Research Trip to Brazil in Support of an MFA Thesis and Community Engagement Activities

Library Student Mini Grant Award Year: 2017-2018As an artist, I am engaging with the movement and cultural history of Brazilian Zouk as I have encountered it in the Brazilian diaspora. For my thesis, I will be collaborating with SMTD dancers, musicians and performing arts technologists to explore how technology can amplify perceptible and imperceptible experiences of performers. My research will be presented in a public performance of my thesis at the Duderstadt Video Studio on March 16, 2018. As I dig deeper into my research, I have become an unexpected ambassador of Brazilian culture. I regularly engage a diverse student demographic both as a Graduate Student Instructor and through free community outreach programming facilitated by the Zouk Dance Club student organization. You can view a demonstration of Brazilian Zouk here: https://youtu.be/2i_mvTy56wohttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142994/1/Schiff, Sydney_MiniGrant2018.pptxDescription of Schiff, Sydney_MiniGrant2018.pptx : Presentatio