Dance
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/15793
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Item A comparison of a school district's music curriculum and ensemble directors' expectations of preparedness within a feeder pattern(7/23/2018) King, Kelli R; Youngblood, PamelaThe purpose of this study was to compare the level of ensemble directors’ expectations of musical knowledge and skills of their students entering 5th, 7th, and 9th grade in schools within a district feeder pattern. The researcher-designed survey was based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for the grade level students had completed the previous year. Participants (N=51) included elementary music specialists and intermediate, middle, and high school band and choir directors employed by a large suburban school district. Band and choir directors and elementary specialists had similar expectations for 3 out of 15 (20%) musical concepts for incoming 5th graders. Band and choir directors had similar expectations for 6 out of 17 (35%) musical concepts for incoming 7th graders and 4 out of 11 (36%) musical concepts for incoming 9th graders. These results suggest that the district could benefit from greater vertical collaboration.Item African dance in diverse higher education settings: Perspectives from the practices of five experienced instructors(8/31/2016) Dalton, Melanie; Caldwell, Linda Almar; Williford-Shade, Mary; Candelario, RosemaryThis dissertation research explored issues concerning the integration of African dance techniques in higher education. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of and intended objectives for teaching African dance forms to a diverse population of American college students through the insights of five individuals who teach African dance techniques courses in five different American universities. The participants selected were currently teaching within dance programs offering African dance study in differing curricular formats at universities in southern and midwestern states. Each participant was an experienced dancer, performer, and teacher of traditional African dance forms. Working within a qualitative research methodology, themes and conclusions emerged directly from data collected from in-depth, face-to-face interviews. Each participant was treated as a case study. Within these case studies, the lived experiences of the participants were investigated through their descriptions of teaching African dance forms, thus creating a portrait of the complexities of each separate case. The study concluded with a statement of objectives emphasized by the participants as important for enabling students to learn more about themselves in order to then sense how they might navigate and adapt to communities in which they are both familiar and unfamiliar. Internet research into curricular offerings of several American colleges and universities with dance programs having courses in African dance forms broadened this study by offering an overview of how African dance study is currently being implemented in dance programs across the nation. The Internet research examined who was teaching African dance forms in selected American universities, where the courses were placed within the curriculum, and the levels of African dance techniques courses offered. Since the research participants in this dissertation offered possible ways for American dance curricula in higher education to be reshaped, redefined, and reimagined, this research is particularly important to the future field of dance education as the backgrounds and needs of students entering higher education become more diverse.Item A biography of Charles Weidman with emphasis upon his professional career and his contributions to the field of dance(8/31/1971) Richards, Sylvia Pelt; Duggan, Anne; Sherrill, Claudine; Kaprelian, Mary; Campbell, Mary; Eaton, GregoryItem A biography of Walter Terry with emphasis upon his professional career and his contributions to the field of dance(8/30/1971) Andreasen, Lois E.; Duggan, Anne; Lyle, Bert; Sherrill, Claudine; Tandy, Ruth; Campbell, Mary; Eaton, GregoryItem Biomechanical analysis of the classical Grand Plié and two stylistic variations(8/31/1980) Lessard, Beth C.; Hinson, Marilyn; Lockhart, Aileene; Rosentswieg, Joel; Gench, Barbara; Mott, JaneA biomechanical analysis was conducted to determine how the addition of torso movements affected the grand plie as performed by three subjects. Film data taken from the front and side views were merged and submitted to a computer program to obtain moments of force at the hip, knee, and ankle joints and the excursion of the total body center of gravity. Dominant muscle group action and patterns of types of muscle contraction were also examined. Results of the investigation were that the addition of torso movements increases the force moments at the joints and that the displacement of the torso results in compensatory realignment of the lower extremities. Therefore, such stylistic variations of the grand plie should not be included in the training of the beginning dancer. Conclusions were that the plie is accurately described by the literature, the rationale for adding torso movements to the performance of the plie is mechanically sound, and the addition of torso movements increases the level of difficulty of the plie.Item Boris Volkoff: Dancer, teacher, choreographer(1982-12) Mitchell, Lillian Leonora; Lockhart, Aileene; Mott, Jane; Rosentsweig, Joel; Fisk, Adrienne; Keeton, GladysAlexander Gorsky and the experimental dance movement in Moscow during the 1920s were the principal formative influences on the dance career of Boris Volkoff. During his career in Canada Volkoff was also influenced by the social, economic, and political environment of Canada. His contributions to dance in Canada were numerous. He introduced many people to the art of dance and after gradually building an interested and appreciative audience, he initiated the formation of a professional dance company, the National Ballet of Canada. Volkoff was a dancer of the Bolshoi School who possessed an outstanding technique and an excellent expressive quality. As a teacher he drew out of his students their unique individual modes of expression and movement. Through his diverse repertoire which consisted of works in a variety of dance forms. Volkoff introduced many choreographic innovations to Canada and attempted to develop and evolve a Canadian style of expression. He revolutionized choreography for figure skating by creating unique ice ballets. Although the full potential of Boris Volkoff's extraordinary efforts was not fully appreciated during his lifetime, he merits recognition as the founding father of classical ballet in Canada.Item The Cecchetti Council of America: A focus on the historical and administrative development of a dance organization(5/31/1994) Tidwell, Kathleen Papovich; Lockhart, Aileene; Fisk, Adrienne; Mott, Jane; LaPointe-Crump, JaniceA history of the Cecchetti Council of America was presented including the evolution of the organization, its purposes, and its goals. Demonstrated and documented was the role of the CCA in upgrading the teaching of ballet in the United States. A unique aspect of this study was the focus on the creation of the instrument (dancer) and artistic collaborator (teacher) for which the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet training is designed. We looked not only at the organization but at the role of dedicated individual teachers. Based on scrutiny of 37 years of minutes of the various boards of the CCA, letters, and other official documents, as well as selected oral history interviews, this study has opened an arena of historical dance research beyond that of biographies, companies, and choreographies by inaugurating research into organizations which contribute to the art form in different ways. Through this work, the role of the teacher within the dance organization has been highlighted emphasizing the link with pedagogues of the past and dancers of the future. Data related to the life of Cavalier Enrico Cecchetti were collected and a comprehensive biography was completed since it is his method of teaching ballet which the CCA was founded to perpetuate. A byproduct of this study was the collection and organization of materials related to the complicated, multilayered structure of the CCA. Donated to the Mary Evelyn Blagg Huey Library on the campus of Texas Woman's University, these documents have been accessioned by the Woman's Collection segment of Special Collection and now are available to researchers.Item Celluloid classicism: Early Tamil cinema and the making of modern Bharatanāṭyam(11/14/2017) Krishnan, Hari; Candelario, RosemaryThis dissertation investigates how two of the most prominent cultural forms of modern South India—Tamil cinema and Bharatanāṭyam dance—share complex and deeply intertwined histories. It addresses the entangled emergence of these two modern art forms from the 1930s to the 1950s, which were decades marked by distinctly new intermedial modes of cultural production in cosmopolitan Madras. This project unsettles received histories of modern Bharatanāṭyam by arguing that cinema—in all its technological, moral, and visual complexities—bears heavily and irrevocably upon iterations of this “classical” dance. By bringing archival research into conversation with choreographic analysis and ethnography with film performers and Bharatanāṭyam dancers, this work addresses key questions around the fluid and reciprocal exchange of knowledge between film, dance, and stage versions of Bharatanāṭyam during the early decades of the twentieth century. The dissertation includes deliberations on subjects such as the participation of women from the devadāsī (courtesan) community in the cinema, the period of the urban “reinvention” of dance from the standpoint of cinematic history, the impact of the forces of cultural nationalism and regionalism, and the making of new aesthetic vocabularies and techniques for Bharatanāṭyam in the cinema. The work concludes with notes on the persistence of cinema and Bharatanāṭyam as ever-entangled vernacular idioms in the global age of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Taken together, the materials presented in this dissertation provide a detailed cultural history that draws lateral paravisual linkages between the production and circulation of Tamil cinema and Bharatanāṭyam dance.Item Choreographing 'joy’: Milton Myers and the life matters of a Black man in dance. An oral history and choreographic analysis(December 2022) Johnson, Iquail Shaheed; Candelario, Rosemary; CANDELARIO, ROSEMARY; FRAZIER, JAMES; AKINLEYE , ADESOLA; WILLIFORD-SHADE, MARYThis study centers the New York City-based dance educator and choreographer, Milton Myers’ life as a Black male dancer to examine his choreographic and pedagogical activities, in addition to his mentorship of other dance directors and educators. It is theorized that Myers’ work is underpinned by Black joy, influenced by the significant investments he received from his highly prominent mentors which he carries forward through his work. Furthermore, Black joy is used as a theoretical framework to examine the Myers's teaching, choreography, and mentorship. The research was conducted using an oral history methodology with 21 participants representing a variety of perspectives on Myers’ work. Additionally, documents (mostly newspaper reviews and articles accompany the oral history interviews and a choreographic analysis of Myers’ work with Philadanco. Through the lens of Myers’s work, this study found that the Black artists, particularly at Philadanco, used Black joy as a mechanism to understand themselves and to overcomes life’s oppressive forces. The study argues that Black joy has been an effective conduit for communication through choreography and pedagogy.Item A cinematographic analysis of characteristic likenesses and differences between skilled, semi-skilled, and non-skilled performance of Pirouettes(1972-08) McMillan, Margeann Hume; Sherrill, Claudine; Hinson, Marilyn; Rosentswieg, JoelItem Clog dance of the Appalachian mountain region of the United States of America(1982-08) Duke, Jerry Childress; Lockhart, Aileene; Cox, Rosann; Fisk, Adrienne; Mott, Jane; LaPointe, JaniceItem The concepts and practice of elementary pointe technique for college-level ballet students(8/30/1980) Shell, Caroline Goodrich; Lockhart, Aileene; Mott, Jane; Hinson, Marilyn; Fisk, Adrienne; Hanstein, PenelopeThe purpose of the study was to prepare a handbook on elementary pointe technique at the college level. The instructional materials were based on the physical and technical deficiencies of thirteen college-level skilled ballet students, but their presentation in the handbook was directed toward the needs of both the teacher and the student. A descriptive design was used in which a single group of students participated in a ten-week instructional period and was scored in the execution of pointe vocabulary in a pretest and posttest performance. The null hypothesis, that there is no significant difference in the means of the pre- and posttest scores, was tested at the .05 level of significance and was rejected; there was a significant difference in the means of the pre- and posttest scores. Although the study was too limited to ascertain the extent to which the instructional materials were responsible for the improvement in performing skills, the handbook was offered as an alternative to traditional ballet manuals which often fail to address the college dancer in terms of her experience. These manuals sometimes contain technical requirements and mechanical aspects of execution which are ambiguous to the college-level ballet student.Item Creative dance: A tool for reinforcing language arts and developing self-concept(1982-08) Schul, Jeanne Mar; Keeton, Gladys; Fisk, Adrienne; Spicola, RoseItem Dance and immersive performance: A multicase study of three international immersive productions(12/30/2016) Ritter, Julia M.; Candelario, Rosemary; Caldwell, Linda Almar; Fuchs, Jordan; Hanstein, PenelopeThis dissertation research focuses on the role of dance in immersive productions. The study was prompted by investigation of the extant literature—including scholarly research and critical reviews—which revealed a gap in the literature regarding the role of dance in immersive productions. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact and influence of dance in immersive performance through a multicase study of three contemporary international immersive productions: Sleep No More by Punchdrunk (United Kingdom), Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects (New York), and Dance Marathon by bluemouth inc. (Toronto). The three productions were chosen as case studies for the ways in which dance was prioritized as a primary mode of expression by the artistic directors, including Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle of Punchdrunk; Zach Morris, Tom Pearson, and Jennine Willett of Third Rail Projects; and Ciara Adams, Stephen O’Connell, Sabrina Reeves, Lucy Simic, and Richard Windeyer of bluemouth inc. The increased popularity of productions that engage audiences differently, particularly through immersion, has prompted this research that explores how dance and choreographic strategies are used as tools to enhance audience experience. Primary data-gathering techniques included participant observation during performances of these productions; interviews with artistic directors, dancers, and audience members directly engaged with the immersive productions chosen as case studies; and examination of existing literature, including published scholarship, critical reviews, websites, social media sites, and fan blogs. In analyzing each of the three case studies, I draw on theater scholars, including Josephine Machon and Gareth White, as well as current research into trends of audience participation in the arts. Through an integrated process of philosophical questioning and qualitative research design, the study follows a theoretical line of inquiry focused on dance as a strategy of immersion in productions created by artistic directors, performed by dancers, and experienced by audiences. The inclusion of multiple voices allowed for discovery of diverse conceptual and perceptual frameworks for dance and immersive performance, which in turn shed light on the ways in which dance is contributing to the expanding parameters of new audience engagement models. This research contributes to the field of international dance studies for the ways in which it centralizes dance in the discourse surrounding immersive performance and contributes perspectives of dance to immersive performance that have heretofore been largely missing. By contributing to the understanding of the role of dance as a strategy of immersion and its impact on the participation of audiences, issues and insights that emerge from this research may resonate with theorists and practitioners in contemporary performance and the fields of audience, media, cultural, and theater studies, furthering analyses of dance in discussions that can yield continued insight for those dedicated to the discipline of dance through both practice and scholarship.Item Dance is...?: A lecture demonstration for children(8/31/1981) Raabe, Julie L.; Keeton, Gladys; Fagan-Payne, Patricia; Fisk, AdrienneItem Dance making: The work and working of collaboration(5/30/2017) Mulvihill, Julie; Caldwell, Linda Almar; Candelario, Rosemary; Fuchs, JordanThe purpose of this research is to investigate dance making practices and to include the voices of dance makers in a conversation about collaboration. This research is an inquiry into what collaboration means between dancers and choreographers who endeavor to make a dance together and as such, questions what the practice of dance making includes and means to practitioners. The ideas of prominent theorists on relational being are included along with an examination of what it means to be, think, and act together. The experiences of the participant dance makers are considered and presented as embodied theory: they are put into conversation with philosophers creating a dialogue of enacted philosophy. The culmination of this research puts forth four core responses: Listening and Being Present, Voice and Bodying, Living Through, and Thinking Together. These four core responses interact to create a system of collaboration from the interweaving of the experiences of the participant dance makers in creative process with philosophical notions about relationships.Item Dance on the St. Louis Stage, 1850-1870(12/30/1978) Kassing, Gayle; Bentley, Richard; Cox, Rosann; Keeton, Gladys; Mott, JaneItem Dancing archives – archive dances: Exploring dance histories at the Radcliffe College archives(8/30/2012) Hecht, Thomas; Caldwell, Linda Almar; Sahlin, Claire L. (Claire Lynn), 1961-; Williford-Shade, MaryThe purpose of the study is to explore the Radcliffe College Archives at Harvard University's Schlesinger Library in order to discover a lost history of dance as an extracurricular activity at Radcliffe College during the first half of twentieth century. Using archival story-ing as a methodology, an approach in which narrating the archival processes elucidates the researcher's actual encounter with archives and archival sources, three archive stories were created. The first archive story, "The Strongest Girl in Radcliffe College," focuses on an encounter with the archival material of Eleanor Stabler Brooks, a student at Radcliffe College in the early 1910s. It illuminates ideas of how young women were beginning to think of themselves as physical beings—as females who could compete, not just for social reasons, but also for the pure joy of physical accomplishments. In the second archive story, "The Teacher who Danced with Knives," the archival journey leads to Katharine Schroeder, a teacher of dancing at Radcliffe College during the late 1930s and early 1940s. It sheds lights on an innovative teacher who could engage the talents and interests of students as performers of a new American dance. The third archive story, "From Dancing Elephants and Men at Radcliffe," explores the gym suit in the early 1910s and the male Harvardian entering the female Radcliffian dancing space in the late 1950s. This archival narration provides insights into how both men and women were questioning limitations put on their bodies by enforced gender roles and how they navigated and moved through forty years of restrictive spaces at Radcliffe College. The three archive stories illuminate the various entries, crossroads, and paths that the archival researcher came across during his actual "dance encounters" at the Radcliffe College Archives, giving profound insights into what it means to walk in the footsteps of Radcliffe dance history. Narrating archive stories offers a new approach to the writing of dance history that brings the archival researcher into the discourse and opens new readings of and possibilities for historiographies in the past and future.Item Dancing Christian: Narrative, embodied action, choreography in American evangelical and emergence Christianity(12/30/2016) Wright, Emily; Candelario, Rosemary; Caldwell, Linda Almar; Sahlin, Claire L. (Claire Lynn), 1961-Dancing Christians occupy marginalized spaces on two fronts: within the context of American Christianity, dance is a denigrated faith practice with a contested history; within the context of Western concert dance, Christian dance is often viewed as technically and aesthetically substandard. The current literature on dance and Christianity is limited and tends to focus on amateur practices within the church worship service setting. This dissertation examines dancing Christians in the professional context to determine how faith informs dance practices and, conversely, how dance influences practices of faith. For this research, I developed a multisite, qualitative study of four professional dance companies. During a fourteen-month period, I conducted participant-observations and ethnographic interviews with artistic directors, choreographers, and company members who identify as evangelical and/or emergent Christians. In exploring the role of the body, I note that some dancing Christians communicate contradictory messages around the body, as in the case of one company which situates the body as a vehicle to be used in Christian service while simultaneously affirming the notion of body/mind wholeness as the ultimate end of Christian practice. Others frame the body as a starting point for audiences and dancers to share in a common resonance with the human experience. I contend that traditional devotional activities, such as prayer, Bible study, and singing, are embodied actions that dancing Christians use as a means to prime the body to experience Western concert dance as religious activity. Further, rather than demonstrating a unified aesthetic sensibility, my findings show that dancing Christians produce a diverse range of choreographic constructions, from story ballets framed as church services to postmodern works abstracted from individual spiritual journeys. I argue that dancing Christians frame professional dancing as religious practice in order to actualize individual and communal religious identities.Item Dancing dolls and extended bodies: A posthuman exploration of lively objects in twentieth and twenty-first century ballets(4/27/2020) Bennett, Mara Patricia Mandradjieff; Candelario, RosemaryThis dissertation investigates the on-going theme of dolls and doll-like characters in Western ballets starting in nineteenth century France. It specifically analyzes French choreographer Maguy Marin’s Cendrillon (1985), Groosland (1989), and Coppélia (1994), Dutch choreographer Ted Brandsen’s Coppélia (2008), and Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s Dark Matters (2009). These twentieth and twenty-first century works present the contemporary applications and continued relevancy of doll ballets in current Western culture, while sparking conversations around objects and object-centered practices that transform and extend the human body, such as costuming or the act of puppetry. With the research methodology of choreographic analysis and a posthuman, feminist philosophical framework, I examine ways these ballets explore notions of what constitutes human, nonhuman, subject, and object through movement, narrative, and costume. I unpack the complex becoming co-construction of the material and semiotic actualizing on and off stage and claim these pieces dismantle human-nonhuman, subject-object, and lively-dead binaries by highlighting matter as, to use philosopher Karen Barad’s terms, agential and intra-active. This dissertation reveals how doll ballets position both the human and nonhuman as uncanny lively objects and provide a posthuman perspective towards bodies and understandings of objectification in ballet.