What's this blog about?

Since beginning my college career I have been interested in looking at how my two seemingly contrasting areas of study—Dance and Environmental Studies—connect with one another. Often when I tell professors and other students about my double major I get a skeptical response; something along the lines of “well that’s an interesting combination… what are you going to do with that, dance with the trees and the animals?” Well, probably not, although that is certainly not unheard of. There are many ways dance and environmental studies can be connected—both require a holistic perspective about the world and about ourselves as human beings, which in itself leads down a road of endless interconnectivity—but this semester I am specifically interested in studying how these two disciplines can be directly connected under the broad term of “environmental dance.”

I fully acknowledge that the term “environmental dance” is often stigmatized or looked down upon as being a self-indulgent, “dirty hippy” activity with very little academic value or legitimate background research. This is an unfortunate generalization as the term can refer to a huge array of contrasting projects that have little similarities with one another. I am interested in investigating and challenging different kinds of existing “environmental dance” by looking at what types of issues are these projects based around, who are creating these works, how they have performed their research, and what message they are trying to convey to their audience.

Over the next several months I will be exploring various types of dance projects that are connected to the environment in a variety of ways and I will be using this blog as a place to keep my research notes, reflections, useful links, and any other relevant information. Please feel free to comment on any of my posts, whether you agree, disagree, find yourself intrigued by a particular post, or just have any questions for me about my project. I am open to challenges and differing opinions, but please keep comments respectful.