Choreographing soldier’s stories to provoke empathy in audiences / Roman Baca (2019)

This thesis, along with two investigations and two choreographic projects, examines methods of translating soldier’s trauma to audiences through film, narrative, compositional choreographic presentations, durational physical performance, and immersive performative events. The two investigations are: Exit 12: Moved by War (2018), The Rite ( 2018) and the two projects are: In-Trench (2019), and InTrench(ed.)2 (2019).

Starting from an autobiographical and ethnologically researched embodied approach, and gleaning from the perspectives of dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, science, and war studies this thesis aims to investigate the translatability of traumatic events and embodied experiences to audiences through choreographic events in order to facilitate understanding, empathy, and peacebuilding.

Chapter 1 explains the background and events that have necessitated these investigations. Chapter 2 investigates historical and contemporary examples of translating a soldier’s trauma into dance and theatre. Chapter 3 interrogates mimesis and mimetic induction in choreographic exploration. Chapter 4 looks at building community through immersive and interactive performance. Chapter 5 looks at the audience’s role as both a witness and a participant. Chapter 6 looks at the importance of stories of war in society. Chapter 7 looks at the embodiment and translative capacity of the performer.

Through this research it is my aim to establish that choreographic events can act as a transformative catalyst to both release trauma for the veteran, and to heighten empathy and understanding of a soldier’s experience for the audience.