DAN 201 Dance Appreciation: Seeing Dance in New York City/Articulating the Elusive
LA
In this introductory course we will make six field trips to view live dance in a variety of NYC performance venues. Students will develop the ability to articulate their experiences as viewers starting in a thoughtful and active engagement with the dance works then in a discussion and writing while analyzing the form, content and contexts of the works in a group setting. We will study the historical, cultural, social and interdisciplinary contexts of contemporary dance forms. Guest writers and scholars will visit the class to reflect on diverse approaches to dance criticism and analysis and their role in the current cultural landscape.
Staff
DAN 204 Introduction to Choreography Spring
LA
This studio course will introduce students to choreographic processes and questions of movement vocabulary, structure, pacing, orchestration and meaning. Through completing a number of short dances and a substantial final project, the class will explore choreographic forms and innovations found in contemporary dance, musicals and music videos. Readings and viewings work in tandem with students' dance-making to fuel debate and analysis of today's choreographic work and the power of movement to engage in current artistic and political issues such as, identity, gender, race, power and control. Acclaimed guest dance artists will visit the class.
S. Marshall
DAN 207 Introduction to Ballet Fall
LA
From grand plié to grand jeté, Introduction to Ballet is for students with a curiosity for the study of classical ballet. No prior dance experience necessary and beginners are welcome. In this studio course students will learn the fundamentals of ballet, gaining an understanding of its physicality, artistry, and principles of alignment. Students will examine the historical origins of ballet and its absorption of cultural influences. Live music will be featured in this class and key in exploring the inextricable link between music and dance.
T. Fehlandt
DAN 209 Introduction to Movement and Dance Spring
LA
Movement permeates every aspect of life, whether within our bodies, minds, or the world around us. In this studio course open to everyone, we use tools from Laban Movement Analysis to develop ways to dance, improvise, make performance, and fully inhabit our lives. We dive into the roles of dancer, choreographer, audience member, and critic in relation to aesthetic questions, politics, identity, religion, and complex views of the human body. Students can apply our work together to dance in any style as well as to daily experiences like moving into an interview confidently and finding embodied practices for transforming stress.
A. Vandenbroucke
DAN 210 Power, Structure, and the Human Body (also
/) Fall
LA
In this studio course open to anyone with a body, we will explore power, structure, and human bodies through personal, political, anatomical, kinesthetic, and aesthetic lenses. We will delve into these issues as artists do: by reading, thinking, talking, moving, and making performances, actions, sense, and change. Each day we will literally incorporate what we study by using tools from dance, somatic and creative practices. We will explore what it means to be an engaged intellectual. Readings include contemporary thinkers about race, gender, sexuality, disability, and performance. Students design final creative projects. A. Vandenbroucke
DAN 211 The American Dance Experience and Africanist Dance Practices (also ) Fall/Spring
LA
A studio course introducing students to American dance aesthetics and practice, with a focus on how American dance has been influenced by African American choreographers and dancers. An ongoing study of movement practices from traditional African dances and those of the African diaspora, touching on American jazz dance, modern dance, and American ballet. Studio work will be complemented by readings, video viewings, guest speakers, and dance studies. Two two-hour classes. D. Harvey Salaam
DAN 213 Introduction to Contemporary Dance Fall/Spring
LA
Designed for students with minimal dance experience who are curious about contemporary dance techniques and choreography. Perfect for students who have taken other intro level dance courses and who want to broaden their dance knowledge and deepen their physical skill and experience. Students will try on various identities within dance - mover, creator, performer, writer, historian - in an attempt to holistically learn about Contemporary Dance. Readings and viewings will inform the creation of choreographic studies and invite students to consider issues debated by today's dance artists.
Staff
DAN 214 Being and Doing: Dance for Every Body (also ) Spring
LA
In this studio course open to everyone, we'll explore dance as a way to deepen both our self-knowledge and engagement with others. We'll delve into dance as meditation, using tools from ecstatic dance, yin yoga, and improvisation to establish a personal practice. We'll examine genre-bending performances occurring outside of theaters and study how dance reflects- and can change (and whether it should try to change) -contemporary issues, taking up such topics as power, class, race and gender. In final creative projects, students take aspects of being and/or doing further into their own lives and communities. A. Vandenbroucke
DAN 215 Introduction to Dance Across Cultures (also ) Fall
LA
Bharatanatyam, butoh, hip hop, and salsa are some of the dances that will have us travel from temples and courtyards to clubs, streets, and stages throughout the world. Through studio sessions, readings and viewings, field research, and discussions, this seminar will introduce students to dance across cultures with special attention to issues of migration, cultural appropriation, gender and sexuality, and spiritual and religious expression. Students will also learn basic elements of participant observation research. Guest artists will teach different dance forms. No prior dance experience is necessary. J. Hamera
DAN 216 Uncertainty (also ) Fall
LA
In this studio course open to all, we'll ramble in the unknown searching for embodied philosophy, thinking art-making, and clarity that's open for revision. As is fitting for our subject, we'll ask many questions. Is uncertainty a requirement for truly creative processes? In cultural and creative times of uncertainty, how do we find our centers and is that even a goal? What tools can dance, somatic, and artistic practices offer for existing within uncertainty? Can uncertainty help us understand others? What are the ethical implications of uncertainty in life and art? We'll move, read, and create together, design substantial final projects. A. Vandenbroucke
DAN 218 Mapping the Transgressive Body: A Performance Lab Spring
LA
Centering an interdisciplinary approach to live performance making, this creative lab will consider how we as artist-citizens strengthen the mind and body to resist normalized structures of performance to release, activate, and translate unknown, foreign, and/or vulnerable materials into live performance actions. Students will conduct research, view and critique live performance (on and off campus) attend exhibitions, and create cosmologies of their creative influencers. Open to all students interested in exploring their previously uncharted performative potential.
J. Kosoko
DAN 220 Contemporary Technique and Choreography
LA
Incorporating aspects of jazz, modern and ballet, this contemporary dance class focuses on strengthening fundamental alignment and coordination. Technique class will start with exercises designed to organize the body and build in physical intensity to culminate in phrase work that is vigorous and challenging. In choreography, students will develop their understanding of the ways in which structural elements and movement vocabularies contribute to a dance's impact and content. Two two-hour classes in technique, one two-hour class in choreography.
Staff
DAN 222 Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance (also ) Spring
LA
This introductory survey course gives equal weight to scholarly study and embodied practice, using both approaches to explore a range of hip-hop dance techniques, as well as the cultural and historical contexts from which these dances emerged. Special attention will be given to breaking - the most prominent hip-hop form - as a foundation for exploring other forms of movement. By critically exploring these physical and historical connections, individuals will adapt and apply their own philosophies to dance in order to develop a personalized style. Staff
DAN 223 An Introduction to the Radical Imagination (also
/) Fall
LA
Using an interdisciplinary visual and performance studies approach to explore various sites of contemporary art practices, this course will provide an introduction to radical performance practices through which artists consider the gendered and racialized body that circulates in the public domain, both onstage and off. We will query the kinds of political questions that performers raise with their work. Our texts will include live and recorded performances, as well as historical and theoretical secondary sources. Every other week the class hosts a public performance/speaking series featuring radical artists and curators. Staff
DAN 300 Body and Object: Making Art That Is both Sculpture and Dance
LA
Beyond spoken text and physical action, is the all-important performance of a work. How something is done is as crucial as what is done. This course encourages you to push your limits and range as mover, dancer and/or actor. Exercises support the practice of clear intention, committed choice-making, embodied character, physical response and the ability to modulate the intensity of action and emotion. You will perform dance and theater repertory scenes and perform your own works that fully utilize your ability to join thought, experience and action. Readings and viewings on contemporary artists of dance/physical theater support studio work.
S. Marshall
DAN 301 Body and Object: Making Art that is both Sculpture and Dance (See VIS 300)
DAN 304 Special Topics in Contemporary Practice (also
/
/)
LA
Offers students the opportunity to gain a working knowledge of the ways in which
dance, dance/theater, and body-based art are created and performed today. Primarily a studio course that stresses learning through doing. Students will have the opportunity to work with leading experimental creators. Topics, prerequisites, and formats will vary from year to year. Staff
DAN 307 Dance Technique and Anatomy of Movement Spring
LA
This course provides laboratories and cross-genre dance technique to facilitate a somatic understanding of kinesiology. Students identify limitations and expand individual expression. Technique class will integrate ballet and modern techniques while emphasizing values of exploration and risk-taking. Movement labs will integrate research in functional anatomy/kinesiology and diverse systems of somatic education to understand both the potential of neuro-motor development and physiological systems. Classes will provide freedom of exploration in all genres of dance and give students knowledge to strengthen physicality and movement repertoire.
Staff
DAN 309 Modern Dance: Intermediate Technique and Choreography
LA
In technique, students will be encouraged to expand movement range and increase technical mastery as related to modern and contemporary dance practices. In choreography, students will be encouraged to create dances that articulate their independent vision in solo and group works. Readings and viewings will supplement studio work and expand knowledge of historical and contemporary trends in the arts. Two two-hour classes in technique, one two-hour class in choreography.
Staff
DAN 310 The Arts of Urban Transition (also
/
/)
LA
This course uses texts and methods from history, theatre, performance studies, and dance to examine artists and works of art as agents of change in New York (1960-present) and contemporary Detroit. Issues addressed include relationships between artists, changing urban economies, and the built environment; the role of the artist in gentrification and creative placemaking; the importance of local history in art interventions; and assessing impacts of arts initiatives. Fall break trip to Detroit, and visits to key sites in New York and Philadelphia, are included. Students will use data and methods from the course to produce final projects. J. Hamera
DAN 312 FAT: The F-Word and the Public Body (also
/) Fall
LA
This seminar investigates discourses and politics around the fat body from a performance studies perspective. How does this "f-word" discipline and regulate bodies in /as public? How do dancers reveal these politics with special clarity? How might fat be a liberating counterperformance? We will examine the changing history, aesthetics, politics, and meanings of fatness using dance, performance, and media texts as key case studies. Intersectional dimensions of the fat body are central to the course. Emphasis primarily on the US. Assignments include written work and group performances. No dance experience necessary. J. Hamera
DAN 315 Dance Techniques of the 20th Century: Dunham, Graham, Horton, Limon Spring
LA
A studio course in modern dance technique for intermediate/advanced students. This course will consist of four units focusing on prominent movement innovators of the 20th century: Katherine Dunham, Martha Graham, Lester Horton, José Limón, taught by experts in their respective dance techniques. The relevance and impact of these techniques will be underscored by examining and practicing Contemporary Dance to understand the influence of these pioneering movement systems on 21st century dancing artists. Readings and viewings of performances will further enhance students' knowledge of the major trends in 20th century Modern Dance.
T. Fehlandt
DAN 316 Dance in Education: Dance/Theater Pedagogy (also
/
/) Spring
LA
Dance/Theater Pedagogy Seminar explores the connection between engaged dance and elementary school literacy, mathematics and social studies while allowing students the opportunity to be civically engaged and contribute to the community. The course combines teaching movement classes to elementary school students while collectively engaging in an in-depth exploration of Dance and Theater in Elementary Education with an emphasis on recent developments in the field. Fieldwork takes place weekly at designated out-of-class times. Classroom management skills, lesson planning strategies and various methods of evaluation/assessment will be examined. Staff
DAN 317 Contemporary Dance - Issues and Processes Spring
LA
This seminar is designed for junior dance certificate students to investigate current dance practices and ideas. Part study and discussion of the processes, aesthetics and politics involved in dance making and viewing -- part independent creative practice and critique -- this course invites students to a deeper understanding of their own art making perspectives and to those of their classmates. Guest artists will visit classes and share some of the directorial, collaborative and interpersonal challenges involved in leading a significant creative enterprise. Serious creators (non-juniors/certificates) may apply to enroll.
S. Marshall
DAN 319A Choreography Workshop I Fall
LA
Choreography Workshop I exposes students to diverse methods of dance-making by tracing the evolution of choreographic thought. Varying approaches to improvisation will be taught to warm-up, discover movement material, and challenge movement habits. Classes will workshop compositional tasks that set limitations to spark creativity. Students will present their choreography weekly and learn to discuss, critique, and evaluate work shown in class. Selected readings and performances (both on video and live) will expose students to varying choreographic philosophies, processes, and aesthetics.
R. Lazier
DAN 319B Dance Performance Workshop: Repertory I Fall
LA
Technique and repertory course that focuses on developing technical expertise, expressive range, and stylistic clarity. In technique, students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, rhythm, and momentum to emphasize efficiency in motion. In repertory, students will learn and perform dances that represent diverse approaches to dance-making either through collaboration with faculty or by learning significant dances from modern and contemporary choreographers. The course encourages rich, subtle, and stylistically accurate renditions of choreography and engages students in collaborative learning.
Staff
DAN 320A Choreography Workshop II Fall
LA
This contemporary dance technique class emphasizes fundamentals of proper alignment to achieve increased movement efficiency, strength and flexibility. Working with aspects of modern, jazz and ballet, students will explore dancing to different rhythms, tempos and styles of music. Phrase work teaches strong movement in space and musicality. Students will understand how structural elements and movement vocabularies contribute to a dance's overarching impact and content. Readings and viewings broaden students' understanding of dance's position in the world of art and ideas. Two 2-hour classes in technique, one 2-hour class in choreography.
Staff
DAN 320B Dance Performance Workshop: Repertory II Fall
LA
Technique and repertory course that focuses on developing technical expertise, expressive range, and stylistic clarity. In technique, students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, rhythm, and momentum to emphasize efficiency in motion. In repertory, students will learn and perform dances that represent diverse approaches to dance-making either through collaboration with faculty or by learning significant dances from modern and contemporary choreographers. The course encourages rich, subtle, and stylistically accurate renditions of choreography and engages students in collaborative learning.
Staff
DAN 321 Special Topics in Dance History, Criticism, and Aesthetics Spring
HA
This course focuses on the history, criticism, and aesthetics of dance as a theatrical art form and/or a social practice. Topics might include an examination of dance through personal, aesthetic, religious, social, and/or political lenses. Classes will be augmented by film, videos, music, guest speakers, occasional demonstrations, and studio work. One three-hour seminar.
Staff
DAN 322 Special Topics In Urban Dance (also ) Spring
LA
This advanced studio/seminar topics course explores the artistic, social, and cultural implications of hip-hop dance through an intensive focus on the concept of style. Using master classes, academic study, and embodied practice in the studio to develop a physical understanding and detailed social analysis of four specific hip-hop dance genres, we will explore the distinctive cultural influences that shaped each of these diverse forms, as well the deeper movement principles that they share. These principles will then be placed in the larger historical, political and performative context of the Afro-Diasporic experience in the Americas. Staff
DAN 349 How to Think With Performance: Dance and Performance Studies Theory (also ) Spring
SA
The interdisciplinary field of performance studies offers generative strategies for theorizing social life. This course explores the ways performance as a critical theoretical tool and as a practice enables students to examine everyday self-presentation, political economy, gender, race, and sexuality, material culture, ethics, and other social practices. Theoretical genealogies in anthropological and poststructuralism included. Because performance studies posits theory as doing, in-class performance exercises, and theorizing and constructing performance-based activism, are part of the course. No formal dance or theatre experience necessary. J. Hamera
DAN 381 Physical Language: Knowing Through Movement
EC
This class will focus on expanding dancers' movement choices through experiential anatomy. Using both movement laboratories and lectures, the class will conduct an in-depth analysis of dance and movement from many angles including: research in cognitive studies, neuroscience, multiple somatics modalities, and functional anatomy. We will focus on seeking physical knowledge to generate new movement languages and acquire efficient movement patterns within our bodies, our minds, and ourselves. One two-hour lecture, one two-hour movement lab, and one two-hour seminar. Offered periodically.
R. Lazier
DAN 401 Building Physical Literacies: Practices in Contemporary Dance Spring
LA
This advanced studio course compares training, practice, and performance methods of diverse approaches to the body, community, and kinaesthetic values in contemporary dance. Students will study intensively in Umfundalai, developed by Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Flying Low, created David Zambrano, with Abby Zbikowski in her hyper afro-punk hip-hop technique, alongside classes that build analytic, reflexive, and creative processes. Selected readings and viewing assignments provide historical and theoretical support to examine how dance and movement training fuels individual development, choreographic process, and aesthetic research.
R. Lazier
DAN 408 Approaches to Contemporary Dance and Movement Practices Spring
LA
This advanced studio course compares approaches to contemporary dance and movement techniques to explore how training fuels choreographic process and aesthetic research. Students will train intensively in Contact Improvisation, Gaga, Forsythe Technologies, and contemporary African dance, learning each form's origin and theory to facilitate physical transformation. Workshops in modern and non-western forms will widen historic and global perspectives. Knowledge gained through a comparative embodied practice allows students to form research built on a synthesis of the influences that have shaped current movement research and choreography.
R. Lazier
DAN 409 Contemporary Dance: Advanced Technique and Choreography
LA
Advanced dance technique and choreography. In technique, students will be challenged to expand their movement range and increase their mastery of various styles required by today's dance world. Students will work to develop approaches to technique that emphasize ease and efficiency in motion. In choreography, students will work together on group objectives in movement-based laboratories that focus on collaboration and choreographic choice-making skills. Two two-hour classes in technique, one two-hour class in choreography.
Staff
DAN 419A Choreography Workshop III Fall
LA
Choreography Workshop III extends students' approaches to choreographic research by asking them to create complete works on dancers other than themselves. Students will consider how to transfer their vision to an ensemble and learn to give directives to groups that further their process. By focusing on developing an initial idea into a complete work, students will question their understanding of development and challenge themselves in new directions. Readings and viewings inform studio practice and invite students to wrestle with issues debated by today's dance artists.
Staff
DAN 419B Dance Performance Workshop: Repertory III Fall
LA
Technique and repertory course that focuses on developing technical expertise, expressive range, and stylistic clarity. In technique, students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, rhythm, and momentum to emphasize efficiency in motion. In repertory, students will learn and perform dances that represent diverse approaches to dance-making either through collaboration with faculty or by learning significant dances from modern and contemporary choreographers. The course encourages rich, subtle, and stylistically accurate renditions of choreography and engages students in collaborative learning.
Staff
DAN 420A Choreography Workshop IV Fall
LA
Students workshop their senior thesis performance. Classes delve deeply into a specific choreographic process and performance approach in preparation for Senior Thesis Production in Dance Theater. Required for seniors pursuing a Certificate in Dance.
Staff
DAN 420B Dance Performance Workshop: Repertory IV Fall
LA
Technique and repertory course that focuses on developing technical expertise, expressive range, and stylistic clarity. In technique, students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, rhythm, and momentum to emphasize efficiency in motion. In repertory, students will learn and perform dances that represent diverse approaches to dance-making either through collaboration with faculty or by learning significant dances from modern and contemporary choreographers. The course encourages rich, subtle, and stylistically accurate renditions of choreography and engages students in collaborative learning.
Staff
DAN 431 Approaches to Ballet: Technique and Repertory Spring
LA
A studio course in ballet technique and repertory for advanced and high intermediate students. This course will consist of a pre-professional ballet class and learning selections of classical, neo-classical, and contemporary ballet. It will be divided into four units, each focusing on a different ballet choreographer. Students will be coached by internationally known guest artists to master and understand the diverse styles of each piece of repertory learned. Readings and viewings of live and videotaped performances. Three two-hour classes.
T. Fehlandt
DAN 432 Ballet as an Evolving Form: Technique and Repertory Spring
LA
A studio course in contemporary ballet technique for advanced students. The course will consist of an advanced ballet class and explorations into contemporary choreography through readings, viewings, and the learning of repertory. The course will focus on three renowned choreographers, and prominent guest artists will coach students in the style and repertory of each choreographer. Readings and viewings of live and videotaped performances. Three two-hour classes.
T. Fehlandt
DAN 496 Princeton Atelier (See ATL 496)
