Harrison, IyunSoutherland, RickBillo, EmilyPiper, Julia M.2018-05-242018-05-242018-04-29http://hdl.handle.net/11603/10863We live in an abstracted, and urbanized form of nature where the connection of person and their environment is easily disregarded. Connection to geographically distant, or non-existent, places is increasingly possible through technology, while care for our immediate surroundings simultaneously diminishes. This lack of connection can be attributed to the pacing of society, and the narrow way we are trained to consider and feel time. Through increased awareness of environmental rhythms, and shifting our own rhythms more readily, individuals benefit from reduced stress and heightened fulfillment. In turn, society and ultimately the state of the environment, benefit from this mindfulness. Through art, anyone can have a voice, and movement has an especially visceral impact on audiences through the use of ephemeral imagery. The transformation a movement artist has on space and time is perhaps the most direct way to demonstrate ideas of society’s impact on the earth. Dance is able to create a microcosm wherein we can act out, abstractly, potentials and realities at once. Art is an ideal vehicle for connecting what the general public understands about an issue to what scholars are discussing within an exclusive circle. I actively sought to circumvent the media’s sensationalism, and address the ideas directly from my standpoint as an academic and artist. The work is not centered on one environmental problem, rather the crisis of how we are complicit in a rigid experience of time. Environmental destruction is the consequence of our life rhythm. In my project, through dance, I am trying to bring attention to crises of accumulation; environmental problems that are so dispersed over time that we ignore them. Environmental problems intersect every field of study, and define our most fundamental area of concern; life. Throughout this research process, my collaborators and I increased mindfulness of our ability to manipulate time and shift rhythms, and sought to more fully experience and honor our environments and overall lives.41 pagesen-USCollection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.danceText