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Dance performances, interviews, and other programming in video or audio; digitized still images and documents pertaining to dance and dance history. Some items are restricted to use on-site at the New York Public Library., The Jerome Robbins Dance Division Audio and Moving Image Archive at the New York Public Library offers "a virtual space for dance enthusiasts and researchers alike to browse, search, compare, and comment on dance videos and images." In fact, without even clicking a link readers may view a recorded dance performance on the site's homepage. Moving through the site, there are a couple of easy ways to get to more collection materials. A band of thumbnail images promotes recently digitized items, however, many of these can only be viewed onsite at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Good thing, then, for those unfamiliar with the collection, that it is also possible to conduct a search that excludes all items that can only be viewed onsite. This retrieves a list of close to 800 videos that can be viewed remotely.

This paper argues that dance devising shares a value system with that of the digital age, justifying the use of a virtual choreographic site to facilitate geographically distributed collaborations. The presence of technology in our social lives, working environments, and creative practices is steadily increasing. Before we passively let technology digitize and make virtual the choreographic process, or before we expedite this seemingly inevitable trajectory, we need to know what the consequences and opportunities might be. Through use of a controlled empirical investigation, this study analyzed the process experience, composition, and post-performance audience response between in-person and remote choreographic collaborations. While the data ultimately presented several implications of choreographing remotely, a digitally-mediated process required the dancers and choreographers to deeply question their dance-making and performance assumptions, a fundamental value of devising practices. As a pedagogical tool, supplementary rehearsal component, or method of facilitating geographically distributed collaborations, digitally-mediated dance devising has a promising future.

This essay aims to illuminate and champion concert dance through an investigation into a sliver of American postmodern dance, which I term post-Judson dance, in an attempt to better understand, define, and assert dance in academe, art, and culture. This thesis examines the use and benefits of collaboration in today's dance devising processes and the influences that constructed collaboration as a choreographic working method. Through historical, theoretical, contemporary, and practice-based evidence, this essay argues that through choreographer and performer participation, leading to the transformation of content, style, structure, and discovery, choreographers harvest an expansive collection of information that they use to make the most fully explored, articulate, and compelling creative work. Ultimately, I argue that today's choreographers are curators.

This research examines a slice of American contemporary dance artists and their audiences. American postmodern choreographers such as David Dorfman, Heidi Henderson, Sara Hook, and Paul Matteson use what I am calling the aesthetic of failure as a method to punctuate their work, momentarily blur clarity, steer the viewer's gaze, make space for live choice making, and in some cases draw laughter. Almost any emotion can be associated with failure: anger, grief, hilarity, absurdity, etc. The underpinning of failure in live performance is the medium of the craft, human bodies. Consider the phrase "humanly possible:" jump as high as humanly possible, run as fast as humanly possible, or step as far as humanly possible. All of these phrases assume there is a line between possible and impossible, and, therefore, a line between success and failure. If a dancer jumps as high as he can, what he cannot do is what he failed to do. Failure in all instances defines limits and defines what is possible, not unlike gravity. Failure in dance has many faces, most of which portray either legible awkwardness or bare the realities of physical impossibility.

Tumelty describes her childhood as well as her mother and grandmother's encouragement and support of her blooming interest in dance. After graduating from high school in 1955, Tumelty attended Texas Tech University and was subsequently encouraged by Dr. Gene Hemmle to attempt a career in dance in New York City. With her first husband, Tumelty set off for New York, found work in theaters and eventually took classes at the Hanya Holmes Dance Studio. Though Tumelty and her husband returned to Lubbock a few years later and she settled into teaching elementary school children, her passion for dance did not dwindle. Meeting Erick Hawkins, Tumelty found herself immediately "spellbound" and despite living in Lubbock, returned to New York during the summers and eventually joined his dance company. Throughout her career in dance, Tumelty made her living teaching her craft noting that she was "the only person who would take care of [her]," and eventually took a position teaching at Hunter College in New York, where whe remained until 1992. After marrying her second husband, who happened to be her former student, the couple moved back to Tumelty's hometown of El Paso, choosing a relaxed lifestyle.

After researching the effects that Eastern philosophies and art forms have had on Western choreography, I noticed that those who implement the Eastern concepts of unity of body and mind produce dances which are more than phrases of movements strung together every eight counts. As a dancer, I have a tendency to view many dances in terms of pointed feet, straight legs, and cohesiveness of ensemble work, as opposed to seeing the actual choreography. However, when watching video tapes of some "new wave" choreography by various artists interested in East Asia, I saw the dances as whole entities. I was keen on the flow of the movement, the use of space and time, and the general feeling and tone of the piece. I decided that this would be a major focus of mine--to create an aura of ease, lightness, and effortlessness within my piece. I realized that effortlessness is impossible to contrive, thus the movements would have to be conducive to breath support and natural pacing.

The poster shows a soldier dancing with his wife. There is a suit of armor behind them.

Sheer white cotton dress has a very high waist, short puffed sleeves, and a wide, square neckline. The back of the skirt is gathered at the waist. Floral embroidery is at the neckline, bottom hem, and in a diagonal line across the front of the dress.