Before Talkies : The Voice of Gesture

Relative to comedy, gesture engenders a universal language by which audiences experience multiple facets of humor. Holding fast to the desire to share joy and lightness through dance, creating original work of a humorous nature, be it whimsical, farcical, clown like, or tongue-in-cheek, is at the core of my current artistic enterprise- setting my work apart from many of the mainstream dances being made today. I have investigated thoroughly the connections between gesture and humor: i.e., What is it about everyday movements that make us laugh? What are the standards we use to gauge the effectiveness of comedic movement? When do we “cross the line” from funny to grotesque to contemptible? Throughout my MFA studies at Montclair State University, my previous expertise in dance theatre has become further informed and influenced by these investigations into humor. I am committed to continued creative development within the dance theatre genre, specifically the expressive nature of the form and its indelible link to the relationship between movement and meaning. These are the informing principals of my research. In my original silent film, Before Talkies, it is the communicative power of gesture that gives a voice to our heroine Lillian, her sidekick Jingles, the unlucky-in-love Oliver, and the no-name villain. In crafting four distinctive styles and impetuses for movement, I have a made a unique physical portrait for each of the archetypal individuals

Re-envisioning Sections of Anything Goes to Address Gender Identity

Societal norms regarding gender identification are shifting from traditional binary designations to a broader array of these. Musical dance theatre is among the many artistic forms demonstrating the change. This paper will demonstrate that the shift has early roots and a strong presence in dance over the decades since the turn of the century with the true change being the increasing acceptance of society at large. It will also document how the growing acceptance has affected musical theatre production themes/re-creations, performer skill/style, choreography, and dance educators’ teaching challenges and opportunities. Finally, it will address how the latter group must adapt standard approaches to dance education and instruction to meet the inclusive-minded student generation of today and likely tomorrow

The Mobile Body: Examining Perception through Choreography, Dance, and Performance

This study investigates the phenomenon of perception in choreography, dance, and performance focusing on the ambiguous position held by the performing body as both an aesthetic object and perceiving subject. Using the Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty as a theoretical framework, critical choreographic analyses of Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet, Lucinda Childs’ Museum Piece, and William Forsythe’s choreographic installation Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time demonstrate the body’s dual existence as both physical object and container of subjective self, while revealing the body’s role in shaping conscious experience. Practice-as-research in the form of choreography and performance, conducted by the author to contextualize the lived experience of understanding oneself as both an object within the world and a subjective internal self, has led to more specific explorations into perception, especially regarding the dynamics of the dancer-audience relationship during performance. The notion of mobile spectatorship is examined as a possible alternative to traditional proscenium seating models

Virtual Touch: Embodied Experiences of (dis)Embodied Intimacy in Mediatized Performance

In this dissertation, I explore a phenomenon I call virtual touch, in which embodied sensations of touch are felt through non-tactile senses. In the digital age, online interactivity has expanded the ways in which individuals experience connection, intimacy, and touch. Digital media, which have traditionally been thought of as disembodied, nevertheless have the ability to elicit intense feelings of touch. Through analysis of digital and virtual installation art, I examine the ways that non-tactile touch remains rooted in the embodied experience. The works I include in this study create a feeling of virtual touch through a co-functioning of the senses, and through what Brian Massumi terms “the superiority of the analog,” in which all experience is inherently rooted in the body. Grounded in Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the embodied subject, I focus on three broad categories of installation art, each of which creates an affective response of virtual touch through senses of sight and proprioception: telematic performance using video-conferencing technology, digitally reactive animations, and immersive sculptures of light designed to decenter the perceptual and visual senses. Along with works by artists Paul Sermon, Adrien M & Claire B, teamLab, and James Turrell, I include analyses of two research performances I created, Being Present (2016) and (dis)embodied in space (2019), both of which entangled live and mediatized bodies through telematic video technology. Each of the artworks that I include place an emphasis on the embodied experience, engaging bodies in interactions of virtual touch with other bodies, with digitally reactive artworks, and with light and space. Throughout this dissertation, I argue for a rethinking of concepts of touch, intimacy, and connection in the digital age

Paradoxes of interactivity: perspectives for media theory, human-computer interaction, and artistic investigations

Current findings from anthropology, genetics, prehistory, cognitive and neuroscience indicate that human nature is grounded in a co-evolution of tool use, symbolic communication, social interaction and cultural transmission. Digital information technology has recently entered as a new tool in this co-evolution, and will probably have the strongest impact on shaping the human mind in the near future. A common effort from the humanities, the sciences, art and technology is necessary to understand this ongoing co- evolutionary process. Interactivity is a key for understanding the new relationships formed by humans with social robots as well as interactive environments and wearables underlying this process. Of special importance for understanding interactivity are human-computer and human-robot interaction, as well as media theory and New Media Art. "Paradoxes of Interactivity" brings together reflections on "interactivity" from different theoretical perspectives, the interplay of science and art, and recent technological developments for artistic applications, especially in the realm of sound

Paradoxes of Interactivity

Current findings from anthropology, genetics, prehistory, cognitive and neuroscience indicate that human nature is grounded in a co-evolution of tool use, symbolic communication, social interaction and cultural transmission. Digital information technology has recently entered as a new tool in this co-evolution, and will probably have the strongest impact on shaping the human mind in the near future. A common effort from the humanities, the sciences, art and technology is necessary to understand this ongoing co- evolutionary process. Interactivity is a key for understanding the new relationships formed by humans with social robots as well as interactive environments and wearables underlying this process. Of special importance for understanding interactivity are human-computer and human-robot interaction, as well as media theory and New Media Art. »Paradoxes of Interactivity« brings together reflections on »interactivity« from different theoretical perspectives, the interplay of science and art, and recent technological developments for artistic applications, especially in the realm of sound