From limitation to innovation: Reimagining and rethinking academic dance

Paul Collins; Heather Trommer-Beardslee

doi:10.1386/scene_00066_1

ISSN: 2044-3714
E-ISSN: 2044-3722

From limitation to innovation: Reimagining and rethinking academic dance
Authors: Paul Collins¹ and Heather Trommer-Beardslee¹
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations

¹ ISNI: 0000000121134110 Central Michigan University
Source: Scene, Volume 12, Issue 1-2, Dec 2024, p. 97 - 107
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/scene_00066_1
Language: English
- Published online: 23 Jan 2025

Abstract

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, while many professional production organizations were forced to temporarily, or in some cases permanently, close, most academic institutions in higher education remained open in varying modalities in order to continue providing educational opportunities for their students. The following article details the process by which theatre and dance faculty members at Central Michigan University experimented with layering video and choreographic technologies that not only provided meaningful learning experiences for their students during a global pandemic but also, in turn, altered their production practices and inspired creative projects to be continued after the removal of COVID-19-related restrictions.

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00066_1

2025-01-23

2026-02-07

Full text loading...

References

Araoz, Elena (2021a), ‘Innovations in socially distant performance’, ISDP, https://www.sociallydistantperformance.com/. Accessed 10 December 2022.
Araoz, Elena (2021b), ‘Puppeteering liveness: Reimagining theatre for a virtual space’, Theatre Topics, 31:2, pp. 169–77.
[Google Scholar]
Carriage, Leigh and Wren, Toby (2021), ‘Jazz social: Jazz performance during COVID’, Perfect Beat, 21:2, pp. 159–64.
[Google Scholar]
Central Michigan University (2020), ‘2020 Student Choreography Showcase’, YouTube, December, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk8KUZdouPY. Accessed 12 December 2022.
McPhee, Ryan (2020), ‘As COVID-19 precautions continue, Boston – area theatres join others in shutting down’, Playbill, 24 March, https://playbill.com/article/as-covid-19-precautions-continue-boston-area-theatres-join-others-in-shutting-down. Accessed 26 November 2022.
[Google Scholar]
Rosenberg, Douglas (2012), Screendance: Inscribing the Ephemeral Image, New York: Oxford University Press.
[Google Scholar]
Smith, Simeon (2022), ‘The COVID carnival: Coping and recovering from the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic’, International Journal of Community Music, 15:2, pp. 231–44.
[Google Scholar]
Weber, Rebecca (2021), ‘Social (distance) dancing during COVID with Project Trans(m)it’, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 12:2, pp. 296–304.
[Google Scholar]

/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00066_1

From limitation to innovation: Reimagining and rethinking academic dance

Scene 12, 97 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/scene_00066_1

/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00066_1

Data & Media loading...

Article Type: Article

Keyword(s): COVID-19; dance; lighting design; production; screendance; university

From limitation to innovation: Reimagining and rethinking academic dance

Abstract

Most Read This Month

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

Alarming the heart: Costume as performative body-object-event

Costuming as subculture: The multiple bodies of cosplay

Embodied interactions: Towards an exploration of the expressive and narrative potential of performance costume through wearable technologies

Choreography and sounding wearables

Critical costume

Sharing ‘untamed ideas’: Process-based costume design in Finnish contemporary dance through the work of Marja Uusitalo

Arts-driven sustainability and sustainably driven arts

Motion capture and performance

‘You cannot be serious!’: McEnroe’s Ghost causes a scene at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum

Ecoscenography in action: Bridging stage design with Nature connection to shape sustainable communities and well-being