The body expresses: a study on the relationship between motion and emotion

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Title The body expresses: a study on the relationship between motion and emotion
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Fine Arts
Department Modern Dance
Author Zhang, Huiwang
Date 2019
Description This thesis unfolds in a chronological order, in which I share the creative journey of how I grew as an artist. I end my thesis with a firm statement about what I believe and do not believe, and why I create what I create. I am still in the process of learning. The three themes which structure my investigation are: (1) how my early experiences influence me today; (2) the ebb and flow of my creative process; and (3) an exposition of my choreographer heart's manifesto. It is common in a research thesis to first outline theoretical concerns and then illustrate them with concrete examples. Here I try a different approach. I first begin by establishing a personal and social context for my research. In the following chapters, I analyze my artistic development during the time I worked as a performer and dancer at the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater, and the Beijing Paper Tiger Studio. And finally, in the third part I discuss the creative research during my three years of study at the University of Utah. In particular, I examine my creations, Red and The Thread of Ariadne, to address my research question which is motivated by the first two sections: How can I present people physically, expressionistically and gesturally in order to unearth the unique expressivity of every lived individual? It is empirical. I am not interested in adopting a theoretical paradigm and imposing it upon my creative research in dance and theater. It is my belief that dance, this body-based art form, inherently contains everything. I only need to draw the thesis out from within.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Fine Arts
Language eng
Rights Management (c) Huiwang Zhang
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
ARK ark:/87278/s6b4nkdq
Setname ir_etd
ID 1716704
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6b4nkdq
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