Dance

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https://hdl.handle.net/10315/27682

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Open Access
Creating Contemporary Choreography through the Post-Traumatic Lens
(2014-07-09) Forcier, Marie-France; Anderson, Carol
As a professional Canadian dancer-choreographer, I have recently observed unpremeditated elements of dissociation arising in my choreography. This has led me to question the possible links between my history of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and my recent choreographic practice, and to speculate on how the embodiment of trauma as a material-generating source and a lens for staging dances may inform the choreographic praxis. My practice-based Master of Fine Arts research focused on developing and analysing my choreography from a PTSD point of view. Over the course of three distinct creative processes, I have tracked emerging insight on the potential and pitfalls inherent to developing choreography from places of traumatic memory, and how those vary from context to context in regards to performers’ level of training and group sizes. This led me to devise what I now understand to be the basic constants of trauma-based choreography and its necessary considerations.
Open Access
The Audience Focus: An Analysis of Audience Inclusion as a Methodolgy for Creating Contemporary Choreography
(2014-07-09) Gianforcaro, Patrizia Antonella; Callison, Darcey B W
This 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.
Open Access
Enhancing the Performer's Experience of Absorption through the Choreographic Process and Structure
(2014-07-09) Levin, Ruth Naomi; Anderson, Carol
Through the creation of three dance works over the course of the second year of my MFA research, I explored the question of how the process and structure of a choreography could enhance the experience of absorption (bliss, focus) for the performer. The factors that most notably had an effect on this experience were: relationship, most strongly the relationship between performers but also the relationship of the performer(s) to myself as director and the relationship of performer(s) to the environment and objects, both imagined and real; the nature of the imagery employed and the transpersonal emotional bridge it can facilitate between performer and audience; the nature, wording and rate of direction given to the performer; and increasing specificity and structure to build complexity and energy.
Open Access
Embodying Kinaesthetic Stimulants in a Technological World, A Kinaesthetic Exploration of Western Technology's Affect on the Body
(2014-07-09) McClelland, Michelle Darlene Grace; MacWood, William
This thesis addresses the potential kinaesthetic influences technology has on the body and how these influences can be used to extract original choreography. Based on Gretchen Schiller’s assertions that the body’s interactions with technology “contribute to the range of one’s movement repertoire and kinaesthetic condition” (Schiller 109), this research purports that the body’s interactions with transportation technology (specifically trains, subways, and automobiles), hand-held technology (cell phones, video games, and electronic children’s toys), online networking, and the television, affect its kinaesthetic condition. This is achieved through the body’s experience of new shapes, tensions, and weight-holding patterns. The individual experiences of urban Western bodies are specifically researched, particularly those in Toronto, Canada. Through site-specific movement explorations, this thesis argues that a heightened kinaesthetic awareness allows a choreographer to extract technological qualities and create original choreography. This process will, in turn, widen the choreographer’s awareness to other kinaesthetic movement inspirations.
Open Access
Intertextuality and Identity: An Examination of Dramaturgy for Dance Through the Remounting Process
(2014-07-09) Ottmann, John Joseph; Callison, Darcey B. W.
This 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.
Open Access
Dancing Cultural Memory: Three Contemporary Choreographies Informed by a Migrant Embodiment of "Home"
(2014-07-28) Mata Soledad, Maria Victoria; Small, Holly
This paper analyzes how memory is performed through the creation of three contemporary dance-based choreographies: Lejania (Distant), Memory Lane and ImShift. Influenced by Afro-Venezuelan movement and contemporary dance, I explore specific locations where memory is stored in the body. All three choreographic case studies have pronounced motifs of white cloth, partial nudity, shadows and percussive rhythms. This analysis spring boards from leading scholars that write about issues of embodiment, cultural memory and diasporic performance such as Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Diana Taylor, Coco Fusco and Gloria Anzaldua. The dynamic movement vocabulary creates a body bilingualism that draws from the dancers’ personal lives and each author’s issues of living in the margins of mainstream society, belonging and challenging Latin American immigrant stereotypes. This paper examines the historical knowledge and shared sense of identity that is embodied and expressed in the performances.
Open Access
Body-Draping: Using Costume and Movement as Choreographic Tools in the Creative Process and Choreographic Outcomes
(2015-08-28) Harvey, Sharon C.; Cash, Susan
Costuming is an invaluable tool in visual communication and for setting the mood of the story for an audience. This extended essay is about using costumes and movement as choreographic tools in the creative process and performance outcomes. The development is used to deepen and support contemporary movement language through the use of fabric manipulation. For example, this process focuses on how to create movement from fabric, in order to create costuming that connects to the meaning of the movement. The process looks at how costuming brings out the physicality of the dancer’s character. The developments of choreography and movement invention in dance are discussed in this essay as a means of developing an extended movement vocabulary, which is exposed within three case studies in the contemporary choreography and dance dramaturgy curriculum, that are rooted in the African values as a way of deepening the expression of its society.
Open Access
Physical States of Embodiment and their Impact on the Performer
(2015-08-28) Calam, Valerie Sue; Small, Holly
In this thesis research, dance artist Valerie Calam highlights the goals, creative processes, and results of three choreographic case studies, Gotta Go Church, All My Colours, and Dull Roar. In the three projects, Calam investigates the theme of embodiment in creation and performance of dance using a choreographic method she devised called states of the body. This method draws on postmodern contemporary choreographic devices such as Skinner Releasing Technique as well as the ancient somatic practice Qigong. This research reveals that by focussing on connection, a deeper physical awareness manifests and the performer will experience embodiment, the place where the body is leading, not the mind. Through this method, the performers are working on something as opposed to demonstrating something, and this change in approach exposes concepts and narratives within the choreography, and fuels the performer’s transformation.
Open Access
The Work of Women in Canadian Musical Theatre: Dancing in the Chorus
(2016-09-20) McCaughey, Allison; Callison, Darcey B. W.
My 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.
Open Access
Choreographic Play: Investigating Dynamic Choreographic Engagement with all Bodies
(2016-09-20) Silagy, Michelle Ann; Anderson, Carol
Choreographic Play: Investigating Dynamic Choreographic Engagement with all Bodies is informed by the burgeoning trend to include multi-ability bodies in the practice of contemporary dance. An important aspect of this research addresses inclusivity whereby improvisational methods and choreographic processes can be infused within communities comprised of all abilities of all populations of people. The goal of my research has been to originate improvisational and choreographic processes and choreography that can be experienced and understood by all who take part in it. This research considered ways to share both processes and performative aspects of choreography by utilizing a practice-based methodology in the creation of three choreographic case studies. These are, first the I Am solo project entitled at the end of a stem, second, a self-produced project (RE)Trace and finally, Snowlight. These case studies represent the containers where activated investigations are magnified and/or realized.
Open Access
Ode to Isadora:Embodying Isadora Duncan's Natural Movement Philosophy for Choreographic and Performance Tools
(2017-07-27) Burton, Ashley Ann Katherine; Cash, Susan
This practice-based research investigates Isadora Duncans natural movement philosophy as choreographic and performative tools to enhance expressivity on the millennial dancing body. The millennial demographic targeted in this research ranges from the birth dates of mid-1980s to early 2000s. Characteristically, this generation is highly proficient with digital technology and social media applications. My perception of the current millennial dance climate closely parallels Duncans perception of the emphasis on technical virtuosity during her era. To comprehend Duncans natural movement philosophy, my research methodology employs a combination of Duncan scholarship, archival and embodied research, and a Duncan-inspired choreographic case study with the York Dance Ensemble in the Department of Dance at York University. Due to the minimal representation of Duncan dancers, performers and teachers in Canada it was essential to travel abroad to study with Duncan practitioners.
Open Access
Choreographic Research Combining Contact Improvisation and the Alexander Technique: Somatic, Practice-Based-Research, and Ethnographic Inquiry
(2017-07-27) Liska, Suzanne Ruth; Alcedo, Russ Patrick
Somatic practices, practice-based-research (PBR) and ethnography contextualize this choreographic research that moves from the studio/stage to the desk. My project investigates how integrating the Alexander Technique (AT) and Contact Improvisation (CI) principles, combined with theoretical studies in PBR and ethnography expand psychophysical coordination for dancers, teachers, researchers and choreographers. I primarily ask: What theoretical and methodological principles guide my dance research in order to move beyond teaching dance technique or choreographing a piece? To address my inquiries, I choreographed, danced and taught with dance artists from Canada, Japan, Europe, and the USA. The culmination of my research offers a new dance methodology to facilitate the multiple internal/external awareness necessary for an embodied choreographic process.
Open Access
Dancing in the Diaspora: An Investigation of Contemporary Indian Dance Practices
(2018-09-19) Suresh, Suma; Cash, Susan
My research focus is to develop my own personal choreographic voice by contextualizing and investigating the works of three contemporary Indian dance choreographers in the diaspora who have trained in the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam-Anita Ratnam, Hari Krishnan and Shobana Jeyasingh. The three dance practitioners, although with similar backgrounds, have embarked on three different creative routes and reached different destinations in terms of cultural and artistic productions. My research is directed to understanding how they have adapted the embodied knowledge of this classical dance form to create a contemporary dance language through their works. I will gather this knowledge and channel my findings to inform my own work as an emerging contemporary dance artist. Through a practice-led research producing three new dance works, I will activate my research findings and incorporate them into my evolving choreographic process.
Open Access
Cultivating Roots: A Tensional-Hybrid Investigation of Embodied Resources through Traditional Cretan Folkloric and Contemporary Dance Practices
(2018-09-19) Markakis, Nikolaos; Mackwood, William J.
In Cultivating Roots, emerging dance artist Nikolaos Markakis investigates choreographic creations through his two embodied resources of Cretan folkloric and Contemporary dance practices. These two embodied resources were questioned and challenged through the lenses of tradition and tensional-hybrid art, a term he has been exploring through his three case studies: Ithaka, Ariadne, and Metaxy. In these case studies Markakis delves into his embodied resources, and investigates influences through the folkloric and contemporary themes of costume, music, and dance. Furthermore, this extended essay questions the role that cultural traditions can play within a contemporary choreography for the Toronto dance scene. Playing with the emotional, political and aesthetic tensions between Markakis embodied resources; he researched the possibility of a successful and organic approach to marry these two worlds for the stage.
Open Access
Choreographing for Children's Television: The Legwarmers in Variations on a Dream
(2019-07-02) Brkich, Lisa Joanne; Callison, Darcey
In 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.
Open Access
Television Screen Dance for Young Audiences: The Praxis of Effective Creation to Engage Young Audiences through Digital Media
(2019-07-02) Brkich, Christine Anne; Mackwood, William J.
In todays growing digital media trends, more young audiences are accessing their choice of entertainment through a variety of online streaming. In a vastly growing competitive market, it is important to stay current when developing entertainment that is both fun for children, and educational to entice the approval of parents. This thesis looks to utilize the technical conventions posed by Dr. Shalom Fisch in creating childrens television, so as to encourage engagement. The technical conventions explored include multiple sources of appeal within the work, the use of clarity and age-appropriate content, and the use of formal features when editing the work. These conventions will be compared and explained when applied to the creation of the childrens production The Legwarmers in: Finding Family Roots. The success and the challenges of establishing these conventions while creating the work will be discussed as well as the success of the final presentation outcome, leading to its future prospects.
Open Access
Telling Giselle: Reworking the Ideologies of a Canonical Ballet
(2019-07-02) Allison, Patricia Teresa Marie; Olafson, Freya
This paper outlines the process from conception to analysis of Telling Giselle which was performed February 7-9 2019 in the McLean Studio as the performance component of Patricia Allisons MFA thesis at York University. This paper starts by contextualizing Thophile Gautiers Giselle, the original ballet that this production was based on, and outlines the ideological elements of the storyline that would be addressed in this reworking. This paper then summarizes the theoretical framework that informed the creation of this work included key concepts from Linda Hutcheon, Vida L. Midgelow, and Darko Suvin. It summarizes the core methodology used and how the theoretical framework influenced its creation. Finally, this paper includes a scene by scene analysis of the performance and a conclusion which points towards the potential for future research on this.
Open Access
Choreographing the Cyborg: IM-Mortal
(2020-08-11) Colalillo, Emilio Michael; Cash, Susan
In IMMORTAL, choreographer Emilio Colalillo examines the superior effect of choreographing movements with technology seen through projection mapping and video projections. It is known as spatialized augmented reality or 3-dimensional (3D) projection mapping, in live dance theatre. Specifically, to examine the effect of this modality, this thesis focuses on the evolution of humankind, a posthuman. This research will prove the success in bringing fantasy to reality to create a posthumanistic world through the use of technology, aesthetics and choreography in live theatre. The thesis examines how to augment reality through the illusion of 3D projections on stage with dancers. With the correlation of music and choreography, the augmented reality stimulates the illustrative and visual meaning. The results show that spatialized projections and projection mapping produces greater 3D existence, expanding to additional layers of depth. With projections on the cyclorama, dancers, scrim and the illusion of holographic images, creates what is argued as a 4-Dimensional (4D) effect. The technology has an interactive quality with the dancers that augment reality and bring the imaginary and fantastical to live theatre, creating a futuristic experience.
Open Access
Repositioning the Object: Exploring Prop Use Through the Flamenco Trilogy
(2020-08-11) Avila, Gillian Maria; Callison, Darcey
Reflecting 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.
Open Access
Nostrovia: Methods in Creating Immersive Theatre for Audiences
(2020-12-07) Kearns, Raine Madison; Olafson, Freya
In Nostrovia: Methods in Creating Immersive Theatre for Audiences, I explore the process and politics of creating an immersive dance theatre experience. Nostrovia was performed January 16th -18th 2020 at The Peacock Public House and reimagines the historical narrative of the Romanov family. This thesis begins with an overview of participatory movements and presentations that inspired immersive and site specific performances, and then proceeds to summarize the theoretical framework that was used to create this production. Through the use of adaptive narrative, consensual practices and movement shaped for non-dance spaces, I outline the practices and developments that occurred throughout and subsequently following the performances. This thesis is aimed at understanding and analyzing methodologies for guiding and engaging viewers/participants through contemporary dance presentations.