Dance

This program presents dance as the development of a technical skill, a creative experience that integrates feeling and movement, a performing opportunity, and as the subject of historical and aesthetic analysis. The curriculum, open to any interested student, includes modern dance and ballet technique, improvisation, choreography, history, and dance in comparison to other art forms. Students are encouraged to combine dance training with work in theater, music, and art. Semiannual dance concerts provide opportunities for student performance and choreography.

Beginning Modern Dance Technique This class introduces a modern dance technique that develops expressiveness, proper alignment, efficient and clear movement, musicality, spatial awareness, coordination, flexibility, strength, and the ability to dance with others. Course material consists of warm-up exercises, dance combinations, anatomical information, and imagery and breathing exercises. Reading, written assignments, and films help students formulate personal viewpoints on dance. The course is designed for students with little or no previous training, and for those with more experience who will be challenged accordingly.

Imagination in Motion Choreography is usually defined as the setting of dances so they can be reconstructed later. Improvisation is the spontaneous generation of movement that is ephemeral. This course will examine the latter by first exploring how movement can be generated by playing with the formal elements of dance: the body, energy, time, and space. Content themes will then be used as a source for movement ideas. Throughout the course, aesthetic issues will be examined such as: what is the relationship between structure and novelty in improvisation? What is each person’s movement style and how can it be expanded upon? What tensions and depths ensue from having to listen to oneself while being attentive to others while improvising? How can one determine if an improvisation is working?

Moving Issues Moving Issues explores issue-based dance and choreography. The course investigates how personal and cultural issues can be expressed through dance and, in turn, how dance can impact the experience of those issues. Students learn to consider such issues and challenges from an artist’s standpoint, through the creation of both improvisational dance and set choreography. The course emphasizes personal expression, the creative process, and the power of the arts to transform our experience of the questions, challenges and concerns faced in our lives. The class includes warm-up exercises, movement and choreography labs, performance opportunities, journaling, discussion, and the use of other arts modalities. Readings and videos deepen the understanding and experience of class material. Response journals, movement assignments and a final project/paper are required.

Dance Production Students in this course are members of a production team whose goal is a final performance of dances. Participants may function as choreographers, directors, composers, dancers, actors, musicians, set designers, light board operators, technicians, costumers, and stage and publicity managers. Teamwork and individual initiative are crucial for completion of the project, as are adherence to rehearsal schedules and responsibility for learning and fulfilling one’s role. While the final performances are the culmination of the class, the quality of the process is important as well. Journals, midterm, and final papers are required. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

Speaking and Moving Movement, whether literal or more abstract, can accompany and be the source of sound and text, just as sound and words can augment and give rise to movement. Improvisation, choreography, texts, assigned homework readings, creative writing, and performance are the means of exploring the ways dance and theater use speech and motion. This course satisfies one half of the arts requirement.

Moving Stories Stories are most often communicated in words, but movement can also tell them. This module explores the ways in which dance can convey a range of stories and themes. It also explores what aspects of verbal storytelling are not replicable in dance. This course satisfies one half of the arts requirement.

Moving Off Stage The nature of the performance space affects the movements chosen, the audience’s reading, and possibly the content of a dance. Creation of dances and improvisations for different campus environments is a major component of this class. Included are readings about dances and multimedia works set in nonproscenium settings. Most class sessions are devoted to showing pieces planned for class and creating improvisations in alternative spaces. This course satisfies one-half of the arts requirement.

Meaning through Movement Movement is a powerful means of communication, ranging from literal gesture to abstract motion. The course explores how this extensive physical vocabulary can be used to express a variety of themes ranging from very personal ones, such as autobiography and emotions; to the political, such as war and technology; to the philosophical, such as control and chance. Improvisation and choreography are the main structures used in class. Homework includes choreography, response journals, and written responses to assigned readings and video watching. The course is open to students with no prior movement experience (100 level) and to students in dance and theater wishing to continue the exploration of movement as an expressive medium (200 level).

Ballet In this class, dancers acquire a traditional approach to ballet technique along with a foundation which aims for anatomically friendly movement. It offers a flexible blend of classical ballet, kinesiology, and Tai chi principles in order to encourage flow, efficiency, and a whole body approach. Clear and efficient technique is developed through barre and center work, with an ongoing emphasis on musicality, use of breath, awareness of the floor and space, and moving in relation to others. Individual expression and movement quality are encouraged and developed.

Ballet II In this class, dancers acquire a traditional approach to ballet techniques along with an innovative foundation which aims for anatomically friendly movement. It offers a flexible blend of classical ballet, kinesiology, and Tai chi principles in order to encourage flow, efficiency, and a whole body approach. Clear and efficient technique is developed through barre and center work, and an ongoing emphasis on musicality, use of breath, awareness of the floor and space, and moving in relation to others. Individual expression and movement quality are encouraged and developed. Prerequisite: DANC 114 or permission of the instructor.

Intermediate Modern Dance Technique A continuation of Dance 101-104, this class concentrates on advancing the student’s awareness of and skills in alignment, efficiency and clarity of motion, musicality, spatial use, dancing with others, and personal expressiveness. Permission of the instructor is required.

Topics in Dance: Relationships between Dance and the Visual Arts This class examines the connections and differences between dance and visual arts, such as painting and photography. Formal areas explored include gesture, shape, scale, line, dimensionality, focus, density, proximity, and energy quantity and quality. Issues of concern include stillness and flow, context, point of view, theme and variation, contrast, and balance. Warm-ups; solo, partner, and group improvisations; choreographed studies; and visual art work are the bases for exploration of class themes. The class is open to any interested student.

Topics in Dance: Relationships between Dance and Theater This class examines connections and differences between dance and theater. Formal areas to be explored include physical presence, clarity and range, voice, facial expression, focus, intention, energy, space, and timing. Also addressed are questions of content in both art forms: comedy, effective characterization, and body language. Artistic concerns affecting both dance and theater such as stylization, group cohesiveness, memorization, and spontaneity are discussed as well. Warm-ups; solo, partner and group improvisations; and set dance and drama studies are the bases for exploration of class themes. This course is open to any interested student.

Topics in Dance: Relationships between Dance and Creative Writing This class examines the connections and contrasts between dance and a variety of creative writing forms: poetry, short stories, and personal essays. Formal topics considered include shape, duration, speed, accent, climax, repetition, theme and variation, and symbolism. Areas of concentration include emotions, political themes, characterizations, and nature. Warm-ups, solo and partner work, group improvisations, and presentation of choreography and writing are the bases for explorations of class themes. Weekly homework assignments include original creations in both genres. Any student willing to explore both art forms may enroll.

The Body in Multimedia Art Students in this course will study the history and theory of body use in multimedia art, and will create pieces reflecting their own ideas about how movement can be combined with other art forms in performance. The focus will be on 20th-century U.S. multimedia art and its roots in European Dada, Surrealism, and the Bauhaus. Course material includes readings and films; oral and written research projects; movement improvisation and choreography. Prerequisite: One previous course in the arts, or permission of the instructor.

Choreography Workshop This workshop is for students with some experience in dance technique and creative movement who wish to develop and refine their approach to choreography. After a review of the basic building blocks of dance—the body, energy, time, and space—the class will address overarching structural issues a choreographer should consider in order to refine his/her work. Examples of these include phrasing (how to execute a movement combination to maximize the desired effect), transitions (how to connect one movement to another), variations (how to expand on a movement to obtain more material), and focus (how to use the eyes effectively). Homework will include weekly movement projects supplemented with readings and videos. Students are expected to maintain an ongoing response journal. Each student will design a final project which may consist of a few short dances or one longer dance. By permission of the instructor.

Advanced Modern Dance Technique Students in this course are expected to have achieved and to continue to refine technical skills. A final research project and participation in the semester dance performance are required. Prerequisite: Dance 201-202.

Dance Tutorial Under these course numbers, juniors and seniors design tutorials to meet their particular interests and programmatic needs.