Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'The Performing Arts (incl. Theatre and Dance)'

This thesis argues that American experimental theatre practice was one key factor in the development of an important phase in the history of the alternative theatre movement in Britain during the period 1956-1980. The data for this thesis has been collected through interviews, archival work and a review of existing literature on post-war British theatre including the alternative theatre movement. The theoretical superstructure and modes of analysis build upon key concepts and theories in the work of Elizabeth Burns (1972) and Baz Kershaw (1992, 1999). The main historical developments or phenomena referred to are the activities of the experimental theatre groups associated with Jim Haynes, Charles Marowitz, Nancy Meckler and Ed Berman, four expatriate American theatre practitioners living in Britain during the time period 1956 1980. In addition this thesis examines important American based groups, Living Theatre (1947), Open Theatre (1964), La MaMa (1960) and Bread and Puppet (1965), which performed in Britain and which made an impact during the same period. The study also examines a wide range of indigenous British groups, Pip Simmons (1968), Foco Novo (1972-1989), Joint Stock (1974- 1989), as well as institutions, RSC (1961), Royal Court (1956) and individuals such as Max Stafford-Clark, Thelma Holt, John Arden, Anne Jellicoe and the Portable playwrights (1968- 1972) which in one way or another were influenced by American exemplars. It is important to state clearly that this study does not claim that American experimental theatre and performance practices were the only influence on this important phase in the history of alternative theatre in Britain. This study simply claims that prevailing themes as well as American experimental theatre groups and performance practices had a key impact which has not been properly acknowledged or examined by scholars. Such an examination will contribute to a more comprehensive and dynamic understanding of the forces which shaped the alternative theatre movement in Britain.

This thesis examines two examples of martial dance theatre: Mika HAKA performed by Torotoro (New Zealand), and The Sound of Silence performed by Samudra (India). Both productions were created for international touring, and this thesis looks at their performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK). The companies’ choreography integrates native and foreign dance with their hereditary martial arts. These disciplines involve practitioners in displays of prowess that are also entertaining spectacles. They have an expressive dimension that makes them contiguous with dance – a potential that Torotoro and Samudra exploit. The companies address their audiences with combative and inviting movements: Torotoro juxtapose wero and haka (Māori martial rites) with breakdance; Samudra combine kaḷarippayaṭṭu (Kerala’s martial art) with bharatanāṭyam (South Indian classical dance). Their productions interweave local movement practices with performance arts in global circulation, and are often presented before predominantly white, Western audiences. What is created are performances that are generically unstable – the product of cultural interactions in which contradictory agendas converge. In its largest scope, martial dance theatre might include military parades and tattoos, ritual enactments of combat, and folk and classical dance theatre. These performances propagate images of idealised men that create statements of national and cultural identity. They, and the martial disciplines they theatricalise, are also implicated in the performative construction of gender, ethnicity and race. Torotoro and Samudra’s performances, influenced by queer and feminist agendas, offer insights into martial dance theatre’s masculinist potential, and its contribution to the intercultural negotiation of identities. Prominent European theatre practitioners have sought to employ the martial arts to develop Western performers. If these culturally specific disciplines are expressive and performative disciplines, then what are the implications and complications of this transcultural project?

Abstract Childhood development has always been a major topic when studying psychology and biology. This makes sense because the brain develops from the time a child is conceived to the time that child has reached around the age of twenty-seven. Doctors, psychologists, and sociologists look at numerous things when studying childhood development. However, how common is it for researchers to study how the fine and performing arts affect childhood development? Sociologists tend to be extremely open and mindful of all aspects of things such as culture, sexuality, religion, and even age. By taking a sociological standpoint when studying the arts and studying childhood development, society is able to make connections between the two that leads to better understanding of a child's development socially, mentally, and academically.

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RESUMO Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como foco principal o ensino de língua de sinais brasileira nos cursos de Artes Cênicas. Entretanto, como a abrangência de abordagens que o tema permite pode ser diversificada, segundo a perspectiva da pesquisa, ficou determinado um sub-tema, que direciona o trabalho para as reflexões sobre a metodologia de ensino da língua de sinais nos cursos de Licenciatura em Teatro e Dança-licenciatura da Universidade Federal de Alagoas, segundo as ementas da disciplina e as ementas dos respectivos cursos. Para alcançar o objetivo foi necessário também percorrer cronologicamente a história da educação dos surdos no mundo e no Brasil, até os dias atuais. A verificação das leis que garantem a proteção dos direitos dos cidadãos surdos foi de grande valor. Não somente para repensar estratégias que possam servir de alicerce para a prática docente com alunos de ambos os cursos, mas também para sugerir alternativas que possibilitem uma formação de qualidade dos futuros professores de Artes Cênicas, para lidar com pessoas surdas no ensino público e privado. Consequentemente, o entusiasmo que impulsionou a realização deste trabalho contribui para a fluência da criatividade nas aulas vindouras, a difusão e o encantamento pela língua de sinais brasileira: por e para os surdos.
ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses mainly on the theme of its teaching of Brazilian Sign Language courses in Performing Arts. However, as the range of approaches that allows the subject can be diverse, from the perspective of research, was given a sub-theme, which directs the work to the reflections on the methodology of teaching with sign language in the Licentiateship in Theatre and Dance, in accordance with the menus of the discipline and the menus of the respective courses. To achieve the purpose it was also necessary scrolling through chronologically the history of deaf education in the world and in Brazil, until nowadays. The examination of laws guaranteeing protection of the rights of deaf people was a great value. Not only to reconsider strategies that can be the foundation for the practice of teaching for students of both courses, but also to suggest alternatives that enable quality training for future teachers in Performing Arts, for dealing with deaf people in public and private education. Therefore, the enthusiasm that led to this work contributes to the fluency of creativity in coming classes, diffusion and by the enchantment of Brazilian Sign Language: for the deaf.

碩士
國立屏東大學
文化創意產業學系碩士班
107
The object of study is based on the Tjimur Dance Theatre in Pingtung District, which is the first Taiwanese performing group with Paiwan culture as its core. It is founded in 2006 by the author, and the main content of performance is to transform the form of Paiwan music and dance into the body language of modern dance, in order to show the local characteristics of Taiwan and the charm of contemporary body aesthetics of Taiwanese aborigines Paiwan people. This research is conducted by case study, open interview, content analysis and case study, and also combined with the balanced scorecard of modern enterprise management to analyze the internal and external basic conditions and related factors of the environment of Tjimur Dance Theatre. There are five research results below: 　　Firsty, use staged market segmentation as a strategy. Secondly, the field of learning and growth becomes the motivation for Tjimur Dance Theatre to communicate with the world and gain professional experience. Thirdly, take the tide of aboriginal culture and start the strategy of customer management in the medium term. Forthly, Professional orientation and cultural connotation are the challenges that must be overcome continuously for the existence of internal administration. And lastly, obtain the concept of recognition of the staff to join in at early stage of the establishment is better than solicit professional staff at later stage.

This practice-led MA project in performance focuses on the use of narrative elements within dance theatre. Following the work of Pina Bausch and Lloyd Newson it investigates processes for integrating narrative with the abstract properties of dance. Whilst Bausch and Newson have approached narrative from divergent perspectives, both have utilised it in ways that embrace ambiguity, encouraging interpretation but refusing definitive meaning. This project expands these perspectives to further explore this space between specificity and ambiguity. It suggests a story through movement and physicality and investigates the ability of narrative to connect directly to the emotional core of the spectator.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
表演藝術碩士學位學程
106
Over the years, the performing arts industry in Taiwan has flourished greatly. Many well-organized groups, each having its goals and directions, have been established. Performing arts is regarded as one of the important fields that drive the development of cultural and creative industry in Taiwan. Today, performing arts groups in Taiwan are gradually faced with barriers in the aspects of presentation space, organization, audience, and fund. It is thus necessary to investigate the positioning, organizational management, theatrical works, and other factors of each performing arts group and then find solutions to their future development. The results can help performing arts groups determine their development direction and develop innovative management strategies. Through an analysis of the establishment background, organizational structure, human resources management, financial management, management method, marketing, and other operational issues of performing arts groups, including “Cloud Gate Theatre”, “Taipei Folk Dance Theatre”, and the “Formosa Indigenous Dance and Song Troupe”, this study attempts to examine the current statuses of “Tjimur Dance Theatre” and provide suggestions regarding to its operational problems. In addition to a review of related literature, current statuses, and records, this study also conducts an SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Tjimur Dance Theatre, in hope of providing a different perspective of thinking and the most fitted management model to the management team of this theatre (Hsin, Mei-Chen, 2004). Conclusions and suggestions are presented at the end of this study. It is hoped that the analysis results obtained in this study can influence and benefit the management of performing arts groups.

碩士
國立政治大學
經營管理碩士學程(EMBA)
99
This thesis takes Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan as the primal case study that with document analysis, participant observation, and in-depth interview as the research methods to have better understanding of performing arts foundation when they might face in the institutionalized process. The overall objective of this study is： 1. Why, as the most prestige, renowned Performing Arts Company in Taiwan, Cloud Gate has to running with the pattern of nonprofit organization? Is it really difficult for Performing Arts Company to make profits? 2. How to assess and evaluate their working performance if Performing Arts Company is in nonprofit organization pattern? 3. While Performing Arts Company managing with the nonprofit organization mode and mind set, how to maintain their sustainability? Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan was founded in 1973 as the first professional contemporary dance company in any Chinese speaking community. Directed by internationally renowned choreographer Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate transforms ancient aesthetics into thrilling modern celebrations of motion. The 25 dancers of the company receive trainings from the West and the East, including Chi Kung, meditation, internal martial arts, modern dance, ballet, and calligraphy as well. This research mainly consults 《The Managerial Mind》 (1980) written by Jen-Fang Lee Ph.D. and also thesis〈Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow〉 (1998) which was issued in 《Harvard Business Review》 written by Professor Larry E. Greiner. Evolve into Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, researcher define its history from creative stage, transition stage, growth stage to mature period organization phase taken place among the four processes. Without any similar comparison, Cloud Gate might be stands as a unique operational case; however, I hoped through the special operation analysis, It will sum up the general mode of contemporary dance company towards nonprofit foundation, which will benefit others for its practice managerial experience.

Necessary Incursions explores the practice of dancing and the agency of the dancer in a choreographic elaboration of the unstable body. It seeks to contextualize, integrate and expand on three related arenas (technique, practice and theatrical presentation) and to throw light on the conditions that have led to the demise of choreographic practices in western concert dance during the past thirty years. As a theoretical enquiry articulated from the position of ‘an expert practitioner’ (Melrose 2005), Necessary Incursions will include reflections on my own artistic work written as a series of polemical texts. These texts seek to problematise domains of modern and postmodern dance practice through the re-contextualisation and analysis of personal narratives. Necessary Incursions will be realised in two parts: dance for the time being, which comprises a theatrical rendition to be presented in Dance Massive (March 2013) and Southern Exposure, which will consist of polemical texts that help situate the work and which have formed an integral part of the methodology. Southern Exposure will also articulate the underlying premises of the ongoing performance work dance for the time being and offer a number of contextual elaborations.

This dissertation examines experimental dance in New York City in the 1990s. Earlier periods of American concert dance have received significant scholarly attention to the historical, political, and aesthetic aspects of dance practice. Moreover, certain periods of modern dance — especially the 1930s and the 1960s — have been analyzed as moments of significant change, and the artists that emerged from the Judson Dance Theater in particular have held a significant place in the theorizing and historicizing of dance in the United States. However, experimental dance practices of the early 21st century demonstrate dramatically different aesthetics, approaches, and circumstances of production than those of earlier periods, including their Judson forebears. This project argues for understanding the 1990s as a period of significant change for dance, one with continuing resonance for the decades that follow.This project uses the term "downtown dance" to situate experimental dance in New York City as a community of practitioners, rather than as a particular set of aesthetic or artistic practices. Each of the four chapters focuses on an aspect in this period that would define how dance looked, how dancers practiced, and what shaped the artistic values and priorities of this community. The first chapter presents a history of the dance-service organization Movement Research. Tracing the history of the organization from its founding in 1978 through the establishment of its most influential programs in the 1990s — including the Movement Research Performance Journal and the performance series Movement Research at the Judson Church — the chapter locates Movement Research as a central entity in building the community and shaping theaesthetics of downtown dance. The second chapter examines the effects of the AIDS crisis on dance in the 1990s. As AIDS entered its second decade, it collided with and magnified downtown dance's complex relationship with emotion. This chapter draws on scholarship of AIDS' relationship to visual art, theater, and activism, as well as close readings of several works — by artists including Donna Uchizono, Neil Greenberg, John Jasperse, RoseAnne Spradlin, Jennifer Monson, and DD Dorvillier — most not generally understood as "AIDS dances," to argue that AIDS' impact generated a fundamental shift in the role of emotion in downtown dance. The third chapter examines how shifts in arts funding in the 1990s connected to a major restructuring in production models for dance. This chapter connects the history of the modern dance company with both aesthetic and economic developments over the course of the 20th century, arguing that the company should be understood as a combined economic-aesthetic system. Furthermore, the chapter demonstrates the new model for dance production that began to take hold in the 1990s in the wake of widespread funding and economic shifts: the project model. Teasing out the complex web of funding for dance, this chapter makes extensive use of dance periodicals; several funding trend analyses from organizations including Dance/USA, National Endowment for the Arts, Dance/NYC, and private corporate and foundation reports; and the archives of the presenting institution Danspace Project. The final chapter looks at how the shifts in economic models for dance discussed in the previous chapter connected to changes in training and bodily technique of dancers and performers. Specifically investigating the history of "release technique," this chapter examines how attitudes toward technique and training in downtown dance in the 1990s shifted the connection between movement practices and creative output, reconceiving the role of the dancer in the dancer-choreographer relationship.

This research aims to explore the performative potential of the Sinhalese Kōlam tradition beyond its ‘fixed’ repertoire, to have contemporary relevance in the present socio-political context. In recognising the ideologies of preservation that define the current Kōlam practice as traditional knowledge, which manifests in its rarity on the one hand, and its common usages in the urban economic context on the other, this exploration attempts to contextualise the performance genre from a different point of entry. The perception that Kōlam is a comprehensive performance system, informed by the ontological and epistemological sensibilities of the performance maker, that in turn manifest in its aesthetic and narrative expression, is the key driver behind the research. This premodern practice, characterised by its parallel evolution to the changing social and political framework, is performed today as a ‘fixed’ repertoire with its fundamental purpose defined as preservation. Today, the presence of Kōlam in Sri Lanka is three-fold: that is, the traditional practice that continues along its ancestral ownership to traditional knowledge; the generic cultural ownership manifested in the work of scholars, theatre practitioners, the performing arts pedagogy and the presence of Kōlam in cultural commodification. However, there remains a gap in the interpretation of Kōlam as a ‘living’ evolving performance practice striving to be relevant in the contemporary socio-political and economic context. This research looks for ways of addressing this gap and is presented in the form of dramatic text and performance titled My Sweet Rotten Heritance, and an exegetical component. The creative element comprises 60% of the thesis and the exegesis, 40%. As a way of critically evaluating the ethical responsibilities and limitations of exploring a traditional performance system, the researcher positions her performance in a para-traditional premise, both facilitating and problematising the performance process.

Margaret Cameron’s artistic practice performs as philosophy—an investigation that seeks insight through the body’s visceral capacities to perceive and to transform experience into material realities, which then become the substance of art. In order that this research project may take a congruent (or kind of equivalent) form to its proposition, this journey through Cameron’s practice is also a dramaturgical mapping. The research begins with an introduction that provides autobiographical context, proceeding to an exposition of methodology. This is followed by an excavation of an exegetical voice from personal, cultural and philosophical contexts, and arrives at a viva voce that is the performance score for a work of theatre called Opera for a small mammal. Set in the context of contemporary performance and a working life, the research traverses Cameron’s solo artistic practice from 1989 to 2012. A methodology for the overall thesis is demonstrated and enacted through strategies that serve as tools to delay closure and generate possibilities. This methodology includes the consideration of consciousness as performance. Linguistic practices are used to engage language as a perceptual instrument to hold open paradox, endure ambiguity and leverage new relationships between things. The thesis is constructed as a composition of carefully held parts, and parts of parts, that perform many perspectives of the subject in a discursive play between works. Engaging with perceptual practices and provocations from artists, theorists, philosophers, critics and colleagues, the reader is invited to participate with the artist in the perceptual encounters that conceive each work. These include the transformation of one’s self and the thinking, feeling and kinaesthetic events of live performance on a stage. This stage is underscored as a perceptual space that is active—a practising proposition that works in the body of the artist, the audience and the larger corpus of cultural reception. Perceiving many perspectives in space, poising relationships on an axis of form and content, the artist works through a synergy of modes of knowing, such as thinking, intuition, memory and feeling. These are underpinned by the proposition that art is a verb. Art invites us to audience, and it does so through unique and reciprocal acts of participation rather than spectatorship.