Thesis (MDram)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the field of choreography, there are many different emerging theories and methodologies. One such theory uses the individual and unique performers to create and generate movement vocabulary. For the student-choreographer, who is still developing their artistic voice, certain markers need to be put in place in order to evaluate a creative process. The aim of this study is to critically reflect on a particular practical process, develop a language with which to structure improvisations, create the appropriate environment in which effective exploration can take place and finally deliver criticism on the process. This research study has a strong empirical component, focusing on my personal practice as a choreographer. This study also makes use of secondary source material that discusses the choreographic process in general, and more specifically the use of improvisation in choreography, with particular reference to the he theories and definitions of Michael Klien (2007) and Lavender and Predock-Linnell (2001), as and the choreographic innovations and methods of Merce Cunningham. Finally, this study makes use of primary source material, in the form of first-hand observations and personal interviews with a modern Physical Theatre Company, PUSH Physical Theatre Company in Rochester, NY, USA. Through the combination of the theories of Michael Klien (2007) and Lavender and Predock- Linnell (2001) both a philosophical and practical methodology develops and emerges. The results will show how the choreographic environment is engaged to not only simplify and shorten the choreographic process, but also to enhance it. The intangible energetic rapport between people, space and ideas can be harnessed as part of the process of choreography. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Verskeie teorieë en metodologieë word tans binne die veld van choreografie ontwikkel. Onder andere gebruik een so ‘n teorie die individu en unieke deelnemers om beweging en bewegingsfrases te genereer. Vir die studente-choreograaf, wie tans nog in die proses is om ‘n kunstige stem te ontwikkel, is sekere merkers nodig om ‘n kreatiewe proses ten einde te evalueer. Die doel van hierdie studie is om krities oor ‘n spesifieke praktiese proses te reflekteer. Die proses behels die ontwikkeling van ‘n taal waarmee improvisasies gestruktureer kan word; om die gepaste omgewing te skep waarin effektiewe eksplorasie kan plaasvind en eindelik om kritiek oor die proses te lewer. Die navorsingstuk het ‘n sterk empiriese komponent wat meestal op ‘n persoonlike praktyk as choreograaf fokus. Hierdie studie maak van sekondêre material gebruik wat die choreografiese proses in die algemeen, en meer spesifiek, die gebruik van improvisasie in choreografie, bespreek. Daar word van die teorieë en definisies van Michael Klien (2007) en Lavender en Predock-Linnel (2001), sowel as die choreografiese inovasies en metodes van Merce Cunningham, melding gemaak. Derdens maak hierdie studie gebruik van primêre bronne in die vorm van eerste-handse observasies en persoonlike onderhoude met ‘n moderne Fisiese Teater geselskap, PUSH "Physical Theatre Company" in Rochester, New York, VSA. Deur die kombinasie van die teorieë van Klien en Predock-Linnell, word beide ‘n filosofiese en praktiese metodologie ontwikkel. Die resultate wys hoe die choreografiese omgewing aangewend word om beide die choreografiese proses te verkort en te versterk. Die verweefde energieke dinamiek tussen mense, spasie en idees kan gebruik word as deel van die proses van choreografie.

This thesis offers critical exploration of the intersection of four elements within the historical space, or field, of UK theatre dance between 2007 and 2012: disability, impairment, dance and artistry. It addresses four questions: What is disability? What is disability in relation to dance? What supports the entry of a disabled dance artist into the field of professional dance in the twenty-first century? How can we approach a critical analysis of the works they create? At the centre of the thesis are case studies of three self-described disabled dance artists, performers and choreographers: Caroline Bowditch, Marc Brew, and Claire Cunningham. The studies attend to the form and content of their creative work, the structures of the dance field in which they practice as artists, and their personal and career trajectories. The studies are both situated by and situate earlier chapters addressing constructions of disability, cultural representations of disability and the emerging field of Disability Arts. They demonstrate that disability, in dance as in other fields, concerns attitudes, arrangements and structures that disable participation. These are attitudes fed by imaginings around the ideal dancing body, and the illusion that variations in bodily form and capabilities are neither normal nor to be expected. I draw on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field to consider the interconnections between structures, external and internalised, that support or limit the disabled artist’s perception of what is possible for them within the professional dance field. Using Cameron’s affirmative model of disability, I argue that when disabled dance artists are freed to use their experiences of living in a disabling world, and to make use of the unique capabilities of their bodies as valid sources for their art, they can and do contribute to the capacity of dance as an art form to explore the full depth and range of human experience.

This thesis examines the way in which dance work produced by postcolonial dance artists is often misread and exoticised by critics, funders and audiences. Yet the works produced have a disruptive effect and are products and clear indications of the sometimes oppressive processes that create cultural representation and identities. These postcolonial dance artists also have to contend with problematic umbrella terms such as ‘Black’ and ‘South Asian’ which are not fully descriptive of their dance practice and have the effect of stereotyping the work produced. The thesis investigates the artists Mavin Khoo, Shobana Jeyasingh, Akram Khan, Bode Lawal, Robert Hylton and Phoenix Dance Company who have created works that have asserted their individual agency through the use of particular cultural dance practices and have engaged in concepts such as classicism, modernism and postmodernism in order to establish a place within the British dance canon. Choreographic work produced by artists such as Khoo and Hylton have ‘educated’ audiences about the dance traditions that have been ‘passed down’ to them, whilst artists and companies like Phoenix have worked within a primarily Western medium, yet acknowledging that their work is informed by their distinctive African, African-Caribbean and Indian identities also. Although the work produced by these artists is often viewed from a white and Eurocentric perspective and exoticised to fit with conventional notions of ‘Indianness’ and ‘Blackness’, this thesis demonstrates that through the use of methodologies from cultural theory/policy, postcolonial theory and dance studies it is possible to reveal and illuminate meanings in the choreography and performances of postcolonial artists, and open up the dialogue that their works initiate in a multicultural and globalised context.

In questioning the complexity of human identity, the multiplicity of the self is uniquely grounded within embodied experience. Unearthing edges : constructing gaps is the result of creative research centered on investigation of the following questions: What can practices of collaborative movement making bring to the process of illuminating, excavating, and perhaps reconciling these alternate versions of the self? In practices supporting the development of individual movement vocabularies and physical agency what can be learned of the complications of the self and identity? What can be revealed of self and community in collective movement practice and in sharing solo practice? How can improvisational work, practiced in the realm of rehearsal and performance, engage with these ideas? Through studio practice utilizing a range of methodologies, this project seeks to contend with ideas of the self, identity, alternate reality, spontaneity, empathy, agency, and community.

Nowadays, web services have been widely utilized on the Internet. The communication of organizations becomes much easier; thanks to the advances of computer and communication technologies and the inexpensive cost, and the integration of applications within and across business organizations is a trend. In general, there are two approaches in composing web services inside or outside an organization: orchestration and choreography. Previous work in the web service selection is usually based on orchestration model and focuses on the interest of a single party. However, in many application scenarios, business goals are achieved by pair-wise interactions among a set of WSs, and there is no single entity that is in charge of selecting web service for each task. Each web service can autonomously perform web service selection. By autonomy, we maintain that each WS is aware of only its partner web services. In such a choreographic environment, we study the kind of information that each web service should provide to its partner web services and how each web service should perform web service selection so as to maximize the chance of successfully accomplish a business goal. The proposed approach is evaluated by simulating 10,000 execution sequences of the target WS and assumed a fixed operation reliability for each delegation. The experimental results show that our proposed method is close to centralized method and better than other two selection methods, namely random and view-based-propagation-free.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1980. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 277-280).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Dance. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-109). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ71627.

Communication in all its various forms has one common goal: expressing and deciphering ideas. Education in recent years has taken a move towards more global approaches to learning/teaching. Within this context, more innovative and inclusive methods of communication need to be created. This study investigated the meaning-form connections in a modern dance experiment. Based on a poem, a dance was created and then performed for various audiences. Responses were recorded through survey and focus group interviews; and analyzed based on grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1998; Charmaz, 2006). GT analysis coupled with hermeneutic constructivism offered an instructive and inclusive means of looking at the data. The results of the analysis along with inductive reasoning led to the result of six categories through which modern dance produces meaning and audiences decipher meaning from modern dance: Conflict Resolution, Personal Experience/Trait, Linguistic Structures, Abstract Concepts, Compatibility, and Technical Ability. The last stage of the study looked at a constructivist communication model “ecology of meanings model”, utilized its basic concept to build a communication for modern dance, and configured the newly found categories within it. My aim in this thesis project is to shed light on the manner in which a non-verbal means of communication, namely dance, is used to convey a message. The end result is a prototype of a possible communication model for modern dance which could afford choreographers/dancers/dance educators/dance spectators the ability to understand not only what modern dance means but also how. By illuminating this process, I hope that dance and communication experts will be able to enhance their educational procedures.

No description available.