This research examines dancers with dance-related injuries due to hypermobility and hyperextension. Initial research has been conducted through interviews and a survey. The author interviewed students and dance instructors who have personal experience or are familiar with hypermobility and hyperextended joints. The author then conducted a survey on the topic titled, “Hypermobility in Dancers” which was distributed to the University of Washington Dance Program faculty and students (18 or older), as well as the dance community in Seattle. The final step of this initial research will consist of a movement laboratory, whereby the author will ask dancers to perform a series of set movements in order to analyze how dancers problem solve differently depending on the presence or absence of hypermobility/hyperextension. The results of this research aims to show that dancers with this structural phenomenon are more prone to specific types of injuries than dancers without.

I have observed that a significant portion of dancers who study ballet or modern dance have minimal partnering experience, and the resources that connect the concepts of contact improvisation, social partner dance, ballet, and modern dance for students are limited. With this realization, I decided to further research in the field of dance partnering pedagogy and ask what could tie these techniques together. This research took place during the fall 2015 through spring of 2016 school year. For my methodologies, I led and documented bi-weekly sessions at the UW dance studios, reviewed related literature, conducted interviews with dance professionals, and met regularly with my mentor. For the studio sessions, I prepared movement exercises and guided participants with prompts that focused on the cultivation of trust, the body’s capacity to listen, and the development of physical skills necessary to be a versatile dance partner. Throughout this research, the theme of physical dialogue came up repeatedly. From my findings, I have come to conclude that above all else, the capacity to listen and to enter a physical dialogue is essential when dancing with a partner. This oral presentation will also include movement demonstration articulating my findings.

My research investigated how the art form of dance functions as a language, and evaluated its ability to communicate. I examined how both the individual and collective embodied experiences of dance were used to create what dance linguist Henrietta Bannerman describes as “abstract messaging”, which relies on deeper contextual and conversational relationships between the dancers and the audience, in order to communicate successfully. The implications of my study may suggest that dance is a successful tool in communicating across difference. Given our current political climate and time of social difference, communication is vital in promoting social change. The arts in general are often rooted in activism and many major dance forms were created in response to oppression. Along with comparing various theories regarding performativity, affect and kinesiology and interviewing choreographers, I organized a performance-based study. Groups of dancers were asked to create a piece of choreography that was inspired by a specific word that related to a theme of difference. Then I received responses from audience members, both dancers and non-dancers, regarding their perceptions of the content performed in order to evaluate the dancers’ ability to communicate. I then interviewed the dancers to see how their embodiment of a concept changed or deepened their understanding of it. I hypothesized that dancers would gain a deeper understanding of the concepts they worked with, and that communication would appear more successful to other dancers.