RESEARCH

As an artist, my work and growth are focused on developing into a performer and examining that role within dance preservation and reconstruction. Throughout last year and into this year, I have had the pleasure to work with Professor Williams during the reconstruction of Anna Sokolow’s Rooms and Martha Graham’s Steps in the Street. These experiences have sparked a new fascination of mine: the staging and reconstruction process of historical dance works using Labanotation score. My research goal is to determine and administer a process of dance reconstruction that values the authenticity of choreography and furthers performance artistry. I am interested in reconstructing and preserving a historical work, like Sokolow’s Rooms, to deeply analyze the work and examine how the process can aid the development of performance skills. Research in this area has potential to expand dance archives around the world in more comprehensive ways than ever before. My intended research process focuses on and strengthens the development of artistic intelligence, performance skills, and dance technique, and will also contribute to the development of dance conservation, in undergraduate dance departments, dance archives, and beyond.

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Reconstructing historical dance plays a crucial role in preserving and remembering the notorious works that have impacted people worldwide. Art’s influence on culture and society is everlasting, so it is pertinent that historical works are not only preserved but revisited to continue the legacy of the artist and to consider the context of the work in a new time. One of the earliest Western forms of dance documentation is Labanotation, a dance notation system that utilizes symbols to represent movement. Since its creation in the 1920s, Labanotation has served as a tool for sharing and replicating dance, which has become very useful for restaging choreography from the past. Although, in a technology-dependent time, dance notation is rarely used for dance documentation today. Despite the convenience and simplicity of video documentation, film can lack specific choreographic details and context that dance notation carefully depicts. Dance notation functions as a primary source to the original choreography and the choreographer’s artistic content. While dance notation cannot stand alone as the sole resource in restaging a dance, Labanotation remains significant in the process of dance reconstruction. My artist and research goal is to explore the process of dance reconstruction and pertinent role of dance notation. Through embodied research, analysis, and performance, I will examine how dance notation and additional resources supports the recreation of a dance outside of its time.

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As dance continues to evolve and take different forms, it is important to remember its origins in history. The Labanotated score of a dance work serves as a primary source that directly connects the reader to the choreographer and can bridge the gap between decades of time. The detailed symbols and annotations of a notated score hold information about the artist’s original choreography and artistic intent that cannot be accessed in other forms of dance archives, like film. However, when a Labanotated score is coupled with additional resources, such as video, film, photographic images, live in-person or Zoom coaching, etc., the researcher is able to bring to life multiple stories and narratives about the dance. My goal will be to achieve this viewpoint. Utilizing this comprehensive framework, I will create a version and embodiment of the choreography that is relevant to today and to the original choreographical and artistic intent. Since I will stage the dance work from score, the product will include artistic details and purpose that were drawn from that primary source.  In terms of dance preservation, a performance and filming of the historical dance work will contribute to archives within the Ohio State University DNB Collection in Special Collections and beyond. As technology continues to progress, it is imperative that the dance reconstruction methodologies of the past are united with those of the present. A performance derived from notation analysis creates a product that upholds the integrity of the original choreography that, when filmed and archived digitally, will expand the documents necessary to preserve the work for years to come.

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