Reddening: Methodology for intensifying emotions during dancing

Abstract

My written thesis unpacks the concepts, principles, and methodologies I used in my artistic thesis …like crazy. I reflect and analyse how I worked with emotions inside of the frame of contemporary dance. My areas of interest lie in the landscape of emotional, physical, and representative bodies. One of the main questions I was dealing with is: How can I be more emotional while dancing? In the introduction of the thesis, I position myself and frame my work inside of a wider context of my geographical and language paradigm, as well as my artistic preferences. I reflect on my strategy on renewing my approaches in dance making, which was the base for my artistic and written thesis. In the second chapter I connect my dance making to interdisciplinarity and intertextuality as my relation towards text, dance, and writing. I contemplate on the nature and the form of the text. In the third chapter, “You are terrific and I can’t stop loving you” I describe my field of interest and my main questions. The third chapter outlines the working process inside of a …like crazy performance and unpacks challenges and solutions in a collaborative way of working with Sonja Karoliina Aaltonen and Jacqueline Aylward. The following three chapters are part of a triptych: “Construct”, “Reddening”, and “Gentle Drama”, which represent the most important part of the written thesis. In the chapter “Construct” I write about costume as a performative tool and my view of the concept of an extended body. “Reddening” represents a playful chapter about how words and colours correlate as textual and nontextual material. In the chapter “Gentle drama”, I write about emotions, perceptions, and methods for enhancing emotions while dancing. In chapter seven, “Questions of the Volume”, I discuss and reflect upon the concepts of the gaze, timing, and intensity. At the end, I reveal my future plans with the performance …like crazy and my solo. Ultimately, in the conclusion I discuss and answer some of my questions, as well as reflect on the whole process, concepts, and my relation towards dance practice and writing.