Embodied Groove: Understanding the Intersection of Music and Movement Within my Creative Practice / Carolyn Rupp (2025)

Much of the current conventional analyses of groove as a phenomenon is rooted in musicology or historical discourse. Instead, my research foregrounds the lived, felt, and kinesthetic dimensions of groove, drawing from my own experience as a musical theatre performer and dance choreographer, and trained musician. Employing autoethnography and practice-as-research (PaR) as core methodologies, I ask, how do I identify and recognize the presence of groove within my body, and in what ways does this embodied sensation inform the development of my choreographic practice? My research positions my body not only as researcher, but also as the site of knowledge production—where groove becomes both a experience and a creative tool. By reflecting critically on my training as a dancer and musician, I share the enmeshed relationship I’ve developed between musicality, rhythm, and movement, revealing how groove manifests as a dynamic, somatic dialogue between my self and the music I dance to. Through a process of somatic exploration, creative experimentation, and reflective analysis, I develop new choreographic strategies that center groove as a generative force within my creative practice. Furthermore, I examine how these strategies can be shared and adapted in collaborative and pedagogical contexts, expanding groove from an internalized personal experience to a communicable, teachable methodology. Ultimately, this dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of groove as an embodied phenomenon, offering insights that bridge performance, creative process, and embodied knowledge in dance. Keywords: groove, embodiment, interdisciplinary, choreography, micro-timing, pocket, repetition, entrainment, sensing, practice, breath, scatting