For my Capstone Project, I initially considered crafting a 20-minute monologue reflecting on my journey as a non-traditional undergraduate student at UW. My experiences, ranging from humorous misunderstandings with faculty members to instances of mistaken identity at school events, offered a rich tapestry of anecdotes. However, as I delved deeper into my narrative, I realized that my story echoed the archetypal "Hero's Journey" found in both mythological tales and contemporary dramas like "The Matrix," "The Hunger Games," and the "Harry Potter" series. Motivated by this insight, I expanded my project to encompass broader themes, weaving together elements of my cultural heritage with universal motifs. After extensive research, I discovered the perfect vehicle for my vision: the Turkish myth of "Wild Dumrul." This ancient tale follows the exploits of a young wild man who imposes tolls on travelers crossing a dry riverbed until a transformative encounter with death alters his fate. My Capstone Project will take the form of a dramatic production enhanced by traditional folk dance and music. Alongside a captivating solo folk dance performance, I will provide a brief exposition on the myth's resonance with Greek mythology, particularly the parallels with the story of Alcestis. I am thrilled to collaborate with a diverse ensemble of nearly 20 individuals, including members of the Turkish community, the Seattle theater scene, and talented actors from UW's School of Drama. Together, we aim to bring "Wild Dumrul" to life on stage, inviting audiences to embark on a journey of discovery and reflection. I am deeply excited and honored to spearhead this ambitious endeavor, and I look forward to sharing the magic of "Wild Dumrul" with our community.

I am a cellist, improvisor and composer. I have experience performing diverse genres of music including electroacoustic, though I primarily I consider myself to be a classical cellist, composer and improviser.  I am interested in discovering new extended techniques on acoustic cello. I first discovered new bow harmonics and recorded compositions using them early in my career. My research into extended techniques on cello has continued recently and I discovered a new sound using a variation of an extended technique. This year I have been composing and improvising at UW and working with and learning from Huck Hodge. This Spring I will present the newly discovered sound via a performance of an aleatory composition for solo cello, including improvisatory elements, which will feature a new sound created by an extended technique I recently discovered on acoustic cello. The new sounds I have been discovering are akin to quantum particles: already present within the sound, yet normally hidden by standard classical technique. It is my intention to broaden the palette of colors for classical cello technique and repertoire.

Kathak is a classical dance form which originated in Uttar Pradesh, North India. Kathak loosely translates to “story-teller,” and has become a symbol of Indian culture and national identity. Additionally, this dance form is very physically demanding, with skills that challenge the biomechanics of human anatomy. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the cultural context of Kathak, as well as examine Kathak from a medical perspective. Specifically, I sought to examine the injuries which are common to Kathak dancers, particularly focusing on the risk factors, prevalence, and mechanisms of these injuries. The methods to investigate this research question were primarily through literature review. Kathak dancers experience injuries in the lower extremities due to high rates of twisting, jumping, and stomping in the dance form. These repetitive and compressive motions may lead to hyperpronated feet, flattened arches, and extreme dorsiflexion and plantarflexion. These foot injuries overall produce a lack of alignment in the dancer’s anatomy and can decrease proprioceptive orientation and neuromuscular function and control of the lower extremities. The outcome of this research has the potential to bridge the gap between dance and medicine. Education is powerful for dancers so that they can be aware of high-risk injuries and perform exercises as preventative efforts. Preventative efforts may include reducing static stretches and instead incorporating more dynamic stretches into their daily warm-up routine. Additionally, dancers should be empowered to take initiative of their health and seek professional guidance when necessary, and dance schools should play an active role in encouraging this.

Fifth Harmony’s BOSS music video, which showcases female empowering choreography, has been viewed 267 million times. The choreographer behind it, Sean Bankhead, said in an interview the higher you go the bigger the budget and the bigger the ego of the artist that you are working with. He went on to say about how when he was working with Missy Elliot, she would challenge him to pull things out of him that he didn’t know he had and he was told "start fresh tomorrow you can do better.” As hard as it is to break into this industry, choreographers continuously mention being extremely proud of sharing their work with millions of people. From the outside, it seems like music video choreographers have so much freedom in artistic choices like style of the piece and movement influences, but how much do choreographers truly get to create the exact choreography that they want? The exploration of music video choreography is really important because music videos are a way for the dance artform to be shared widely, but in scenarios like the one above, commercial popularity influences the creation of a choreography. Bankhead also mentioned that in music videos, he incorporates a snippet of choreography that even non-dancers can do, and these are usually the pieces that go viral. How do Los Angeles dance industry choreographers strike a balance between their own artistic vision and commercial pressures to create viral videos to become successful in the LA music video scene? My research seeks to answer this question through analysis of YouTube interviews, close reading of popular dance music videos, and interviews with choreographers.

This project is the culmination of my capstone, a work of documentary theater called Eldest Daughter Elegy. Half fiction, and half fact, I embarked upon interviewing eldest daughters in an effort to understand my own family, my own sisters, and the relationships I construct. While my interest was originally autobiographical, after over a year of interviewing, writing, and ultimately producing this play, the story turned into something made of a quilt of different stories, none of which are my own. It became a smorgasbord of summer camp, family complexity, and the righteous indignation and profound excitement of childhood. As I looked ahead to the production of this script, I knew that I had an intended and desired effect: to fight back against the loneliness that so many eldest daughters spoke to. Much of theater is made in a relative void, in which collaborators offer opinions, but audiences leave without sharing their opinions with the creators, instead talking amongst themselves, or not at all. With the production of Eldest Daughter Elegy, I employed a phenomenologically based follow-up approach to survey audience members, referencing moments in the script that I thought might be impactful and asking for their undiluted opinions. Through this practice, I hoped to be able to understand how my intentions “landed” on audience members, and further explore the story that was ultimately told onstage, not made up of just my goals but of the actors’ performances, work by designers, and the audience members' own minds and feelings. This presentation will track my impetus for the creation of Eldest Daughter Elegy, the process of writing/producing it, all the way to audience reception. In this way, I hope to offer an example of work created for audience members (eldest daughters) by eldest daughters, gauging what the impact really might be.