Major
Communication
Anticipated Graduation Year
2023
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
The 20th century in rural America left women stuck in the role of a farmer’s wife through an era of social and political change. History has written these women solely as vessels of cooking, cleaning, and caretaking when in reality, these women were doing so much more. By conducting research on the lives and legacies of three of my grandmothers as well as taking an academic look into the history of the period, I hope to uncover a layer of untold stories. In order to tell the stories, I wanted to tap into my dance knowledge. I understand dance as a method of storytelling and social justice and I wanted to translate my research to generate choreography. Over the semester, I documented my process through notes and video.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Amy Wilkinson, Senior Lecturer of Dance, Department of Dance
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Being Maxine: My Grandmothers' Stories Told Through Dance
The 20th century in rural America left women stuck in the role of a farmer’s wife through an era of social and political change. History has written these women solely as vessels of cooking, cleaning, and caretaking when in reality, these women were doing so much more. By conducting research on the lives and legacies of three of my grandmothers as well as taking an academic look into the history of the period, I hope to uncover a layer of untold stories. In order to tell the stories, I wanted to tap into my dance knowledge. I understand dance as a method of storytelling and social justice and I wanted to translate my research to generate choreography. Over the semester, I documented my process through notes and video.