Exploring Grief through Dance

Abstract

Dance has historically been used as an outlet for both individuals and communities to explore complex concepts, and in many cultures, dance has been used as an outlet to celebrate the lives and mourn the deaths of people held dear to the community. However, it is possible to grieve things that are unrelated to the death of another individual, like marriage or health. Because the process and stages of grief are not always linear or predictable, thorough discussions about grief can become unnecessarily convoluted. The purpose of this project is to provide an example of how dance can be used as a method to explore grief, while also considering that grief is a fluctuating process that varies from person to person.