Category: Graduate Student Project

While the first professional dance company featuring disabled dancers was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, since then the United Kingdom has far surpassed the United States in the field of dance and disability. While there is a large research push in the US for representation of dancers with physical disability, there is an equally large gap in the training and development of these dancers. Research shows that one of the largest barriers for disabled dancers is training opportunities. Also lacking are opportunities for the training of dancers with intellectual and cognitive disability. In England, regular dance classes for dancers with and without disabilities (mixed abilities) abound.

I traveled to England and Scotland and connect with some of these organizations. I interviewed students, teachers, and directors, and observe and take class. I observed and participated from the standpoint of a scholar who considers education, community engagement, and choreography as part of the fabric of disability and dance. I asked what these companies are doing and what we can do better at home to expand the field. I sought opportunities for collaboration, whether that be teaching, assisting, or otherwise engaging with these organizations.

I focused on education and the training of dancers with disabilities. I looked particularly at youth education though I will also engage in and with adult classes. (Many dancers with disabilities, for a number of reasons, find dance later in life.) While I attended a range of classes, I specifically aimed to engage with companies and organizations training and presenting dancers with intellectual disability since this is the largest gap I have found in my research.

In London, weekly youth and adult classes are offered through Candoco Dance Company, Magpie Dance, and Amici Dance Company. In Guilford, England, Stopgap Dance Company has open classes as well as regular youth classes. In Glasgow, Scotland, Indepen-dance offers classes nearly every day of the week, including classes specifically geared for peoples with sensory processing disorders (autism). I researched how classes can be geared for peoples with specific disabilities, and how this alters the class structure and outcome. Far Flung Dance Theater in Southwest England is disability-led and offers a range of classes for peoples with disabilities. Nearby, in Cornwall, Shallal Dance Theater also has classes and performance opportunities for disabled dancers. I researched how these smaller coastal towns engage with their communities in meaningful ways.

Amici Dance Company in London and Anjali Dance Company in Oxfordshire, England both work exclusively with performers with intellectual disabilities. Both of these companies train intellectually disabled dancers for the stage. (David Leventhal, Director of Dance for Parkinson’s at the Mark Morris Dance Center, has offered to give me an introduction to Colm Gallagher, education director for Amici Dance which I utilized to make a connection.) I researched the innovative practices that these companies utilize for the onstage success of their company members.

As originally proposed, this project had three objectives. First, I sought to gain
experience adapting and delivering lessons for an interdisciplinary study abroad
program. Second, this project aimed to foster collaboration between TDPS and the
Communications department at the University of Maryland. Third, this project’s
ultimate purpose was to provide a high-quality study abroad opportunity for TDPS
students seeking to expand their skill set in real-world practical settings.

This project met all three of its objectives to varying degrees. Over the course of the three-week program, I was able to deliver eight mini-lectures (30 minutes each) on the following topics: developing a topic, identifying dramatic need, interview techniques/crafting interview questions, storytelling/archetypes and narrative, writing and delivering voice over scripts, conducting scholarly research, rhetoric/using ethos, logos, and pathos in visual storytelling, activism and advocacy in the arts. These lectures were all adapted from lectures I’ve developed over the course of my time in TDPS, particularly THET285, The Art of Communications and Presentation. In addition to these more formal lectures, I offered office hours during which I was able to provide one-on-one support to students as they developed and executed their projects.

From an administrative perspective, I also gained experience organizing and promoting a study abroad project from start to finish. On the front end, I helped Adam Nixon plan the itinerary and adapt the syllabus. I visited classrooms to promote the class, tabled at the study abroad fair, and followed up individually with interested students. During the trip, I chaperoned all of the group activities, maintained a running group chat with the students to flag any emerging issues, and kept track of attendance for activities and events. Following the trip, I helped to organize the final showing of the student films at the Global Crossroads Café in HJ Patterson.

In terms of our second objective to foster collaboration between communications and theatre departments, I think this was a very successful start. I was happy to be able to collaborate with a former alum of the TDPS PhD program and to contribute to a course that emphasized the theoretical and practical intersections between theatre, live performance, anthropology, journalism, and film. In the process, I identified a number of ways to further enhance the course’s appeal for theatre and performance students in upcoming semesters.

Finally, while only two out of the ten enrolled students in the course were from TDPS, support from the IPCCR allowed for all of the students to enjoy an enriching educational experience. This included theatre in the West End of London and trips to the British Library, Oxford University, the British Museum, the British Film Institute, Stonehenge, Hampton Court Palace, Bath, the Tate Modern, and the Globe Theatre.

Babel was a site-oriented devised performance developed by students from the University of Maryland. This piece was devised in an association with the experimental theatre company Almost Human – an international company operating between the United Kingdom and Canada. The piece was initially performed during Second Season in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library.

The tour of Babel was primarily meant to provide the participating University of Maryland students with an experience of the rigors involved in touring work internationally. Furthermore, it was also intended to expose students to educational opportunities outside of the United States, and to begin a dialogue with institutions interested in artistic international collaboration.

With this is mind, students set out for a tour across three countries in Europe. The entire journey lasted from May 22^nd to July 3^rd over a total of 9,218 miles. The destinations were Prague, Berlin, Rochester, Shrewsbury, and Barnstaple. To provide a broad experience for those involved the tour was bookended by two curated fringe festivals, while three independent venues were selected for the other locations. The project was in an association with the libraries of Universität der Kunst Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin; The University for Creative Arts, Rochester and Rochester Library; University of Chester, Shrewsbury and Shrewsbury Library; as well as Barnstaple Public Library. Cost that were covered by IPCCR included travel, accommodation, and transportation.

As a short summary; approximately 470 people viewed the work. The students were able to have direct conversations with over 20 professional working artists, along over 50 young artists in the early stages of their careers, and visit four university settings.

Our project aimed to study period garments at the Victoria and Albert Museum Clothworker’s Institute and produce diagrams based on the research. We hoped to enhance the community’s understanding of the costumes they are seeing and how clothing was produced at the time of The Triumph of Isabella. We added a leg to our trip to attend and photograph the current reenactment of the Ommegang, thus our goal expanded to become a compare and contrast exercise of both the clothing and the event itself and that represented in the paintings on display in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library Gallery. We were able to successfully assist in dressing the cast of the “Triumph of Isabella Immersive Experience” based in part by our experiences on this research project. Understanding the loose presentation of history at the reenactment empowered us to focus on creating the best spectacle possible and let go of minor period details while also maintain an understanding of period aesthetics. We also have an extensive library of photographs and detailed diagrams of the studied garments to share with our peers. Besides the intended education in studying garments that we were able to accomplish, we have learned about the communication in engaging in this type of museum or archival research and can more easily approach it in the future.