| Description |
What does it mean to dance ecologically? The Mists and The King Stag were two works presented in vastly different settings, the first as part of an outdoor family event, the other at a modern dance thesis concert on the proscenium. Both of these works featured a herd of stag-human dancers led by the character of the King Stag. Though presented in vastly different venues, The Mists and The King Stag started from the same basic question; how do I intersect environmental justice with dance making? This question transformed through my process to become; what does it mean to dance ecologically? To answer these questions I weave between my histories, focus groups with performers, readings of The Mists and The King Stag, and the theories of queer ecology and trans-corporeality. Ultimately, I propose that dancing ecologically is not a dance about an environmental idea of Nature, but rather a dance that dismantles Natural tropes, opening up an epistemological space for environmental justice concerns to emerge. Weaving my histories, theoretical perspectives, focus groups with performers, and readings of The Mists and The King Stag, this thesis conceives of and questions the possibilities of dancing ecologically. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that dancing ecologically means recognizing the ways in which nature is dancing all the time, in the performance and on the page. |
