M.F.A. - Dance
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Item SURYA (THE SUN): THE SOURCE OF LIGHT(2024) Bhagawatula, Kavya; Kao, Pei-Ling; DanceItem HELP! I'm Being Censored(2024) Morales, Amber Antoniette; Miller, Kara Jhalak; DanceItem ʻŌHIʻA LEHUA(2022) Chung, Holly M.; Miller, Kara L.; DanceItem The Bee, Skout(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Fennelly, Matthew; Kao, Pei-Ling; DanceLittle Mantis is getting ready for bed and asks Grand Mantis to tell her a bedtime story. Grand Mantis tells Little Mantis about the brave little bee named Skout who saved Little Mantis’ parents from the prison web. The hive of bees of Rainbow Colony, located by Rainbow Falls on the Big Island of Hawai’i, wants to honor their Queen by presenting her with a lei of her favorite flowers before Swarming Day. The Queen is getting weaker so time is of the essence. Life for the bees amidst the insects of the rainforest and the creatures of the sea is full of surprises as the characters learn about friendship, family, and survival. Skout, the most favored bee in the hive, is determined to finish the lei for Queen Leilani. She ventures out of the hive to the other side of Rainbow Falls to find a plumeria flower but is blown way off course by a gust of wind. Skout singes her wing after falling too close to the lava. Maui senses Skout is in distress and suggests that she seek help from Lono, the turtle by Big Rock. Skout takes Maui’s advice, but while waiting for the turtle to return with the flower, Skout is caught by Keawe, the spider. Keawe’s assistant, the mosquito, brings Skout back to the prison web. However, Skout’s broken wing allows her to wiggle her way free. Then Skout frees all the other insects who were held captive, including Mama Mantis and Papa Mantis who are then able to finish their date and conceive Little Mantis, the character to whom this frame tale is being told. With the help of Maui conveniently transforming into a bird, Skout and the other insects are able to fly back to the hive just in time for the guava jam to celebrate and honor Queen Leilani’s transcendence across the rainbow bridge. The future queen then emerges from the larvae laid by Queen Leilani and battles the other princesses to their end until she crowns herself the victorious Queen Bee of Rainbow Colony.Item The Simple Things(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Carrio Mendez, Jean Carlo; Kao, Pei-Ling; DanceThe work The Simple Things is a self-reflective exploration and research on how men are viewed in society, especially men who are in the LGBTQ+ community and with its allies. The creation of this dance will center on the struggles that identifying males go through in their lives, as well as the femininity and the masculinity in men.Item Paradox(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Cota, Alaina Jane; Fisher, Elizabeth; Bhatawadekar, Sai; DanceParadox is a 15 minute contemporary dance choreographic live performance that explores mutually opposed and inconsistent forces that are logically unacceptable and self-contradictory. Paradox featured seven dancers, designed lighting, specially edited pre-recorded music, one soloist and one demi-soloist. Paradox is the exploration of how the inside of the brain functions while suffering from bipolar disorder type 2. Six dancers move and function as the inside of the brain, signifying the neurons, synapses, as well as electrical and chemical signals under invasion of bipolar disorder type 2. One dancer represents the person with this dysfunctional brain and one dancer signifies the entity of bipolar disorder type 2. From the start to finish of Paradox, the viewers witness an interpretation of one manic depressive episode. The choreography was presented as part of the Merge dance concert on April 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th 2023, at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre, at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.Item 135 Flights of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Morrow, Hannah; Kao, Pei-Ling; DanceTaking mathematical formulas used during NASA's space shuttle program, 10 out of the 135 missions were translated into choreography. Also by utilizing projections and blacklight, the visual beauty of outer space was captured.Item Kupala Night(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Zablocki, Allan; Schiffner, Amy L.; DanceThis paper illustrates and documents the process of creating, choreographing, producing, and performing Kupala Night, a dance theatre production that was performed March 8th and 9th, 2023. Kupala Night, with the use of eleven dancers, explores Ukrainian traditions during the summer Solstice festival of Ivana Kupala Night and asks the question of what would people do to change their fate? This thesis performance was in partial completion for the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.Item Can’t Take My Feel Good(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Gendron, Cherie Danielle; Bhatawadekar, Sai; DanceMFA in Dance Thesis choreography Can’t Take My Feel Good is part of a larger project rooted in community-building and joy-making. This thesis dance was made into a dance film and performed live at a street dance jam titled “Fresh Kicks” held at Aloha Dance Sport in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Producing “Fresh Kicks” was the culmination of nine months of practice as research. The research encompasses the generating of joy, pleasure, and resistance through participation in the street dance community on Oʻahu and within the physical movement and social aspects of Hip Hop and House dance. As street dance jams already employ joy-making strategies and forms of resistance, producing a jam at which the thesis choreography would be performed ultimately contributed to a larger community effort. Although the original thesis proposal offers a choreographic approach with sections that represent the concepts of resistance, pleasure, and joy, the final thesis choreography operationalizes them more complexly. The five sections of the dance, Systems, Dreaming, Feelin It Out, Find That Thing, and Found Us are centered on what is generated by the dancing in itself: the physical action and social interaction. Rather than representing resistance, the dancing in Systems and Dreaming actively resists through freestyle and intentional observation. The movement in Feelin It Out is generated through the seeking of pleasure. Find That Thing solidifies the collective on the foundation of the resistance built and pleasure felt. The freestyle and social dancing in Found Us actualize their joy-making potential. While the dance film is a documentation of this process, the performance of Can’t Take My Feel Good in conjunction with “Fresh Kicks” realized the exponential potential of the process.Item Wallpaper Resistance(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Guajardo, Carla Nicole; Perillo, Jeffery L.; DanceThis paper illustrates and documents the creative process of planning, choreographing, performing, and producing Wallpaper Resistance, a dance choreography performance featured in an MFA dance thesis concert on March 26th and 27th, 2022 titled “Co-Motion- Show Green.” Wallpaper Resistance explores elements of sexuality and feminism in dance performance through choreographic gesture, contemporary and jazz dance technique, and set design. The piece features seven dancers and was presented as a choreographic thesis in partial completion for the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance Performance and Choreography at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.