You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

Bodily knowledge in dance transferred to the creation of sculpture

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2014
Summary:
The main focus of this dissertation is a discussion of how an artist uses her dance bodily knowledge to develop in a static art form a more bodily sense of movement. For this purpose this dissertation examines four clay sculptures by contemporary artist Mary Frank. The analysis suggests that the uncharacteristic sense of movement displayed in these works derives from her experiential knowledge of dance. This sense of movement is achieved through the considered assemblage and inextricable relationship between Frank’s dance bodily knowledge (body knowledge a dancer acquires through years of dance practice) and the manipulation of clay, the plastic medium she uses to create these forms. The study reveals that Frank’s ceramic assemblages of organic shapes resembling a figure could be related to somatic awareness of arms, legs, torso, hips, and head that dancers experience while dancing. Similarly, the fluid quality of her ceramic assemblages and their seamless coexistence with the environment can be correlated to the proprioceptic sensibilities (the reception of stimuli produced within the organism by movement or tension) that a dancer’s body senses as it navigates through the air and across the ground managing the pull of gravity. These findings are developed through a discussion of the philosophic theories on bodily knowledge (knowing in and through the body) by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michael Polanyi, Edward Casey, Pierre Bourdieu, and Richard Shusterman, as well as the philosophic theories on dance bodily knowledge (my own term) developed by Barbara Mettler, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, and Jaana Parviainen. In addition, Mary’s sculptures are compared to traditionally built sculptures to illustrate the bodily sensory quality of the sense of movement of her structures. Although the scope of this study is limited to the application of dance bodily knowledge onto sculpture, perceived through the clay sculptures of Mary Frank, this research adds to the debate on the interrelationships between dance education and the arts, the body and institutions of learning, and the body and society. It suggests that dance practice and introspection of one’s body movement affects how one perceives the world around us and therefore how one reacts and expresses oneself on to the world.
Title: Bodily knowledge in dance transferred to the creation of sculpture.
213 views
91 downloads
Name(s): Feliciano, Nazare, author
McConnell, Brian E., Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of Visual Arts and Art History
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2014
Date Issued: 2014
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 159 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The main focus of this dissertation is a discussion of how an artist uses her dance bodily knowledge to develop in a static art form a more bodily sense of movement. For this purpose this dissertation examines four clay sculptures by contemporary artist Mary Frank. The analysis suggests that the uncharacteristic sense of movement displayed in these works derives from her experiential knowledge of dance. This sense of movement is achieved through the considered assemblage and inextricable relationship between Frank’s dance bodily knowledge (body knowledge a dancer acquires through years of dance practice) and the manipulation of clay, the plastic medium she uses to create these forms. The study reveals that Frank’s ceramic assemblages of organic shapes resembling a figure could be related to somatic awareness of arms, legs, torso, hips, and head that dancers experience while dancing. Similarly, the fluid quality of her ceramic assemblages and their seamless coexistence with the environment can be correlated to the proprioceptic sensibilities (the reception of stimuli produced within the organism by movement or tension) that a dancer’s body senses as it navigates through the air and across the ground managing the pull of gravity. These findings are developed through a discussion of the philosophic theories on bodily knowledge (knowing in and through the body) by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michael Polanyi, Edward Casey, Pierre Bourdieu, and Richard Shusterman, as well as the philosophic theories on dance bodily knowledge (my own term) developed by Barbara Mettler, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, and Jaana Parviainen. In addition, Mary’s sculptures are compared to traditionally built sculptures to illustrate the bodily sensory quality of the sense of movement of her structures. Although the scope of this study is limited to the application of dance bodily knowledge onto sculpture, perceived through the clay sculptures of Mary Frank, this research adds to the debate on the interrelationships between dance education and the arts, the body and institutions of learning, and the body and society. It suggests that dance practice and introspection of one’s body movement affects how one perceives the world around us and therefore how one reacts and expresses oneself on to the world.
Identifier: FA00004106 (IID)
Degree granted: Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Subject(s): Aesthetics -- Psychological aspects
Dance -- Philosophy
Human body (Philosophy)
Phenomenology
Sculpture -- Philosophy
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Sublocation: Digital Library
Links: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004106
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004106
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.