The vast majority of theses in this collection are open access and freely available. There are a small number of theses that have access restricted to the WWU campus. For off-campus access to a thesis labeled "Campus Only Access," please log in here with your WWU universal ID, or talk to your librarian about requesting the restricted thesis through interlibrary loan.

Date of Award

Fall 2023

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Anthropology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Fisher, Josh

Second Advisor

Young, Kathleen Z.

Third Advisor

Kuntz, Pam

Abstract

This ethnographic study of a dance collective in Bellingham, Washington, took place between December 2022 and March 2023. Methods included participant observation, interviews, and analysis. I interviewed dancers about their personal dance histories, their participation in the collective, and their reflections on the ways dancing and the collective shapes their lives. Interviewees reflected on the individual embodied experience associated with movement and dance, a collection of bodies dancing together, becoming the dance, something more than the individual self, a collective. The theoretical frameworks guiding this research are intersectional feminism and phenomenological. In data analysis, common themes of personal practice, wellbeing, community, and dancing with the senses are explored.

Type

Text

Keywords

Identity, Community, Wellbeing, Embodiment, Dance, Contemporary Dance

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1415206639

Subject – LCSH

Dance; Identity (Psychology); Communities; Well-being; Ethnology

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Download

Included in

Anthropology Commons

Share

COinS