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Presentation Type

Presentation

Full Name of Faculty Mentor

Benjamin Sota, Theatre; Adam Pelty, Theatre; Eric Schultz, Music

Major

Musical Theatre

Presentation Abstract

Over the past year, in association with the Edwards Center for Inclusive Excellence, I curated a dance piece that was presented on Feb 3, 2023, titled, Unquestioned; A Half Hour Dance Concert. This piece asked the following questions: What do we believe in without question? Is that right or wrong? Inspired by the ancient works of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, and the motto "blissful ignorance" I studied ways humans willingly submit to a system of ignorance out of fear and love rather than chosen compliance. In looking at the works of female poets, I observed that the things we compliantly believe in either pertained to our patriarchal norms as a community or believing in the natural; the sun rising, the rain falling, the earth spinning around etc. This led me to the following conclusion. Herd mentality negatively affects our environment when powerful people decide what the "convenient" norms are. Similarly, minority groups (in the context of this project, women) are affected very differently by herd mentality than the majority group because it is often more convenient to push these voices aside. The narrator of the story embodies this message by using her femineity and youth to encourage and enlighten the group to view the world in different and unique ways. This project received University grant support and performers were asked to return on February 4 to present the work to the potential incoming students for the theatre department.

Start Date

12-4-2023 1:00 PM

End Date

12-4-2023 1:20 PM

Disciplines

Theatre and Performance Studies

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Apr 12th, 1:00 PM Apr 12th, 1:20 PM

Unquestioned: A half hour dance concert that explores the effects of herd mentality on minority groups and the environment

Over the past year, in association with the Edwards Center for Inclusive Excellence, I curated a dance piece that was presented on Feb 3, 2023, titled, Unquestioned; A Half Hour Dance Concert. This piece asked the following questions: What do we believe in without question? Is that right or wrong? Inspired by the ancient works of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, and the motto "blissful ignorance" I studied ways humans willingly submit to a system of ignorance out of fear and love rather than chosen compliance. In looking at the works of female poets, I observed that the things we compliantly believe in either pertained to our patriarchal norms as a community or believing in the natural; the sun rising, the rain falling, the earth spinning around etc. This led me to the following conclusion. Herd mentality negatively affects our environment when powerful people decide what the "convenient" norms are. Similarly, minority groups (in the context of this project, women) are affected very differently by herd mentality than the majority group because it is often more convenient to push these voices aside. The narrator of the story embodies this message by using her femineity and youth to encourage and enlighten the group to view the world in different and unique ways. This project received University grant support and performers were asked to return on February 4 to present the work to the potential incoming students for the theatre department.