Matching Items (194)
Description
Educed Play is a performance installation that investigates spontaneity and the invisible communication that can exist in improvisation and collaborative play. The work unites the mediums of dance, drawing, music, and video through improvisational performances. The multimedia installation entitled Educed Play was presented in the fall of 2012. Inspiration came from the idea of relics created by ephemeral interactions, using improvisation as a means to performance, and working within a genuine collaboration. This document encompasses an overview of the project.
ContributorsLing, Amanda (Author) / Kaplan, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Pittsley, Janice (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This ethnographic research focuses on the specific creative processes of one dance-maker who worked collaboratively with seven dancers, a sound designer, a costume designer, and a narrative speaker. Together they created an evening-length dance work entitled "The Now Creature." Throughout the creative process, the dance-maker was interested in noticing attachments, finding freedom from these attachments, and being aware of how the work was affected by the choice to detach or remain attached to certain ideas. This interest stemmed from the dance-maker/researcher's interest in Buddhist philosophy and a system of decision-making she had been developing since childhood. The creative process for "The Now Creature" began with experiments in chance procedures as a method of non-attachment. After the first public showing of the piece, the process shifted to include intuition and aesthetic integration. "Embodied nowness," or the awareness of one's physical and mental sensations in the present moment, played an important role in rehearsals and in the overall process of letting go of attachments. All collaborators kept journals and were usually given specific prompts about which to write. The researcher/dance-maker also conducted one-on-one verbal interviews and group discussions with the collaborators. These data informed the development of the work presented on January 31-February 2 at Arizona State University, Findings from this research can be applied to any kind of creative process, or any life situation that includes decision-making.
ContributorsStein, Denise A (Author) / Vissicaro, Pegge (Thesis advisor) / Kaplan, Robert (Committee member) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This six month IRB approved qualitative study was held at Arizona State University to see how a group of seven university dancers' body appreciation and body perception would be affected by introduction and familiarized with Bartenieff Fundamentals and other somatic practices. During this process the individuals gained knowledge about their own bodies through somatic movement activities, journal writings, group discussions, and personal interviews. Movers then used this knowledge to create movement phrases that represented their own personal journeys with body image struggles, doubts, and insecurities. These movement phrases were then linked together in a 40-minute expressive movement piece that represented the journey the group of movers had made and was still making together.
ContributorsRodgers, Patricia (Author) / Jackson, Naomi (Thesis advisor) / Britt, Melissa (Committee member) / Vissicaro, Pegge (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Transformation Is... is an arts practice-led research in Dance and Design, embodying and materializing concepts of structure, leadership and agency and their role in bringing about desired social transformation. My personal experiences as a foreign student interested in transformative experiences gave origin to this arts practice-led research. An auto-ethnographic approach informed by grounded theory methods shaped this creative inquiry in which dance was looked at as data and rehearsals became research fields. Within the context of social choreography, a transformational leadership style was applied to promote agency using improvisational movement scores to shape individual and collective creative explorations. These explorations gave birth to a flexible and transformable dance installation that served as a metaphor for social structure. Transformation revealed itself in this research as a sequence of process and product oriented stages that resulted in a final performance piece in which a site-specific interactive installation was built before the audience's eyes. This work became a metaphor of how individual actions and interactions effect the construction of social reality and how inner-transformation and collaboration are key in the process of designing and building new egalitarian social structures.
ContributorsSibauste Bermudez, Janelle (Author) / Kaplan, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Britt, Melissa (Committee member) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
"Linked Together" is a choreographic piece inspired by at-risk youth and their ability to learn, grow, and transform their lives through dance. The idea for the piece originated from dance programs implemented with under-resourced populations in Virginia, Panama, and India. My teaching experiences in these places sparked the development of a longer, more comprehensive dance program in Arizona, with a Boys and Girls Club. The Arizona dance program included specific somatics exercises, focused on the integration of mind and body, as well as other types of improvisations, to help the participants learn about movement concepts and develop original movement.
The title "Linked Together" suggests that all people are connected in many ways, regardless of personal differences such as socioeconomic status or language. The dancers included myself, Arizona State University (ASU) dance students, as well as Boys and Girls Club dance program participants. For the concert, all dancers portrayed stories and concepts related to empowerment through emotionally charged movement, and thereby provided audience members with a visceral lens through which to see the transformative powers of dance. The data collected from this project through observations, surveys, and interviews suggest that constructive behaviors that are internalized through dance can flow seamlessly into the non-dance world, encouraging people to think creatively, collaborate with others, gain a sense of ownership, and feel empowered in all parts of life.
The title "Linked Together" suggests that all people are connected in many ways, regardless of personal differences such as socioeconomic status or language. The dancers included myself, Arizona State University (ASU) dance students, as well as Boys and Girls Club dance program participants. For the concert, all dancers portrayed stories and concepts related to empowerment through emotionally charged movement, and thereby provided audience members with a visceral lens through which to see the transformative powers of dance. The data collected from this project through observations, surveys, and interviews suggest that constructive behaviors that are internalized through dance can flow seamlessly into the non-dance world, encouraging people to think creatively, collaborate with others, gain a sense of ownership, and feel empowered in all parts of life.
ContributorsDaniel, Chareka (Author) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Britt, Melissa (Committee member) / Manning, Linda (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The Mormon Plan of Salvation explains that people originate in a heavenly state and are sent to Earth in a physical form, where they aspire to lead good lives and gain wisdom in order to reach glory in the afterlife. The dance piece "From There to Here to There: Whose Journey is it Anyway?" explores each stage in the Plan of Salvation at a different location, requiring dancers and audience to travel both metaphorically and physically. The piece incorporates several kinds of journeys: the collective journey of humankind based on the Plan of Salvation, the dancers' own journeys, and audience's journey as they watch the piece, and my journey as an artist. In the process of making this piece, I refined my identity as a 21st century Mormon artist interested in conveying religious messages through the traditionally secular art form of postmodern dance.
ContributorsFrost, Randi (Author) / Kaplan, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Daughtrey, Doe (Committee member) / Schupp, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this case study is to observe how social dance combined with somatic practices can encourage internal, physical perception and experiences of the body perceived from within for an adolescent boy with high functioning autism and dyspraxia; an impairment or immaturity of the organization of movement (Boon 7). More specifically, this research seeks to observe the impact that social dance instruction can have on an individual’s kinesthetic responsiveness, such as efficiency in movement patterning through increased movement awareness and somatic facilitation. In addition, this study seeks to observe the impact that social dance lessons could have on the participant’s communication and listening skills; attentiveness; initiation of movement, such as taking the role of a leader and lead patterns; organization of movements, such as performing movements within a specific order; and performance of movements that might lead to personal and social growth. Finally, this study investigates exercises from Alexander Technique and ways to incorporate them into pedagogical practices for adolescents with psychological limitations.
ContributorsPeltcs, Diona (Author) / Dyer, Rebecca (Thesis advisor) / Kaplan, Robert (Committee member) / Caves, Larry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Don't Hold Your Breath is an evening-length performance created and performed by Sarah "Saza" Kent and EPIK Dance Company that consisted of street and concert dance combined with hip hop theatre, spoken text and live singing. What began as a one-woman show about the choreographer's life, turned in to an ensemble piece that included the stories of many people, including ten community members who were interviewed on their views of life and death after being affected by a diagnosis. The show follows Kat, a young woman tiptoeing the line between her party girl past and the thought of finally growing up and settling down. Typically confident and self-assured, she is now grappling with the idea of life and death. Kat finds herself in an MRI machine that could ultimately determine her fate. As the machine examines her body, she begins to examine her life, causing her to confront some of life's most existential questions. Has she spent her time wisely? Would she do anything differently if given a second chance? When it comes down to it, and all distractions are stripped away, what is truly important? Her thoughts take her to memories of her past and visions for her future as she faces the reality that life is finite and tomorrow is not promised. This document is an account of the show's process and serves as a place of explanation, analysis, and reflection, while also questioning its significance on a personal level all the way to its place in the field.
ContributorsKent, Sarah Kay (Author) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Hinds, Rickerby (Committee member) / Britt, Melissa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The piece WAKE UP BREATHING holds personal significance as an investigation of thought-provoking issues of breathing through film installation, video and live performance. This research specifically addressed how breath training exercises enhance dance performance and improve a dancer’s control of their body, as well as how these exercises can function as material for choreographic inquiry. During the creation of the concert, the choreographer employed breath building exercises and applied different breath techniques with a cast of nine dancers. The choreographer and dancers worked collaboratively to develop creative material, enhance performance and help members of the audience understand why breathing in dance is so meaningful.
ContributorsKong, Zijia (Author) / Jackson, Naomi (Thesis advisor) / Kaplan, Robert (Committee member) / Kim, Marianne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Our lives are full of possibilities but also of self-imposed limitations. For some, finding their purpose in life and their place in the society is instinctive, but for many of us it requires a deliberate search. For the latter, self-discovery is a journey; an intentional path of many turns and twists, ups and downs, some surprises. It requires a person to slow down and assess oneself. What has been so far, what is right there on the surface, what is hidden deep down, and what is it that one strives for? Now, imagine narrowing down that path even more, and try to answer the question: Who am I as an artist?
ContributorsBlasko, Tanja (Author) / McMahon, Jeff (Thesis director) / Bowditch, Rachel (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05