Dance Commons^™

Striking Similarities: An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Tap Dance And Ballet, Shannon Maloney

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This research explores the relationship between tap dance and ballet, two genres of dance often viewed as polar opposites—if they are considered to have any relationship at all. Qualitative research methods were used throughout this process, including consulting texts and videos, conducting ethnographic research by attending the Woodshed Experience tap dance intensive, and choreographing a dance work featuring both tap and ballet dancers. This project investigates the relationship between the genres in the areas of technique, choreography, and pedagogy. There is significant overlap in the techniques of tap dance and ballet in the areas of musicality, polyrhythmic expression, isolated muscle …

Teaching Ettingerian Matrixial Theory, R. Michael Fisher

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Utilizing an adapted scoping review of the literature on Bracha L. Ettinger and Education (2008-2024), the author reveals the specific ways that Ettingerian Matrixial Theory (EMT) and its pedagogies are taught and can be taught in the future. EMT is argued to be a new branch of Critical Theory. The current literature shows there is mostly engagement with EMT in academic settings. As well, the literature reviewed shows EMT is used readily in arts and with artists as teachers and teachings for adults. However, the author unveils diverse other possibilities of teaching EMT. A few major themes from the literature …

Gestating And Co-Becoming With Ettingerian Maxtrixial Pedagogy, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article seeks to infuse and enrich the spheres of Arts and Education through a nascent introduction of Ettingerian Matrixial Pedagogy. To articulate this, I weave together the practices of Gestare Art Collective, which we describe as “matrixial infused education,” the “placental thinking” of Nané Jordan with my own thinking, art making and teaching. This article unfolds through interlacing theory and reflections on teachings found within art practices of Ma Poses, Womb Walking, Nap-Ins, and Spontaneous Creation-Making, along with examples of pedagogical artworkings: Metramorphosis and Muted Colours of Grief. The article closes with a poetic métissage inquiry that became—a Matrixial …

A Matrixial Museum: Education In Almost-Impossible Spaces, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This paper is meant to scaffold an imaginary space for what is currently an almost impossible museum. It would reside on a border between Gaza and Israel. Artists and participants would be able to enter from both sides of the border into a circular and cavernous space to make, share and experience art together. In artwork that values its relational capacity to affect another, the move from aesthetics to ethics recalls our mutual place of origin understood in Bracha L. Ettinger’s Matrixial Theory (EMT) as “the matrixial womb.” Griselda Pollock’s Virtual Feminist Museum, Gur-Ze’ev’s counter-education, feminist pedagogy, and Art-care activism …

She-Hero: A Memoir Of The Divine Feminine Within A Creation-Centred Paradigm, Darlene St.Georges

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

She-Hero: A Memoir of the Divine Feminine within a Creation-Centred Paradigm explores Ettinger’s matrixial borderspaces through an inter-woven theoretical | artistic | poetic métissage. An example of creation-centred research, this memoir is likened to Ettinger’s concept of metramorphosis—an active restoration of matrixial knowledge(s) and knowing. Embodying a creation-centred curriculum and pedagogy, She-Hero privileges non-dominant epistemologies to attend to the disruption of historical patterns of the hero—inviting readers to submerge and emerge in co-poesis within an intimate and aesthetic kaleidoscopic space of feminine affect and agency.

Traces Of Communal Touch: Matrixial Encounters With Pre-Service Art Educators Across Two States, Kate L. Wurtzel, Laura L. Mccartney

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

The matrixial sphere, as put forth by artist and psychoanalyst Bracha L. Ettinger, is a shared and transsubjective space that is beneath the conscious, under the touchable and perceptible; it is a space where we encounter ourselves and one another in shared trauma, healing, art making, and the lived experience overall. This co-authored essay explores how a shared matrixial space and the matrixial gaze, which is not always visual, have been experienced through the square boxes of ZOOM as part of a collaborative, long-distance art exchange project. The project, focused on Spontaneous Creation-Making (SCM) sessions, as outlined in Barbara Bickel …

Head To Toe: What Do We Think About Heels Dance?, Peyton Winsett

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Through both observation as a dance consumer and personal experience as a dance student, heels dance has noticeably risen in prominence within the commercial dance industry in recent years. This style has primarily been showcased through professional dance classes and in commercial and concept video projects. This study seeks to understand the reasons behind this sudden growth in appeal, the potential social implications of this increasing popularity, and the varying perspectives on this style across generations. It synthesizes past research and analyzes a survey conducted with current students in Chapman University's dance department. This presentation will investigate the motivations driving …

Building Foundations For Success: A Study On Aligning Expectations And Realities In College Dance Programs, Ashley Walker Anderson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research study was to take the information gathered from surveys and interviews with the participants and analyze the impact of the gaps between their expectations and realities, and the gap between the overall effectiveness and success of college dance programs in preparing students for their post-graduation goals. The goal of the researcher was to answer the following questions.

Q1 What factors determine where dancers attend college?

Q2 Are high schoolers making their college wish list based on prestige, faculty, performance opportunities, tuition cost, course requirements, career goals, or perhaps a combination of multiple factors?

Q3 Are …

Social Justice In Dance: The Exploration Of Dance As A Tool For Promoting, Recognizing And Influencing Change, Michelle O'Konis Linnehan

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to prove that dance could be used as a platform for representation and to foster change within the community and beyond. This purpose aligned with the goal, which was to measure the impact of a structured choreographic curriculum on student engagement with social justice topics. The goal of this study was to answer the following research questions:

Q1 Can dance be a tool in promoting social justice?

Q2 How will students in the classroom respond to an integrated social justice theme through dance and production components?

Q3 How will these topics be interpreted to …

Exploring Audience Perceptions Of Elementary School Dance Curriculum: Utilizing Informance To Investigate Beliefs Regarding The Presentation Of Student Learning In Dance, Michaela Summers

Master's Theses

The goal of this thesis was to gain insight into the perceptions and expectations of audiences in relation to elementary school dance education curriculum and its representation through showcases or displays, particularly within the context of viewing an informance. The researcher developed three research questions to guide the study:

Q1 What are audience perceptions of elementary school dance education pedagogy and curriculum?

Q2 What methods do audiences expect to be implemented in an elementary school dance performance?

Q3 Can utilizing informances affect audience perceptions of elementary school dance education, thus changing their expectations for dance performance methods?

Thirty-eight audience members …

Exploring The Impact Of Dance Arts Integration On General Education Teaching Practices: Insights Into Classroom Environment, Planning, Instruction, And Assessment, Sara Kessler-Kennon

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of dance arts integration facilitation on teaching practices by emphasizing classroom environment, planning, instruction, and assessment. The researcher created the following four essential questions to guide the study:

Q1 How does incorporating movement-based arts integration alter classroom environment, student behavior, student engagement, and inclusivity of students with various abilities and diverse backgrounds?

Q2 How does incorporating movement-based arts integration impact the general educators' planning time, process, style, and understanding? Does the general educator feel as though they can effectively incorporate movement-based arts integration without collaborating with a dance educator? …

Body Positivity Via Costuming Performances In Grades Nine Through Twelve Dance, Kacey Valentine O'Keeffe

Master's Theses

This thesis explored the impact of body image and self-esteem on high school dancers and the pivotal role of dance educators in fostering a positive environment during concert preparations. The purpose of this research study was to determine if there was a correlation between promotion of health and wellness from dance educators and body positivity among high school dancers. The following research questions were addressed in this study:

Q1 What positively contributes to a dancers’ self-esteem and body image?

Q2 What is an effective solution for costume fitting methods to be used by dance educators while keeping their dancers’ safety …

The Madwoman Of Chaillot, Jean Giraudaux, Maurice Valency

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux and adapted by Maurice Valency.

Performed on November 8-9, 2024 at 7:30pm and November 10, 2024 at 2:00pm in the Mitchell Theatre at Taylor University.

Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot, adapted by Maurice Valency, is a poetic and satirical fable that critiques capitalism and greed. The play is set in Paris, where a group of greedy businessmen plans to tear up the city to drill for oil. Their plans are discovered by Countess Aurelia, the titular Madwoman, a wonderfully eccentric and idealistic woman who …

Will We Ever Be Well?, Ris Bland

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Will We Ever Be Well? by Ris Bland in collaboration with Tracy Manning.

Performed September 12, 2024 in the Butz-Caruth Recital Hall at Taylor University.

Will We Ever Be Well? is a play based on the true crime stories of Dr. Helene Knabe, Alice Martin, Mollie Starbuck and the twins who were possibly born to Mr. & Mrs. Frank McNally.

The Value Of Mentorship For Black Ballerinas, Anna Dunn

Dissertations

Much research has been done in other fields about the relationship of gender and race to the success of mentors to increase student confidence to pursue additional training or a career in certain fields. The purpose of this study was to articulate formally the importance of the relationship between Black ballet students and a mentor who has lived a similar life experience, having navigated the ballet industry as a Black ballerina. This research sought to answer the questions of what value do Black ballet students perceive in having a Black ballerina as a mentor and how white ballet teachers can …

My Sauce! Living In The Polyrhythm, Zakiya Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This paper contextualizes “Ghana: The Place Where the Chief Sleeps,” for which Harris served as dance captain, rehearsal director, dancer, stager and choreographer. Harris details how her work living inside the polyrhythms of performance, practices, and pedagogies can produce a holistic West African dance education for students.

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

Disney's Newsies:The Musical

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Disney's Newsies:The Musical. Book by Harvey Fierstein. Music by Alen Menken. Lyrics by Jack Feldman.

Performed April 26-28 & May 3-5, 2024 at the Mitchell Theatre.

Disney's Newsies is a vibrant and inspiring musical based on the 1992 film and inspired by the real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. The story follows Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy who dreams of a better life. When newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer raises the prices that newsies must pay for papers, Jack and his fellow newsboys form a union and organize a strike to …

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University's performance of Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten adapted by Ernest Zulia and composed by David Caldwell.

Performed February 23-25, 2024 at the Mitchell Theatre.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten is a musical adaptation of Robert Fulghum's book, brought to life by Ernest Zulia and David Caldwell. The play captures the essence of Fulghum's essays, which reflect on the simple yet profound lessons learned in kindergarten, such as sharing, playing fair, and living a balanced life. Through a series of vignettes and musical numbers, …

Spacious Theories Of Object Relativity & Objective Reality Book Review For "Seven Brief Lessons On Physics" By Carlo Rovelli, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An Arts-based Review of Carlo Rovelli’s 2016 book "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics" that incorporates original artworks by the book reviewer. This review concludes with the harvesting of an Expressive Arts Academic Consultation session that was informed by this work of Carlo Rovelli, among many other great creative thinkers in physics.

Tikkun Olam, Book Review For "Art-Care Practices For Restoring The Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, And Healing” By Barbara A. Bickel And R. Michael Fisher, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

A book review of Barbara A. Bickel’s and R. Michael Fisher’s "Art-Care Practices for Restoring the Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, and Healing" published in 2023 by Routledge.

The Yes Of Soul: Book Review For "Poetry In Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience Through Poetic Writing" By Margo Fuchs Knill & Sally S. Atkins, Katrina Plato, Lucien Zell

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Abstract

A book review of Margo Fuchs Knill’s and Sally S. Atkins’s “Poetry in Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience through Poetic Writing” published in 2021 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Like the authors of the book, this review is written in partnership. Author and creative writing teacher Lucien Zell reflects on the book’s theme of resilience. Expressive arts professional Katrina Plato follows with a couple of her own poems and then work by clients in response to the book’s prompts.

Harvesting A Blessing, Alba Torres Robinat, Katrina Plato, Alexandra Goodall, Valerie Oved Giovanini, Sinem Lanacı

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

The process of collectively writing the Artizein articles in this issue has come to an end. In this video you can see how we harvested the gifts of our writing collaboration. Each of us made a visual artwork that we shaped as a creative digestion of our work together. The group responded to each members’ art through written words and movement. Each member then gave a final message that gathered what emerged and touched her from the group, the blessing.

Teaching Philosophy As A Pedagogic Practice-Ing: Are You The Type Of Person That Says, “Everything Happens For A Reason”?, Valerie Oved Giovanini Ph.D.

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

In this paper, I discuss a classroom activity that was intended to create an environment attentive enough for students to scrutinize whether their touted beliefs matched their implicit assumptions. Drawing upon Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the face-to-face relation, Carol A. Taylor’s posthuman orientations for pedagogical practice-ings, and Bickel’s and Fisher’s emergent theory of art-care, I explore my pedagogical approach in teaching philosophy to explain how affective encounters in communitas between teacher and learners can expand personal understandings and imagine new meaningful possibilities together. These affective encounters serve an ethic of concern where each is capable of a unique response and …

Borders And Bridges In Virtual Work: Between Real And Imaginary, Valeria Rocío Gonzales González Cueva, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article discusses our reflections on how to holistically integrate reality embodied in virtual workspaces--what we perceive within our work and interaction with technology-and highlights the importance of documenting our exploration in times while Artificial Intelligence is developing. Our approach is divided into three parts: the boundaries and bridges between the real and the imaginary, the possibilities of existence and non-existence offered by technology, and the experiences of expressive arts practitioners within virtuality.

Resumen

Este artículo habla de nuestras reflexiones sobre cómo integrar de forma holística la realidad encarnada en los espacios de trabajo virtuales, lo que percibimos dentro de …

Collective Memory And Creative Subjectivity: A Living Conversation, Alexandra Katherine Goodall, Alba Torres Robinat

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article is the record of a dialogue between two artists and Expressive Arts therapists, Alba Torres Robinat and Alexandra Katherine Goodall. They chose to undertake this conversation in the form of letters that were written back-and-forth over a period of time in a shared document, which places their correspondence in the tradition of epistolary writing. This decision to write the article as letters lends the conversation an immediacy, a warmth, a sense of time, distance and familiarity, and a feeling of intimacy.

The authors invite readers to witness the deepening of a relationship and the development of their conversational …

Doing And Thinking On The Edge With Intermodal Expressive Art, Katrina Plato, Sinem Lanacı, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Three collaborators share their experiences and reflections on The European Graduate School’s (EGS) first Alumni Event. Graduates were invited to present the cutting-edge research in expressive arts and critical theory that they developed since their M.A. and Ph.D. programs. Details are provided of the art-making processes they used to recall the memory of the Alumni Event as well as how they harvested its significance months later. The collaborators’ topic was “decentering the self,’’ specifically how to decenter the self in community through expressive arts practices, such as co-journaling, deep listening, and photography. During the Alumni event these practices were intended …

Ιntroduction: Invitations And Purposeful Encounters, Valerie Oved Giovanini, Katrina Plato, Alexandra Katherine Goodall, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Guest Editor Introduction for Artizein: Arts & Teaching Journal, volume 8, issue 1 2023

Editorial Team Weclome, Darlene St.Georges, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Artizein: Arts & Teaching Journal editorial team welcome to Dr. Jeeyeon Ryu

Editoral Foreword: A Métissage Of Presence-Ing, Darlene St.Georges, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Artizein; Art & Teaching Journal, issue 8, volume 1, Editoral Foreword: A Métissage of Presenc-ing