Honors Program
Fine and Performing Arts Honors
Date of Award
5-2022
Thesis Professor(s)
Cara Harker
Thesis Professor Department
Theatre and Dance
Thesis Reader(s)
Dr. Scott Contreras-Koterbay
Abstract
Reflections is a dance I choreographed and performed on February 25, 2022 in studio 205 Campus Center Building at East Tennessee State University. The dance explores the relationship between a dancer’s mind and body and uses mirrors and repetition to express the dancers’ perception of their flaws and insecurities. The following thesis, Reflections: Battling Body Image as a Dancer, analyzes the artistic elements of the choreographic process, my experiences as a dance student at ETSU from 2018-2022, as well as my training in my youth. My research for this thesis involves exploring the history and craft of choreography including the fundamentals of Laban Movement Analysis. In addition, my research includes a survey concerning body dysmorphia in dancers. In theory and practice, I accepted the challenge of stepping outside my comfort zone to create an emotional and physical dance composition that serves to demonstrate a dancer fighting a battle with body image.
Publisher
East Tennessee State University
Document Type
Honors Thesis - Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Shaffer, Erika, "Reflections: Battling Body Image as a Dancer" (2022). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 660. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/660
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
Dance Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons