ABSTRACT This thesis examines Urban Bush Women's contemporary dance work, HairStories, through the lens of three musical impulses as explained by ethnomusicologist Craig Werner: blues, jazz, and gospel. Werner developed this musical framework to analyze black music from the 1950's to the present to provide additional insight into America's struggle to be a democracy. Interestingly, Werner's theory can be applied to the movement and message of Urban Bush Women's HairStories to understand the piece's embodied method of grappling with the burden of America's racial history. Through the driving thematic concept of hair, choreographer Jawole Zollar and her company take the viewer on a journey that addresses black women and community. This journey intersperses personal history, notable hair figures, and creative representations of hair rituals to educate multicultural audiences, validate multiple voices, and reveal the necessity of community in challenging racist and sexist social injustice. Demonstrated through often humorous and sometimes tragic childhood stories of getting hair done, the blues impulse offers a cathartic release that allows overwhelming experiences to be bearable. The jazz impulse is evidenced through a Dr. Professor character, who questions assumptions of race and gender in language and movement. Jazz also encourages the constant process of redefinition - to self, to community, and to the past. The final impulse, gospel, suggests that redemption, transcendence, and freedom are found communally. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2011. / March 30, 2011. / African-American, Dance, Hair, Women / Includes bibliographical references. / Tricia Young, Professor Directing Thesis; Sally Sommer, University Representative; Jennifer Atkins, Committee Member; Lynda Davis, Committee Member.

During the Progressive Era (1890-1920) instructors taught gymnastic and dance practices in American settlement houses. Developed by white, educated middle-class women, settlement houses offered these classes to reflect the 'progressive ethos,' which hinged on the idea of individual responsibility for the greater good of society. Dance offered a method of molding and regulating the immigrant body into good, progressive Americans. This examination focuses on four primary practices ' physical culture/gymnastic body-strengthening exercises, ballroom dance, folk dance, and theatrical dance ' in three settlement houses: Hull-House (Chicago, founded 1889), Greenwich House (New York, 1902), and Northwestern University Settlement (Chicago, 1891). The overlapping chronology of both the houses and the dance forms show the flexibility of the organization of the settlement house and the amorphous nature of the value system advocated by Progressive reformers. Settlement workers built ideal tenement houses throughout the United States, which provided ample space, ventilation, light and cleanliness, in an attempt to counter the negative effects of rapid modernization and industrialization at the turn of the twentieth century. They replicated these ideals in the dance presented there. The resulting practices at settlement houses embodied middle-class ideals of morality, refinement, respectability and appropriateness. Investigation of the sources, however, reveals that despite their good intentions, the settlement workers' Americanization of movement subverted the spirit of immigrant cultures. The role of settlement houses has not been analyzed in terms of what they declared as legitimate movement in establishing proper 'Americanization.' This study will therefore look more closely at and compare the inclusion of dance from the founding of the three settlement houses and trace their re-visions. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2009. / April 24, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. / Sally R. Sommer, Professor Directing Thesis; Tricia Young, Committee Member; Patricia Phillips, Committee Member; Jennifer Atkins, Committee Member.

abstract: Impermanence is constant within the world humans live in; the physical environment is ever-changing, parallel with human evolution. Although the moment of a human lifespan is fleeting in comparison to their surrounding landscapes, the evidence of movement that lapses through time and space in relation to body and place reveals a hidden dance that soars across the history of humankind. This document explores the relationship between moving bodies and various environments, specifically how an individual’s perception of place influences the way people dance. Given the author’s background as a choreographer, performer, and filmmaker, the goal and method of this document is to understand the author’s and his ensemble of dancers’ perceived senses within a given geographic environment and to merge personal dialect in an artistic product. Ultimately, what was found was translating into an evening-length, movement-centered presentation. The author's curiosity with foreign landscapes and his exploratory spirit are the driving forces for this project. Before arriving at the thesis topic, the author knew that environmental exploration and dance would be at the forefront of the research. Similar to a museum exhibition context, this document yearns for variety, and studies the environments through an event that encapsulates it all. This document explores the author’s multiple artistic interests in photography, film, and live performance, all of which were presented in a single event. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2020

abstract: Like many other Southeast Asian American (“SEAA”) families who fled from war and genocide around the 1970s and through the 1990s, my family avoided discussing their trauma or addressing any resulting mental health issues. As I came to internalize patterns that stemmed from my parents’ untreated wounds, without any way of ever truly understanding those wounds, I inevitably developed symptoms of my own trauma, including depression and anxiety. Although the topic of intergenerational trauma (“IGT”) has been discussed in a growing body of research within the specific context of Asian American families that have resettled in western countries, the focus has been on the trauma itself: its development and manifestations in the first (parent) generation and its transmission and impact on the second (offspring) generation. Little has been researched or written about healing and recovery from IGT on an individual level. Due to this gap in the literature, and my background as a dancer and artist, I turned to autoethnography and arts-based research methods to explore pathways to understanding and healing from family trauma. Using a combination of movement-based inquiry and narrative inquiry, I examined both of the following questions: (1) What can performed autoethnography that draws on narrative research as well as inquiry led by movement improvisation and choreographic processes, produce in terms of deeper knowledge about one’s traumas and about new ways of expressing oneself or being in the world? (2) How can such a movement- and somatic-centered autoethnographic research methodology also serve as a recovery modality? Although my family strongly believed the arts, and dance in particular, to serve no purpose other than to get in the way of job security and financial stability, the following research contains implications regarding whether and how families similar to mine could benefit from these practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2020

New Orleans, Louisiana is home to many secret Mardi Gras organizations, known as krewes, which represent both elite and working-class members of society. Acting on behalf of working-class African Americans, a group known as the Mardi Gras Indians parade through the streets of predominately black neighborhoods on Mardi Gras day. As they march, Indian men craft a performance culture that exhibits dances, costumes, and music unlike any other Carnival organization. Black Indian men use their parades to cultivate a self-defined identity, avouch agency, and enact communal bonds within a city that remains largely divided by social class. This is their story. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2011. / March 29, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references. / Tricia Young, Professor Directing Thesis; Sally Sommer, Committee Member; Douglass Corbin, Committee Member; Jennifer Atkins, Committee Member.

Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) takes its place in the history of exhibition ballroom dancing through the avenue of reality television and competition. Relying on the nostalgic appeal of the American Dream, glamour and romance, DWTS creates a self-sustaining mode of competition that invites celebrity spectacle and voyeurism yet retains an elitist edge of socio-economic hierarchy. In its liberal usage and interpretation of utopist Americana imagery DWTS rarely strays from a traditional heterosexual display of romance and eroticism which confines and exploits the dancers' gender and sexuality. The sensationalism of reality television and dancing bodies combine for a dramatic season of entertainment that comments on social issues of maneuvering sexuality, individual transformation and escapism. DWTS and its dancing stars constantly seek balance between the self-promotion of celebrities and the exploitation of their intimate experience to combine the suspense of competition with the thrill of personal redemption. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2010. / April 23, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references. / Sally R. Sommer, Professor Directing Thesis; Jennifer Atkins, Committee Member; Gerri Houlihan, Committee Member; Rick McCullough, Committee Member.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Nearly nine years later, the city still fights to recover. Within this landscape, mustachioed men wearing sweat bands, red satin jackets, blue coach shorts, and gold tennis shoes have emerged. These are the 610 Stompers, a group of everyday men with self-proclaimed "extraordinary moves" who have used dance, humor, and their local pop culture celebrity status to continually forge, embody, preserve, and serve the community of post-Katrina New Orleans in a way unparalleled by other organizations. The 610 Stompers are a dance group on one hand, but a representation of the New Orleans citizenry on the other. They emerged in the euphoria of the New Orleans Saints' first trip to the Superbowl, quickly being adopted as the city's favorite dance group. Since then, they have appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, danced at local sporting and charity events, and served as poster boys for local safety campaigns and public service announcements. Additionally, they now host two annual charity events. Dance is at the forefront of their existence, including high-energy booty-shaking, the Running Man, "riding the horse," displays of machismo, and high-fives all around. Their use of popular, nostalgic, uninhibited moves makes dance not only accessible to the community, but a chance to find collective joy and the opportunity to play. The 610 Stompers are a unique symbol of a post-Katrina New Orleans culture that values the past, takes pride in the city, and lives in the moment. The Stompers' story is one of simple beginnings and unexpected stardom. Through the 610 Stompers, New Orleanians are able to unite over a common cause, see that even underdogs can become extraordinary, preserve local traditions, help others in need, and experience unabashed happiness through dance. Through dance, the Stompers preserve the traditions of the city's past, embrace the present, and strive for a better future in post-Katrina New Orleans. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2014. / April 4, 2014. / 610 Stompers, Community, Dance, Marching Groups, Mardi Gras, New Orleans / Includes bibliographical references. / Jennifer Atkins, Professor Directing Thesis; Tricia Young, Committee Member; Ilana Goldman, Committee Member.

In dance histories the Texas Tommy is a noted but contentious member of the family of 1910s Rag dances. Its disputed geographical origins and the dance's questionable relationship to the Apache have resulted in inadequate information and in mythologizing about the Texas Tommy, a significant predecessor to the larger genre of Swing dances. This thesis attempts to map the Texas Tommy's history, chronologically and geographically, while examining the disputes about the dance's origins, then comparing the similarities and differences between the Texas Tommy and the Apache. The Texas Tommy was one of the first Rag dances to emerge in mainstream America. The dance first appeared in the slums of the port of San Francisco, known as the Barbary Coast, where sailors, prostitutes, and much of the city's black population congregated in the unruly dance halls. Stage actors and actresses often took new material from Pacific Street, the center of the Barbary Coast, and used the dances, including the Texas Tommy, in their theatrical shows. Some of these performers eventually took the dance east to New York City's stages and dance floors, where it immediately became popular with mainstream society. The Texas Tommy possessed appealing, eccentric characteristics for the city dwellers. It represented the naughty, seditious, but alluring Barbary Coast in San Francisco, as well as the dangerous wild west. The Texas Tommy became prevalent on the dance floor and grew to be the dance most closely associated with the new Ragtime music. In New York's social scene, the dance's wild, fast, and vigorous movement was particularly seductive to the younger crowd, who ultimately adopted it as a code of rebellion. Having found a national audience, the Texas Tommy left a legacy that ultimately helped initiate and influence the swing dances that followed. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Dance in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2006. / March 31, 2006. / Texas Tommy, Lindy Hop, Swing, Dance / Includes bibliographical references. / Tricia Young, Professor Directing Thesis; Sally Sommer, Committee Member; John Perpener, Committee Member.

Were Vernon and Irene Castle drawing upon African American music and dance to advance their personal ambitions? Yes. Was the transmission of cultural elements between black and white society as simple as commodification and appropriation? No. The Castles' work with James Reese Europe and the musicians in his Society Orchestra was extremely liberal for the times, complicating any attempt to simplify their efforts to popularize black music and dance forms. The first part of this paper lays out the racial conflicts that were everywhere in the Progressive Era. A simple biographical sketch of the affairs of the Castles and Europe follows. An examination of the physical elements of Ragtime dancing, detailing the elements that concerned the moralists of the time, and the efforts the Castles took to remove the blackness from movement is found in the third section. Finally, the implications of the Castles work is considered, looking at the context of the philosophies of racial uplift dominant at the time, and the Castles and Europe are found to be migratory agents of cultural transmission, collaborating to achieve personal ends while at the same time advocating positive racial relations. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2005. / March 31, 2005. / James Reese Europe, Irene Castle, Vernon Castle, Progressive Era, Race Relations, Social Dance, Ragtime Dance, Jim Europe / Includes bibliographical references. / John O. Perpener III, Professor Directing Thesis; Tricia Young, Committee Member; Sally Sommer, Committee Member.

This thesis compares the works of Alwin Nikolais from the decade of the 1960s with those of artists working in both the modern and postmodern dance idioms. In the study, the category of modern dance is represented by the choreographic works of Martha Graham and José Limón, while postmodern dance is epitomized by the work of the artists of Judson Dance Theater. By the 1960s Nikolais was an established member of the dance world, but was not seen as a part of the mainstream because of his innovative use of lighting design, slide projections, musical accompaniment, costume design, and props. Because of his heavy reliance on these elements, Nikolais cannot be categorized with the newer postmodern generation who were rebelling against the ideals of their predecessors. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Dance in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2008. / March 24, 2008. / Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Martha Graham, José Limón, Judson Dance Theater, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Abstract Dance, Postmodern Dance, Modern Dance, 1960s / Includes bibliographical references. / John Perpener, Professor Directing Thesis; Sally Sommer, Committee Member; Tricia Young, Committee Member.