Latin Sol Festival: Preserving History and Enhancing Diversity within the Latin Dance Community in Arizona

Description
The Latin Sol Festival stands as a vibrant celebration of culture, music, and dance, uniting communities and fostering connections in a dynamic showcase of Latin heritage. Held annually, this festival embodies the spirit of cultural preservation and community engagement. As…

The Latin Sol Festival stands as a vibrant celebration of culture, music, and dance, uniting communities and fostering connections in a dynamic showcase of Latin heritage. Held annually, this festival embodies the spirit of cultural preservation and community engagement. As the festival continues to grow and evolve, it remains committed to its original mission. The aim of this creative project was to maximize efficiency, effectiveness, diversity, document its historical impact, increase Sunday participation and set a new standard for future years. These were accomplished by a diverse set of tools including marketing, rebranding, delegation, design and collaborations with local businesses.
Date Created
2024-05
Agent

Solar Flare Dancesport Challenge (Innovating Upon the Ballroom Dance Competition Format to Optimize Competitive and Cooperative Elements)

Description
Ballroom dancing, similar to many other forms of dance, art, and expression, has a nature built upon desire to better oneself, to express oneself, and to relate to the audience. While this sits at the core of the artform, there…

Ballroom dancing, similar to many other forms of dance, art, and expression, has a nature built upon desire to better oneself, to express oneself, and to relate to the audience. While this sits at the core of the artform, there is another element integral to it: competition. Ballroom competitions contribute significantly to the culture of ballroom dancing itself, often conflicting with or undermining its cooperative elements. The question, thus remains, of what the optimal ballroom competition looks like in order to promote the community aspects without compromising the importance of competition to the dancers. This thesis seeks to identify and execute this optimization, culminating in a ballroom competition and a guide detailing every aspect of the competition that was designed to accomplish this goal.
Date Created
2024-05
Agent

Solar Flare Dancesport Challenge (Innovating Upon the Ballroom Dance Competition Format to Optimize Competitive and Cooperative Elements)

Description
Ballroom dancing, similar to many other forms of dance, art, and expression, has a nature built upon desire to better oneself, to express oneself, and to relate to the audience. While this sits at the core of the artform, there…

Ballroom dancing, similar to many other forms of dance, art, and expression, has a nature built upon desire to better oneself, to express oneself, and to relate to the audience. While this sits at the core of the artform, there is another element integral to it: competition. Ballroom competitions contribute significantly to the culture of ballroom dancing itself, often conflicting with or undermining its cooperative elements. The question, thus remains, of what the optimal ballroom competition looks like in order to promote the community aspects without compromising the importance of competition to the dancers. This thesis seeks to identify and execute this optimization, culminating in a ballroom competition and a guide detailing every aspect of the competition that was designed to accomplish this goal.
Date Created
2024-05
Agent

My Body Speaks: Investigating Movement Strategies for Pain

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Description
This thesis is an exploration into somatic movement methods to help ease chronic pain. The study follows my personal experience as a researcher and a dancer with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions. I carry forward a body-centered autoethnographic frame,…

This thesis is an exploration into somatic movement methods to help ease chronic pain. The study follows my personal experience as a researcher and a dancer with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions. I carry forward a body-centered autoethnographic frame, as the prevailing ethos of this work revolves around considering bodily experience as an authority in personal well-being. My research follows the spirit of the Intuitive Inquiry research methodology developed by Dr. Rosemarie Anderson and evolved as I progressed through my own research and organizing processes. This thesis document is organized according to eight physical cycles of intuitive inquiry that emerged from my movement and research processes. The cycles address my conditions of chronic pain and disability, my history with dance competition in the United States, my experience with conceptualizations of the body, and the successes I experience with somatic practices, particularly Tensegrity as it applies to the body. My intuitive physical cycles conclude with a proposal for methods of movement and inner-body communication that promote ease in the body and sustainable movement.
Date Created
2023
Agent

The Influence of Partnership Dance for Adult Romantic Couples on Intimacy, Trust, and Attachment Style

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Description

Romantic relationship research has focused on various characteristics of individual and partner dynamics including intimacy and trust which are important aspects of relationship success. High levels of intimacy in relationships is associated with commitment, passion, psychosocial identity, and lower self-consciousness.…

Romantic relationship research has focused on various characteristics of individual and partner dynamics including intimacy and trust which are important aspects of relationship success. High levels of intimacy in relationships is associated with commitment, passion, psychosocial identity, and lower self-consciousness. Similarly, trust involves the perception of stability and consistency in partner behavior that is in accordance with one’s best interests. Another aspect of romantic relationships that has been heavily researched is attachment style which has been shown to strongly influence how partners behave in relationships. Couples that face relationship challenges have been found to benefit from dance and movement therapy. Current research does not investigate the interactions of all of these facets of relationships and how they might be improved. Therefore, the present study strives to explore how established research on trust, intimacy, and attachment style can be used to improve relationships in the context of dance and movement. The experimental group consisted of 7 couples who participated in partnership dance lessons over the course of one month. The control group consisted of 9 couples who did not participate in the classes. We predicted that partnership dance classes would increase intimacy and trust in couples. We also investigated how attachment style might be implicated in this change. Results show a significant increase in intimacy for participants in the experimental group who participated in partnership dance classes. There was no significant increase in trust. While some participants did change attachment style throughout the study, the majority of participants retained their attachment style from the beginning of the study. Future research should focus on what types of dance are most beneficial for romantic couples, coding participant emotions during the dance class, and how the approach to teaching impacts participants’ experience.

Date Created
2021-12
Agent

The Influence of Partnership Dance for Adult Romantic Couples on Intimacy, Trust, and Attachment Style

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Description

Romantic relationship research has focused on various characteristics of individual and partner dynamics including intimacy and trust which are important aspects of relationship success. High levels of intimacy in relationships is associated with commitment, passion, psychosocial identity, and lower self-consciousness.…

Romantic relationship research has focused on various characteristics of individual and partner dynamics including intimacy and trust which are important aspects of relationship success. High levels of intimacy in relationships is associated with commitment, passion, psychosocial identity, and lower self-consciousness. Similarly, trust involves the perception of stability and consistency in partner behavior that is in accordance with one’s best interests. Another aspect of romantic relationships that has been heavily researched is attachment style which has been shown to strongly influence how partners behave in relationships. Couples that face relationship challenges have been found to benefit from dance and movement therapy. Current research does not investigate the interactions of all of these facets of relationships and how they might be improved. Therefore, the present study strives to explore how established research on trust, intimacy, and attachment style can be used to improve relationships in the context of dance and movement. The experimental group consisted of 7 couples who participated in partnership dance lessons over the course of one month. The control group consisted of 9 couples who did not participate in the classes. We predicted that partnership dance classes would increase intimacy and trust in couples. We also investigated how attachment style might be implicated in this change. Results show a significant increase in intimacy for participants in the experimental group who participated in partnership dance classes. There was no significant increase in trust. While some participants did change attachment style throughout the study, the majority of participants retained their attachment style from the beginning of the study. Future research should focus on what types of dance are most beneficial for romantic couples, coding participant emotions during the dance class, and how the approach to teaching impacts participants’ experience.

Date Created
2021-12
Agent
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