Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0001-5742-829X
Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Dance
Reader 1
Kevin Williamson
Reader 2
John Pennington
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2025 Tierney E O'Keefe
Abstract
“The funk” encapsulates a music style and a feeling in and unto itself. This genre rose to fame through James Brown, and prior to the 1960s traces its origins to precolonial Africanist rhythm practices. At the root of this essence lies the funk impulse, an essence that moves us to dance and helps us reach internal liberatory states. Moreover, the funk impulse continues to imbue the art of contemporaries with resistance, passion, and magic. Both Janelle Monáe and Jungle incorporate the funk impulse into their various works. These multi-media spectacles, alongside others in the genre, inspired the premise of my dance thesis piece Infatuation, which chronicles a queer story of desire and detachment using funk as the vehicle.
Recommended Citation
O'Keefe, Tierney, "Infatuated with the Groove: The Funk as a Vehicle for Portraying Queer Narratives in Dance" (2025). Scripps Senior Theses. 2560.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2560
Streaming Media
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
