Tag: Dance

American Sign Language As a Choreographic Inspiration and Directive for Dance

Presenter: Alyssa Gentry, Dance

Panel: Art & Popular Culture

Mentor: Steven Chatfield, Dance

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Alsea Room

American Sign Language for ‘journey’ has the dominant hand with the index and middle fingers slightly bent, moving forward from the signer in an ‘s’ shaped pathway. I have created a dance work exploring this concept of ‘journey’ that finds inspiration in the singular source of American Sign Language. ASL and Dance are intricately connected through their use of abstract movement as a means of communication and the strong influence of emotions on movement quality. This piece has been derived from ASL for the formations of the dancers, their pathways in space, their individual and group movement, and their emotional output.

To interpret and abstract sign movements to the full body and then to a larger group of dancers was challenging. Using improvisation, I explored the movement of signs like ‘journey,’ a wandering side to side pattern, that could be interpreted in an ‘s’ shaped pathway, a formation of dancers, or a movement contained within the body, like the ribs swaying from side to side. After finding movement, I built a piece where each dancer has a different pathway, coming together at certain moments and then parting, like the comings and goings in life. ASL mimics life, just as art mimics life, and this piece was given focus, opportunity, and a realism through its incorporation, which allows viewers to connect with the piece. Like the sum that is greater than its parts, this piece is more meaningful and cohesive through the incorporation of ASL.

Rehabilitation of Injured Dancers with a Transition Dance Class

Presenter: Elizabeth Foster, Dance, Human Physiology

Panel: Strategies for Support & Recovery

Mentor: Steven Chatfield, Dance

Time: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Location: Century A

Huge demands are placed on the bodies of dancers who often push through pain and injury to continue pursuing their art. Most dancers have to retire by the age of 30 due to injuries and premature physical deterioration. Standard rehabilitation practices are not specific to the needs of injured dancers. This research incorporates physical therapy into a dance class as a transition dance class for injured dancers, allowing the dancers to be able to apply everything they learn in the class directly to dance. It not only retrains dancers in their technique and alignment but it also allows them to continue being artists in a time when they might not be able to otherwise. The class curriculum is designed from the physiological goals of the exercises that an athletic trainer would recommend to the participants. The participants are UofO dancers with persistent low back pain that requires them to modify their dance activity. Upon entering the study they took a survey asking them subjective questions concerning their injuries and when they leave the study they will be asked to complete a post-survey concerning their injuries and their views on the effectiveness of the study. There is a strong focus on refining alignment and dance technique. This research is currently in progress; preliminary results will be ready by May 12th. Human Subjects approval has been acquired and the first cohort is currently being worked with.

Jazz Project-A Dance Film

Presenter: Shannon Knight, Dance

Creative Presentation: 1:15-2:15pm

Century D

Mentor: Brad Garner, Dance

Jazz Project-A Dance Film, is an exploration in choreography for the camera, and layering of urban footage and still photography set to music that includes works by George Gershwin and Duke Ellington. The overall appearance of the short film is reminiscent of early cinematography. It is in black and white, and includes period costumes, and creative use of lighting. Over thirty hours of footage have been collected from studio rehearsals, live stage performances and site-specific improvisations. The research and editing process for this film began one year ago, and has ultimately helped to manifest a product that is nostalgic, unique and takes the viewer on a journey through urban scenery of Eugene, Portland, OR and Pittsburgh, PA. Most of the performers featured in this film are University of Oregon Dance students or Alumni. This film has earned remarks for being so original, and exhibiting a very well developed abstract of Classical Jazz Movement. The music, imagery and overall aesthetic of the film suggests close attention to a time in early twentieth century industrial America, and reflects one artist’s interpretation of a form perhaps now lost, but not forgotten.

The Body Talks

Presenter: Alyssa Puleo

Co-Presenter: Stephanie Ennes, Eleanor Christenson, Ferena Kagata

Mentors: Walter Kennedy and Brad Garner, Dance Department

Creative Work Presentation: C10 (EMU Ballroom Main Stage)

Major: Dance

In my experience as a dance major at the University of Oregon, I have noticed that dancers are completely integrated from daily dance classes, and have a wide range of movement vocabulary to support their audible statements in a conversation. A dancer’s body recognizes the feelings behind the statements being made, and adds to their point of view, by visually displaying their emotional reaction to the moment. I believe dance could be considered its own expressive language, because every formal language has a defined and limited vocabulary, but personal movement expressions do not. I hosted an improvisational dance therapy session over the span of two days. My dancers, Eleanor Christenson, Stephanie Ennes, and Ferena Kagata, were asked to remember a time and feeling in their life that they did not know how to directly put into words. The movement was rich and lived, with a lot of happenstance parallels between all three dancers. Their feedback was most interesting. They felt relieved after the process had come to a conclusion, almost as if they had released the emotional response out of their expression system, but didn’t have to use a codified language. I was thrilled with this, because I believe those who are terrified of talking to people about their anxiety or depression, can engage in an activity like this, and perhaps gain some comfort and relief from the pressure to keep it bottled up. Often times, people allow this to happen because they don’t feel comfortable allowing their bodies to live loose. Children are animated beyond belief in their movement, because it is socially acceptable to be expressive as a child. The older people become, the more rigid they are in their ability to express themselves through movement. I understand also that everyone is different, and not everyone expresses feelings through body animation. My goal in this study was to host a safe space for these people to observe new ways of moving by tapping into a different sensations and intentions to dance. In diving into the experience, they received feedback from their body about areas of tension and held traumatic experiences. Memories were revisited after years of neglect, and a cognitive shift occurred after the emotions were released from the subjects’ bodies. We created choreographed two group phrases but will be improvising in two other sections to save the sense of wonder and surprise that comes with tuning in to the human body.