“Embodied Experiences in the Environment: Developing Curriculum” was conceived of as a project under the umbrella of Digital Bridges to Dance.

Why Technology?
At first glance, it may be hard to understand why digital tools are necessary or wanted in research about dancing and the environment. The connection between the research of embodied experiences in the environment and the broad field digital humanities is not an obvious one to make. However, from investigating pre-existing research in the field to developing and sharing our own discoveries, digital tools have played an essential role in our communication, artistic practices, learning and sharing.

Communication
Multiple digital tools helped us keep in constant communication with each other throughout the summer. While Naomi and I worked from the Grinnell College campus, Celeste collaborated with us remotely. The video meeting software, Gotomeeting allowed for all of us to connect for two hour long video workshops and meetings twice a week throughout the summer. Some of the other methods we used were texting, emailing, and blogging. There are more details about how each of the specific digital tools and platforms compared to each other in the blog post, “Building a Web of Connection”.

Information
Different forms of technology helped us gather information as we researched. Naomi and I both used the Grinnell College online database to find ebooks and online articles for our reading list. We also live-streamed lectures on HowlRoundTV during the NEH Institute that Celeste was attending at the University of Georgia. The ebooks, articles, and lectures allowed us to gain perspective on our research and place our work in the broader context of similar investigations of embodied experiences, environmental activism, and digital dance happening across the globe.

Sharing Work
Perhaps the strongest connection between our research into Embodied Experiences in the Environment and Digital Bridges to Dance is our exploration of the ways that we can share the findings of our research using digital tools. We have used our website and its blog as a space to make our research available to fellow scholars and the general public. Our blog contains investigations and revelations of topics we encountered along with activities we developed that individuals can perform to create embodied experiences for themselves. And now as a culmination of our research, we have this website.