| Description |
In this thesis, I explore how dance performance can be a catalyst for healing trauma. Throughout my own research on performance, it has been my experience that the act of being witnessed itself triggers a healing response. The intimacy of performance, where I channel my emotional intelligence through the body, can allow for space to clear the past of any "unfinished business." This is a witnessed evocation, and with it comes a softening of the heart and the possibility for transformation - a potential for both individual and communal expansion. The experience of moving with and through my emotions has influenced not only my own performative presence, but it also influences the ways in which I engage with collaborators in my choreography. In my thesis piece, "This is your Paradise," a trio performed at the Ladies' Literary Club in Salt Lake City on November, 2014; overwhelming experiences (both in movement and emotional climate) were negotiated by each of the three performers. The piece created a safe space for the performers and audience to experience heightened states of emotion, transitioning between the metaphoric states of Earth, Sun and Stars. These three shifts in existence relate to human conditions of struggle and resistance (Earth), hope and reverence (Sun), and lastly the infinity of possibility (Stars). I conclude by relating my creative process to the healing process itself - where together sensorial awareness and desire act to repair life's wounds. |
