Conversations : an honors thesis (HON[RS] 499)

A full-scale dance concert including lighting design, costume design and construction, sound editing, and of course, my original choreography comprised the concert Conversations. Along with the creative side also came the research into my family history. Even though they didn't know it, family and friends were somewhat under the microscope at family gatherings as I was trying to engage them in discussions about their history, from my grandmother's childhood and my father's career. The purpose of this thesis presentation was to delve into my own family history as well as examine family structures in general. I used the topics that were discussed and the general feelings I got from these conversations and took them and used them as inspiration for the choreography and themes in my dances. I hoped to show how valuable and precious our time with our family is in addition to celebrating my family and all that I have learned being a part of it. The following five dances were chosen because of their ability to cover general topics as well as ones specific to my family. I wanted the presentation to still be something that the whole community could enjoy and identify with. Time was also a factor. I created as many complete works as I could in a year's time and the following is what came from that time.