1,720,966 research outputs found
Repositioning the Object: Exploring Prop Use Through the Flamenco Trilogy
Get PDFReflecting on the creation process of my flamenco trilogy, this thesis explores how one can reposition iconic flamenco objects when devising, creating, and producing three short films: The Fan, The Rose and The Bull. Each film examines personal, historical, and local relationships to iconic flamenco objects, enabled through the collaboration with filmmakers: Audrey Bow, Dayna Szyndrowski, and Clint Mazo
Moving Through States: Applying the Seven Levels of Tension
Get PDFThis thesis draws from Theatre Methodist Jacques Lecoqs and his Seven Levels of Tension to experiment with contemporary dance choreography and performance, and discusses the process and insights that unfolded during the creation of Meeting at R9: a short, contemporary dance film and my Masters thesis project. Focusing on ways a performer can access, experience, and recognize tension in the body, I explore ways in which choreographers can use tension levels (as well as mime and improvisation) to evoke a sense of urgency and different impulses in order to generate different physicalities (or physical capacities). Accessing and utilizing expressive, embodied movements inspired in this process, I argue, can serve to generate dynamic choreography and stimulate audience engagement. This thesis is intended for the performer, researcher, choreographer, or anyone who is interested in using the Seven Levels of Tension to craft movement for the stage and alternative locations
Choreographing for Children's Television: The Legwarmers in Variations on a Dream
Get PDFIn Choreographing for Childrens Television: The Legwarmers in Variations on a
Dream, choreographer Lisa Brkich explores the choreographic process for a demographic of children between the ages of four and seven years through embodied practice with the dancers, and through the collaboration process with her production team, media company Images Made Real, visual artist Emma Smith and composer Erik Geddes. In this work, Brkich explores the medium of television and its relationship to choreography for viewers in the primary years, kindergarten to grade two.
Choreography for this project is cultivated as a tool to increase the imagination of the viewer, introducing dance to this age group as a form of communication through storytelling. Discussions of the choreographic process of this work depict the choreography, created in the studio during rehearsals, as well as the choreographic changes that arise when influenced by the filming process
An Applied Neurobiological Model Of Dance, Why It Matters, And How It Heals
Get PDFDance-based programs for neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers (PD/AD) diseases are growing, with reported benefits including physical, cognitive, and affective improvements. This is not a new phenomenon; throughout history in cultures around the world, dance has played a role in promoting health and changing the course of maladies; however, it is only recently that research has attempted to identify and understand the mechanisms through which these benefits occur. A neurobiological model of dance, grounded in tools and practices from the field of dance studies, elucidates aspects of dancemaking that are effective in the treatment of specific disorders while promoting health and optimising function. Dance studies can and should play a central role in the development of dance-based interventions and research, contributing to our understanding of the impacts of motor learning and performance on the nervous system, and demonstrating the importance of skillful creative movement for well-being across the lifespan
Life as Somatic Practice
Get PDFSomatics refers to a broad field of ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies that bring attention to the first-person subjective, sensorial experience of life through the practice of directing non-judgmental, open attention to one's body and listening to its messages (Eddy, 2016, p. 12). This research expands somatics, offering bridges between practice and life, by highlighting subtle separating tendencies such as mind versus body, internal versus external experience and expertise, and prescribed environmental conditions. By asking What if the awareness of the experience and movement in our bodies was regarded as not only important, but foundational in our lives, and something we had access to all the time?, this research offers a novel somatic practice-as-research approach via an emergent, mixed-method, arts-informed, reflective, and evocative method. Specifically, it uses movement scores intentionally limiting the frame to explore possibilities to provide a somatically grounded methodology that considers research, writing and reading as somatic practice. Working within a life-as-movement ontology (LaMothe 2015), which recognises the inherent movement in life, this research conceives of language, research and writing as movement scores and as possibilities for somatic practice. The research was both autoethnographic and participatory with a ten-week exploration with 20 participants. The participant exploration consisted of a semi-structured interview, video and written invitations via email to explore somatic practice in daily life, written and oral participant feedback, and an unstructured final interview. The research findings are presented through a variety of evocative and somatically-grounded writing scores. The plurality of writing scores crystallises the research, presenting multiple subjectivities and invites the reader to become somatically aware of their beliefs and experience. The research effectively demonstrates how somatics can transcend some of its limitations by empowering inner knowing and bringing praxes into all aspects of life, including research and language. This research shows how score as method contributes a transformational and somatic approach and an alternative to critical methods. As opposed to focusing on issues, problems and constraints, the method of score starts from what is working to grow and increase somatic awareness through our lives, effectively building on and expanding the reach and applicability of somatics
Intertextuality and Identity: An Examination of Dramaturgy for Dance Through the Remounting Process
Get PDFThis research thesis focuses on remounting existing dance choreographies. It reveals a shift from traditional notions of the choreographer as a figure of centralized authority to a decentralized model of collaborative exploration. Questions raised throughout this investigation are: How are the outcomes of choreographic remounting affected by defining the place of imitation in the process? How can the artist's creative voice remain present and active in the context of executing already established choreography? What is the place of the dancer's adaptive choices, and how do they manifest in the remounting process and subsequent performance of the work? Three phases are identified in order to contextualize these questions within the remounting process. The three phases are: Mimesis, Embodiment and Interpretation. The theoretical framework for this study comes from dance and performance studies, using references from Mark Franko, Bojana Cvejic, and William Forsythe
The Work of Women in Canadian Musical Theatre: Dancing in the Chorus
Get PDFMy interest is in the study of the female chorus member working in Canadian Musical Theatre. Through the body of my choreographic research, I propose to answer the following question: Who is the modern day chorus girl?
My research required an investigation into the historical background of the chorus girl, with special attention given to her ongoing development and to the fascination with which the chorus girl is still viewed. I looked into well-known British, French and American groups for the time-frames indicated: The Ballet Girls (1870-1890), The CanCan Dancer (1840-1900), The Ziegfeld Follies Girls (1930-1950) and The Tiller Girls (1920-1930). This not only helped with the understanding of the development of the chorus girl but also served as an inspiration for my own choreographic research. My interest is not only in the work that these women did as professionals, but also in who they were as individuals. What was behind their pretty faces, elaborate costumes and perfectly synchronized movements? How did these women of the past influence who the chorus girl is today? Are there particular personality traits that such women possessed that ring true in todays chorus member? Through a detailed description of the three choreographic works I created (including a solo piece, group choreography, and a self-produced show), I framed my MFA research as an auto-ethnographic investigation on The Work of Women in Canadian Musical Theatre: Dancing in the Chorus
The Audience Focus: An Analysis of Audience Inclusion as a Methodolgy for Creating Contemporary Choreography
Get PDFThis extended analysis essay investigates audience inclusion in contemporary dance, both during the creation process and in performance. The essay argues that this methodology is effective in furthering audience engagement and development involving project-based dance companies in Toronto. This method of inclusivity bridges the audience-to-artist relationship, and creates an important connection between the audience, performers, and choreographer. The main objectives of this methodology are: to utilize audience feedback to stimulate creative impetus, to challenge the artists exploration, to learn about ones audience, to inspire audiences to become reflective spectators rather than passive spectators, and to attract a wider audience base for contemporary dance in Toronto. The results of this research have been successful in accomplishing the set goals, and this study has lead to further ideas of implementing this methodology in schools and theatres as an audience development initiative for contemporary dance
"Can Anybody See?": Masculinities in Musical Theatre and Post-Secondary Musical Theatre Training
Get PDFTwenty first-century post-secondary students demonstrate a dissonance with the musical theatre canon and current training methods. My research invites post-secondary students to contribute as critical co-investigators, utilizing discussion group research to engage my suppositions. I employ Raewyn Connells theory of hegemonic masculinity and adapt her model of gender relations into a framework for the examination of masculinity in musical theatre. My examination of the vocal scores of Rodgers & Hammersteins Oklahoma! and Pasek & Pauls Dear Evan Hansen provide diachronic case studies, making visible the persistence of hegemonic ideals in musical theatre. This research demonstrates that hegemonic masculinity has been sustained in popular musicals across time and is maintained in current post-secondary musical theatre training. I suggest a revised pedagogical approach based on Lucy Greens model of dialectical musical experience to build toward an engaged musicology for musical theatre
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