DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Private Dancer: A Study in Motion

 

Playing in Light and Shadow

Hyde Park Community Center Sculpture

Photo by Rj Molyneux-Davis

 

 

April 23, 2012

 

 

Tribute to Chicago artist Raphaelle Ziemba.

 

https://vimeo.com/44992085

 

 

 

This video is comprised of two performances by Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre: Friday Night Fever on May 4, 2012 and When the Hairy Blob on April 23, 2012.

 

Raphaelle, a Chicago native coreographer, dance instructor and performer, recently investigated "how a phenomenological approach to art making can enhance individual’s experiences of place in place-based education," exploring "how art-making experiences can deepen one’s connections to place and transform perceptions of self, others and the world." She presented her research at the Gene Siskel Film Center Art Symposium on May 2, 2013.

 

Ziemba maintains that "place-based education is a wonderful tool that guides individuals in becoming more aware and active participants in their surroundings, self-awareness," adding, "the mind/body connection to place is a necessary component that is not always found in place-based education practices. It is important for individuals to bring themselves wholly into these places and experience the power that places can have." She further argues that "Creating art in these places can be a vehicle for individuals to become even more aware of their sense of place and how others connect to these places as well."

 

She believes the phenomenological experience of place will lead students to a fuller understanding of self as well as increased participation in community.

 

Her project included three phases: performances at various platforms on Chicago's Blue Line, work with two groups of "at risk" students from South-side Chicago, and choreography and performance with the professional dancers of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.