Year of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MFA: Dance

Directing Professor

Jeffery Bullock

Abstract

Language is how we communicate, but language does not always show up in the literal sense of spoken words. This thesis examines how the human body archives experiences to fuel the voice, enabling it to show up and fulfill a purpose and passion that life has led to. In this thesis, the book of Esther is used as an example of how one can draw on the roots of their past and the challenges of life to discover and understand the source of their inner voice and how to utilize it effectively. This research highlights many artists who lean into the idea of speaking through embodying their voice through various media, informed by their own life experiences. This idea is deeply influenced by William Blake’s theme of the human experience impacting and shaping life, as seen in his books of poetry, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. In this thesis, Ferdinand de Saussure’s Linguistic Theory is expanded beyond linguistics and is utilized as a lens to look at multiple forms of communication, whether embodied or expressed with or without words. While taking an approach to highlight this understanding, this work also considers how the author came to find and understand her own voice through embodiment.

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Performance Access Statement

If you wish to see the creative piece or performance that accompanied this thesis, please complete the Request Form, and you should receive a response from the Dance Department within two weeks.

Included in

Dance Commons

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