Dance Minor Requirements

The Minor in Dance is comprised of Artistic, Academic, and Athletic Practices

Artistic

Dance is a practice of crafting pathways for curiosity, resiliency, and connection through movement. Our dance minor at Lawrence values every body, practice as research, and kinetic intelligence. Collaborative practice is the foundation of our study. Our innovative approach to movement nourishes students ready to take embodied, inter-disciplinary, experimental approach to artmaking and supports dance artist scholars on their journey towards choreographing compassionate futures. Our program is unique in that it invites students to engage with the histories and knowledge they already embody. The outcome: deep conversation around process, interdisciplinary projects, recitals, student/faculty multimedia collaborations. This cross pollination of idea, interest, training is what makes Lawrence unique is what sets up our artists for post-Lawrence success.

Academic

Dance at Lawrence offers movement practice that is accessible to all. In the classroom, we practice valuing difference, creating a sense of belonging and an embodied practice of place, both internal and external. The practice of dance making examines how the body and voice are linked, utilized, full of power, poise, presence. We arrive to each class, conversation, discussion with our individual history, culture, and knowledge background. Knowledge and ideas are not static, they are on the move; we dance with them. This is all part of full participation and involvement in the dance space. Students then bring this embodied experience with them to their next class- whether that be First-Year Studies, a science lab, or creative writing.

Athletic

A dance minor at Lawrence contributes to the development of strength, stamina, and physical presence of the Theatre Arts department, Conservatory of Music, Athletics, and the whole campus community. Through classes such as Fundamentals of Movement: Practices of Care for the Performing Artist, Athlete we lead our students through experiential anatomy and restorative exercises that elicit relief of pain, fuller range of physical movement. We practice preventative physical movement sequences that contribute to the health and agency of both our artists’ and athletes’ personal wellness practices. Our intention: performers who can leave their undergraduate career with tools that will enhance and add longevity their performative careers, wherever they move to next.

The minor in Dance requires a total of 36 units.

15 units from among the following Foundational courses:

• THAR/MUDA 132: Ensemble Thinking (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 143: Fundamentals of Movement (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 221: Dance Studies: Global Perspectives (6 units)
• THAR/MUDA 341: Construction Sites: Tools for Embodied Research (6 units)

6 units from among the following Embodied courses:

• THAR/MUDA 134: Contact Improvisation (3 units, repeatable)
• UNIC 135: Doing Nothing (1 unit)
• MURP 120: Deep Listening Lab (3 units)
• RLST 356: Meditation: Psychological and Buddhist Perspectives (6 units)
• THAR/MUSI 310: Alexander Technique I (3 units)
• THAR 430/MUSI 410/MURP 430: Alexander Technique II: For Performers (3 or 6 units)

6 units from among the following Collaborative courses:

• THAR/MUDA 132: Ensemble Thinking (3 units)
• MUEN 205: Dance Collective Ensemble (1 unit, repeatable)
• THAR 355 or 357: Theatre Production Laboratory (1 unit, repeatable)
• THAR 135: Stagecraft (6 units)
• THAR 137: Costume Crafts and Technology (6 units)
• MUSI/BUEN 150: Introduction to Arts Management (6 units)
• THAR161: Stage Makeup (3 units)
• MUSI 120: Basic Audio Recording (1 unit)
• MUSI 220: Audio Editing and Mixing Tech (3 units)
• MUEN 231: Kinkaviwo (1 unit)
• MUEN 232: Tambo Toke (1 unit)
• MUEN 203: Balinese Gamelan (1 unit)

9 units from among Practice courses:

• THAR/MUDA 134: Contact Improvisation (3 units, repeatable)
• THAR/MUDA 136: Physical Practice: Embodied Creative Practice (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 138: Articulating the Solo Body (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 143: Fundamentals of Movement: Practices of Care for the Performing Artist, Athlete (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 147: Physical Practice: Modern Dance (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 149: Physical Practice: Broadway Styles (3 units)
• THAR/MUDA 185: Movement and Text (6 units)
• THAR/MUDA 220: Musicians in Movement (3 units)