Masters Theses

Date of Award

3-1985

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major Professor

Gene McCutcen

Committee Members

Ken Jacobs, Richard Croskey, Cathy Fox

Abstract

Improvisation can be a valuable experience and a useful tool for the dancer. This ability to create spontaneously can also serve as a choreographic device and as an artistic form on its own merit. The purpose of this thesis was to explain the role of improvisational methods in the various phases of the dance-making process. The study first discusses the works of five contemporary choreographers who have used extemporaneous formats in creating and performing dances. The author then explains the process whereby improvisation was employed in the construction of an original dance, titled All Things Unconsidered.

The choreographer directed a group of seven dancers from the University of Tennessee's New Repertory Dance Company in extemporaneous problems and exercises designed to build particular skills and a strong foundation in improvisation. The choreographer then gleaned specific movements and ideas from the dancers' improvisations, several which had been videotaped during one of the rehersals. From these movements and ideas she developed units of material which were worked out in cooperation with the dancers to establish the content of the dance. Two units required the dancers to improvise within a given structure during each performance.

The culmination of this choreographic thesis was the public presentation of All Things Unconsidered at the Clarence Brown Theatre on March 10, 11, and 12, 1983 and at the Tennessee Theatre on May 7, 1983.

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