest of the New World, Seville was a nexus of economic and religious power where interconfessional living among Christians, Jews, and Muslims was negotiated on public stages. From out of seemingly irreconcilable ideologies of faith, hybrid performance culture emerged in spectacles of miraculous transformation, disciplinary processionals, and representations of religious identity. Ritual, Spectacle, and Theatre in Late Medieval Seville reinvigorates the study of medieval Iberian theater by revealing the ways in which public expressions of devotion, penance, and power fostered cultural reciprocity, rehearsed religious difference, and ultimately helped establish Seville …

Lindenwood University Promotional Booklet For The Dance Program, Lindenwood University

Student Dance Programs & Brochures

2023 Lindenwood University Promotional Booklet for the Dance Program

Shifting Once Again, Hannah Dusek

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Change is constant; an action and a reaction. “Shifting Once Again” is an exploration of how changes in an individual affect one's relationship to themself and others. Figuring out who we are - that is change. Such shifts can be terrifying, exciting, and in some cases, underwhelming. I invite you to reflect on these shifts in your own life as you watch this piece, and how they might have even brought you to this very audience tonight. The knowledge that everyone around us is constantly going through changes can be comforting. Finding comfort in those changes, without resistance, is what …

Investigating Pre-Professional Dancer Health Status And Preventative Health Knowledge, Joanna Nicholas, Sara Grafenauer

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Dance is a highly demanding physical pursuit coupled with pressure to conform to aesthetic ideals. Assessment of health status and preventative health knowledge of pre-professional dancers may help inform educational strategies promoting dancers’ health and career longevity. The aim of this research was to establish a baseline understanding of dance students at a single pre-professional institution based on metrics focused on current health, nutrition, lifestyle, and wellbeing while also gauging knowledge of longer-term health implications. Methods: Adopting a cross-sectional study design, the Dance-Specific Energy Availability Questionnaire was tailored for Australian participants and administered online. Results: The response rate was …

Needs Salt, Joshua Lang

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Joshua Lang investigates the development of the Eden narrative in western culture. Near the beginning of the book of Genesis, the Eden narrative provides a lens to culturally significant elements of early Hebrew culture. Genesis illustrates early Hebrew culture’s relationship with the natural world, sex, sin, judgment, and death. Similarly, John Milton’s retelling of the narrative in Paradise Lost divulges information about the culture that Milton lived in, as well as a great deal about the author himself. Milton’s blindness, and his opinions on heteronormative marriage, Protestantism, sin, judgment, and death are evident in the text. In Paradise Lost …

A Mixed Method Comparison: Instruction In Undergraduate Beginning, Intermediate, And Advanced Contemporary Dance Classes, Aditi Bheda

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study aimed to identify the nature of instructional differences between beginning, intermediate and advanced contemporary dance classes. The study involved interviewing two dance instructors and observing their classes, as well as conducting focus group discussions to gain insight from students. Despite difficulties in comparing across three levels given that no single instructor was observed teaching all three levels, the mixed method comparison yielded some common themes at each dance level. Given that students at higher levels were more aware of and comfortable with their bodies, instructors moved through the class at a quicker pace. Students at each level were …