Symposium write-up and artist bio

Dance Performance: Naming

University Scholar – Stephani Babcock

Mentor – Neta Pulvermacher

Naming was choreographed by Stephani Babcock, a senior psychology major and dance minor. The research was inspired by stumli from UF’s Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, which induce emotions in study participants through images, sounds, and text. Naming also features collaboration with UF photography student Lydia Challenger.

The research began with a goal to induce discreet, specific basic emotions in the audience through dance, developing into a need to first genuinely encounter the subject personally. The choreographer’s empathetic experiences as a crisis phone counselor replaced academic research. The work bridges the scientific and artistic perspectives by identifying what we see, and questions the value of objective understanding in the absence of personal understanding or meaning. Our dual abilities to observe or participate are contrasted among the performers’ roles including the photographer’s measurement and recording of the artistic process and each fleeting moment. The title Naming indicates identification and labeling, whether it be making distinctions between basic emotions, or identifying our methods of understanding them. Naming investigates the necessity of the personal encounter and engagement to the sharing of emotions, questioning where observation and scientific measurement fail and personal engagement must begin in order to genuinely understand and name the nature of a subject.

About the choreographer: Stephani Babcock is a senior psychology major and dance minor, striving to integrate her scientific and artistic perspectives through lessons learned in dance. She appeared in 2,280 Pints! and in an original solo in the BFA showcase last year; this year she presents her first group work, Naming, developed with the assistance of the University Scholars Program. After graduation, Stephani seeks to become a mental health counselor, which to her represents the ultimate melding of the art and science of personal growth.