Laughter and the Mad Scene

Abstract:

This presentation and performance explore the striking parallels between comedy and tragedy as artistic coping mechanisms for pain. Through the unlikely pairing of The Judy Miller Show—a Saturday Night Live skit performed by Gilda Radner—and scenes from the ballet Giselle, the work reveals how both comedic expression and dramatic storytelling serve as vehicles for processing trauma and emotion.

The five-minute reenactment performance, Gilda and Giselle, blends film, costuming, props, and dance to highlight the surprising similarities between these two forms. While one relies on absurdity and humor and the other on heartbreak and devotion, both illuminate the ways feminine performance has historically carried, reframed, and released emotional pain.

Following the performance, I will discuss the intersections between the feminine use of comedy and the portrayal of female characters in ballet. This analysis considers how each mode—comic and tragic—functions as both catharsis and commentary, allowing performers and audiences alike to confront discomfort and vulnerability through embodied storytelling.

The session will conclude with a short participatory workshop in which attendees will explore several compositional tools drawn from my own choreographic processes. Through guided prompts and gameplay, participants will experiment with utilizing comedic expression as methods for crafting and transforming stories through dance.

 

Bibliography:

  • Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990.
  • Davis, Tracy C. Actresses as Working Women: Their Social Identity in Victorian Culture. London: Routledge, 1991.
  • Garber, Marjorie. Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. New York: Routledge, 1992.
  • Martin, Randy. Critical Moves: Dance Studies in Theory and Politics. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998.
  • Foster, Susan Leigh. Choreographing Empathy: Kinesthesia in Performance. London: Routledge, 2011.
  • Radner, Hilary. The New Woman’s Film: Femme-Centric Cinema, 1940s to 2000s. New York: Routledge, 2011.
  • Kogan, Judith. Nothing But the Best: The Struggle for Perfection at the Juilliard School. New York: Random House, 1987.
  • Banes, Sally. “Dance, Feminism, and the Critique of the Visual.” In Moving Words: Re-Writing Dance, edited by Gay Morris, 1996.
  • Gilbert, Joanne R., and Helene A. Shugart. Performance and Identity: Feminist Humor Studies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  • Daly, Ann. “Classical Ballet: A Discourse of Difference.” Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory 1, no. 2 (1984): 58–65.

 

Presented by Beth Twigs, Assistant Lecturer; University of Wyoming

 

Biography:

Beth Twigs (she/her) is a multimodal choreographer, educator, and former Ballet Austin company dancer whose work embodies deep physical rigor, wild imagination, and a continual investigation into reimagination—cultivating spaces where movement, agency, and experimentation intertwine. Engaging rigor, curiosity, and embodied inquiry, her choreography blends precision and play, weaving movement, sound, and text into immersive environments that merge tenderness, humor, and tension. Through these layered, sensory experiences, she invites audiences to witness the complex and poetic ways bodies negotiate expectation, memory, and connection.

Beth’s professional career began at Ballet Austin, where she danced for a decade under Artistic Director Stephen Mills, performing repertory by Balanchine, Pite, Tharp, Fonte, and others. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Washington, where her research explored consent and gender dynamics in ballet partnering. Currently, Beth serves as the primary ballet instructor at the University of Wyoming, teaching ballet, contemporary modern, composition, and pedagogy while mentoring emerging artists and contributing to departmental programming and creative residencies.

Her choreographic work has been commissioned by Vitacca Ballet, Chamber Dance Company, and Boston Dance Theater’s trainee program, and presented at festivals such as the Seattle International Dance Festival, Austin Dance Festival, and New Century Dance Project. Recent residencies include the Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts and the Colorado Conservatory of Dance, where she continues to expand her interdisciplinary investigations into power, play, and physicality.