Dance Professor Jessica Madden Presents at the National Dance Education Organization's Annual Meeting

Professor Jessica Madden presented her research "In Lieu of Touch: Connecting Without Contact" at the 2022 Meeting of the National Dance Education Organization in Atlanta, Georgia. 

As an artist researching empathy and connection during the pandemic, Professor Madden found herself pondering the question: How do you create connection without contact? Bringing Bessel Van der Kolk’s work on trauma and the lineage of Authentic Movement to the practice and inquiry of choreographic research, Professor Madden looked to the development of her recent work Between the Waves (2021) to unpack the formation of interpersonal connection without physical touch. Through an analysis of process and performance, she shared hare new avenues for facilitating connection in rehearsal, class, and performance. Her session considered post-pandemic implications of the physically attuned, active-listening, and gestural resonance methodologies discovered in her research – methods which, though necessitated by COVID-19, have potential to be more impactful than touch alone. They take more effort, attention, and intention – qualities that engage dancers and audience members alike.