I Don't Dance, But...

Idea
Create a contemporary (interpretive, even?) dance to express the divide between my research on awe in Wordsworth and pragmatism. The pronouns are confusing--I'll work it out. I can't believe I'm even suggesting this.

I'm envisioning a dance where dancers (not the professional kind but the regular people recruited for this project kind) representing awe and Romanticism are on one side of the stage doing their awe dance, and dancers representing pragmatism and practicality are on the other side of the stage doing a robot pragmatism dance (can this be funny?). Somehow at the end of this (short) dance, everyone ends up in a yoga bridge pose.

Creative Commons License 2.0 Chris Willis / Fotopedia

Creative Commons License 2.0 Lorenzo Gaudenzi / Fotopedia

Creative Commons License / Zoonar

Rationale
I've been watching a bunch of these Dance Your Ph.D videos, and I like the why behind them. One contest description put it like this: "The dreaded question. 'So, what’s your Ph.D. research about?' You take a deep breath and launch into the explanation. People’s eyes begin to glaze over…

At times like these, don’t you wish you could just turn to the nearest computer and show people an online video of your Ph.D. thesis interpreted in dance form?" I identify, and now I will be able to show people my research interpreted in dance form. 

Dance also seems especially apt for my project because it's kinetic, which just feels more practical than abstract philosophy. It will allow people to connect with my research on different levels and will maybe settle some of the dissonance between awe and pragmatism for me personally. 

Hurdles
How connected should it be to my specific research? I mean, I could go so far as making the awe dancers wear t-shirts labeled Wordsworth and Romanticism and Awe, or Pragmatism and Practicality and Alarm Clocks. Or I could give no guidance whatsoever to my audience. Or I could do some sort of removable voice-over.

How will I film it? This is a good question. Also, should a live performance happen?

If pragmatism becomes an integral idea in the dance, do I need it in my paper at all? Can this creative component be the practical representation of an otherwise lost-in-academia indistinguishable 20-page research paper?