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
Steadfast is an expression of dance as an emotional and spiritual experience, as well as an exploration of the deep connections that may be fostered through the art form of dance. My personal experience, which will function as inspiration for this choreographic piece and performance, has led me to see dance as a means to connect with God when used as worship and a way to connect with other people and form meaningful relationships. Through the production and execution of this performing art, I hope to explore and experience these aspects of dance as well as my own personal journey. I learned a vast measure about myself in my four years of college that led to the development of who I am today. This composition is meant to mirror some of the emotions that I experienced in my time of growth; however, I don’t want my piece to try to tell a story or follow a sequence of events. Instead, I hope this dance provides the audience with more of a deep, emotional, and spiritual dive into the places that my heart and soul went during this time-period. Steadfast means so much to me, and as the culminating artistic presentation in my college career, I want to use my growth as an artist and individual to display an array of emotions to the audience. The dance is a cry for help and surrender, but it also expresses the feelings of joy, love, and hope that one might feel when they make it through a valley and find themselves standing on a mountaintop. This ensuing written work is a narrative of the choreographic process and explanation of the inspiration behind the production of my thesis, Steadfast.
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
McKenzie, Lily, "STEADFAST: CONNECTIONS FOSTERED THROUGH DANCE" (2022). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 664. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/664
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.