2022 Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Dance programs across the United States offer an array of dance genres as part of their curriculum. It is common knowledge that Ballet, a highly codified European system of movement and dance, is a genre that is presented to the dance community as a foundation for dance training. Many programs require Ballet because it supposedly assists a dancer's success in the development of other dance techniques and, therefore, is at the forefront of dance curriculums. As a result, the Ballet technique and aesthetics have influenced the course of Jazz dance's natural development, straying it from the elements that could very well further train a dancer towards versatility: juxtaposition, improvisation, ephebism, embrace the conflict, aesthetic of the cool, and according to some scholars, polyrhythm and polycentrism. In a field that hires versatile dancers, I question why a genre that was born and developed in the United States is not considered a foundational technique in its own country? Through this research, I will discuss Jazz dance's history up until the 1950s, what influenced the trajectory of Jazz dance's evolution, how did its trajectory changed Jazz dance's original form and the components of an authentic Jazz aesthetic, and discuss its significance to a dancer's foundational training. As a result of my research, I would like to see dance programs consider Jazz dance as an equal in foundational training while making more authentic choices of this aesthetic.

This project investigates the integration of dance improvisation in the choreographic process. Specifically, it explores contact improvisation, improvisation to create movement material and improvisation with costume. Contact Improvisation is a partner dance form based on the physical principles of touch, weight, and momentum. This practice explores ideas such as falling, rolling, counterbalance, being lifted and lifting. Over the course of 25 hours, a six-minute duet dance was created. During the choreographic process, many methods were used to learn and incorporate improvisation skills into a dance piece. Methods such as watching archival videos on Contact Improvisation, skill development, game structures, and verbal prompts inspired movement improvisation. An additional element of improvisation with bubble wrap costumes contributed to heightened auditory and tactile senses, increasing movement possibilities. This creative process has resulted in new knowledge about the dance form of improvisation and how to integrate it into choreography. This duet will be performed publicly at the BFA dance concert in Stoner Studio Theater on April 23, 2022.