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BECOMING UNDISCIPLINED: INTERDISCIPLINARY ISSUES AND METHODS IN DANCE STUDIES DISSERTATIONS FROM 2007-09 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Christine Bergman May 2012 Examining Committee Members: Kariamu Welsh, Advisory Chair, Department of Dance Sarah Hilsendager, Temple University Department of Dance Luke Kahlich, Temple University Department of Dance Laura Levitt, Temple University Department of Religion and Women’s Studies Patricia Melzer, External Examiner, Temple University, German and Women’s Studies © by Christine Bergman 2012 All Rights Reserved II ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to begin to articulate the theoretical identity of the field of dance studies as an academic discipline and to produce a feminist intervention into the phenomena of disembodied scholarship, while asking questions about disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity within dance studies. My primary research questions are: What are dance studies research methods? And, which research methods, if any, are inherent to dance as an academic discipline? In order to answer these seemingly direct and simple questions, I also question the assumption that we know what dance studies research methods are. In Chapter 1 I first introduce and qualify myself as a dance artist and scholar, connecting my own experiences to my research; I narrate my research questions in detail and describe the significance, limitations, and scope of this project. In Chapters 2 and 3 I provide a history of the disciplinary and interdisciplinary origins of dance studies in higher education and situate that history within contemporary conversations in dance studies on disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. In Chapter 4 I offer an analysis of the National Dance Education Organization’s (NDEO) Research Priorities for Dance Education: A Report to the Nation and The Dance Education Literature and Research descriptive index (DELRdi), an online searchable database that aims to document all literature and research in dance education (not dance studies) from 1926 to the present, as it relates to issues and methods in my own research. In Chapter 5 I identify and describe current research methods found in all dance studies dissertations granted from the 4 doctoral programs in Dance in the United States over a three-year period. This chapter III begins to articulate the current theoretical identity of the field. I examine and report on current trends in dance studies research methods and draw comparisons across dance studies doctoral programs, setting the foundation for future discussion of dance studies research methods. In Chapter 6 I summarize the project and make suggestions for the future. A feminist lens is used throughout as a way of providing a feminist intervention into the phenomena of disembodied scholarship by asking questions about research methods (particularly the use of critical theory as a method for research and writing about dance) and if or how particular research methods lead to the production of embodied or disembodied scholarship. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many seeds for this research were planted in and through conversations, course materials, class discussions, lectures, and presentations throughout my doctoral study in the Department of Dance at Temple University with Drs. Karen Bond, Luke Kahlich, Joellen Meglin, and Kariamu Welsh, professors in the Department of Dance, and with Drs. Laura Levitt and Patricia Melzer in the graduate Women’s Studies research seminars. This has been a humbling, challenging, and extremely rewarding process. I love what I do and feel glad and honored to share it. First, I must thank the dissertation writers whose work is addressed herein. The collective knowledge, wisdom, and passion of the 32 dance scholars have been an inspiration for me during this process. Thank you Anne Harlow and the Temple librarians who helped me retrieve many of the materials. Thank you Dr. Jane Bonbright, Founding Executive Director of the National Dance Education Organization for your inspirational expertise and wisdom. Thank you Dr. Sarah Hilsendager for so generously connecting me with valuable sources, for keeping me on track, for copious feedback, and for kind encouragement during difficult times. Thank you Dr. Laura Levitt for so much warmth, friendliness, and support as well as for urging me to do closer readings, and to reflect on and refine my own voice. Thank you Dr. Luke Kahlich for asking challenging questions, for connecting me with sources past and present, and for encouraging me to strengthen and ground my research. Thank you Dr. Melzer for motivating me to reflect on the connections and disconnections between dance studies and women’s studies issues and encouraging me to begin to imagine and articulate the revolutionary potential of feminist dance and performance. V Thank you most of all to Dr. Kariamu Welsh. I am indebted to you for our many conversations since the beginning of my doctoral work in 2007; thank you for believing in me from the start and thank you for patiently supporting me through the ups and downs of the research process and for being a loving and steady source of guidance. No words can sufficiently express my gratitude for my incredibly supportive and unconditionally loving family: my parents Richard and Mary Bergman and my sister Nicole Bergman. This work would not have been possible without you. Lastly, thanks to the most awesome friends who helped, pushed, and sometimes carried me through the tough parts—you know who you are. This research is dedicated to my grandmothers Anna Demetro and Frieda Bergman and to Stefanos Tsigrimanis and Alan Eto, both of whom left us too soon. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 Research Questions ....................................................................................................39 Limitations and Delimitations ....................................................................................41 Significance of Study .................................................................................................43 2. THE DISCIPLINARY AND INTERDISCIPLINARY ORIGINS OF DANCE STUDIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION FROM 1890-1940 ...............................................47 Overview and Methods ..............................................................................................47 Introduction ................................................................................................................52 1913-1926: The First Dance Department ..................................................................66 Dance Education Pioneers: Margaret H’Doubler and Blanche Trilling ....................68 The 1920s: The Scientific Turn; A Science-Based Approach: The Origins of Dance Therapy; The First Physical Education Program: 1929 .........73 The First Dance Minor and Major – The University of Wisconsin-Madison; The Origin of the Dance as Art/Conservatory Model; Martha Hill and the Bennington Years: 1920s-1930s ................................................................................77 Dance and Racial Segregation ...................................................................................81 Becoming Disciplined: Anti-Intellectualism and The Dis/connections Between Theory and Practice ...................................................................................................83 An Identity for Dance ................................................................................................94 Pioneers in Black Dance: Pearl Primus and Katherine Dunham ...............................95 3. THE DISCIPLINARY AND INTERDISCIPLINARY ORIGINS OF DANCE STUDIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION FROM 1950-PRESENT ...................................100 Overview and Methods ............................................................................................100 1950s Struggle for Disciplinary Identity ..................................................................100 Writing in the 50s: “Dance Scholars” and Practical Matters ...................................101 Cultural Diplomacy and Modern Dance ..................................................................103 The 1950s and 60s: Corporate and Government Funding and The Ballet Boom .................................................................................107 VII The 1960s: Star Paths...............................................................................................109 The 1970s and the Anthropological Turn ................................................................110 1980-1990: The Conservative Turn, the Consumer Student: Dance’s Struggle for Survival in the Corporate University .....................................114 Outside Disciplines and Dance Studies in the 1990s ...............................................116 Dance Studies, Women’s Studies, and Cultural Studies ..........................................118 Phd Programs ...........................................................................................................124

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