Ballet Majors Present Research at URS
Ballet Majors Nicole Kallsen and Amelie Bennett presented research projects this semester at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, hosted virtually by the Office of Undergraduate Research. The symposium is an opportunity for students to publicly share posters and oral presentations of research endeavors. Nicole’s and Amelie’s projects were supported by funding from UROP (The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program), which provides undergraduate students and mentors the opportunity to work together on student-designed projects.
Both students were mentored by Assistant Professor Kate Mattingly. “UROP is a selective and really terrific opportunity for students to work closely with faculty mentors to pursue their own self-created research,” Mattingly says. “I had the pleasure of working as a mentor with Amelie for three semesters and Nicole for one.”
Watch each presentation below:
"This research analyzes the structures of support for ballet in Salt Lake City, Utah, looking specifically at how people perceive, present, and participate in ballet. This research challenges the idea that ballet is an “art for art’s sake” dance form and shows how ballet can nurture communities. Ultimately, I show that it is important to consider how communities value the arts, human expression, and human bodies, because these elements influence support for ballet."
"This work examined how dance/movement therapy could improve empathy and emotion recognition in non-clinical adults and children. Although our work with adults showed promise, there are currently too many confounds in DMT practice to accurately measure any improvements. Our work with children also showed promise, but due to COVID-19 was cut short before we could collect enough data. The future goal of this project is to clarify our confounds and work with clinical populations with low empathy."