Dance Course Descriptions

How do you define dance? Where is dance found? How does dance affect you? As we explore this line of inquiry, we will touch on topics such as dance history, theory, culture and documentation. Drawing from a variety of somatic practices and our collaborative experience, we will physically sample approaches to dance and practice noticing dance in our lives.

Ensemble Thinking is a system of physical, improvisational, group exercises that provides organizing lenses through which we observe and participate in movement and performance. Using this technique, we will develop awareness and listening skills for relating to others, build a common language, and practice collaboratively creating dances. Through embodied studio investigations, this course introduces students to dance composition.

Contact Improvisation is a partnering dance form that explores movement possibilites created when two or more individual bodies are touching and/or sharing weight, balance or support. The practice of Contact Improvisation encourages the development of self-responsibility, awareness, clear physical communication and a strong, versitile body. This is a rigorous dance lab in which we will experiment with action, physics and listening.

This is a course designed to build your creative muscle. In the supportive community of this class, we will access your individual story, writing, drawing, movement and voice to create and perform for each other every class meeting. Employing diverse performance techniques and referencing various readings, we will discover and craft our unique inspirations, directions, and experience.

Based in ReWire/Dancing States and other contemporary techniques, this course will build a movement foundation for the solo dancing body. In the studio, we will work with clarity, speed, and precision to develop a versatile and conscious dancer. We will also explore topics such as performance, intention, and habits while dancing.

Fundamentals of Movement introduces the performing artist, the performing athlete to tactics of care, injury prevention, performance enhancement, and wellness. Through experiential anatomy, fascial training, restorative and preventative somatic practices students actively engage with experiential tools that will enhance and add longevity to their performative careers, whatever performative situation comes next. The course will have reading, viewing, discussion, written and verbal critique, and experiential components. Recommended for students who wish to participate in theatre, opera, musical and collaborative productions as well as competitive sport and athletics.

Movement for the Theatre introduces students to the basic movement and gestural vocabulary of the dance discipline and promotes a fundamental understanding of how dance and movement serve as one of the contributing arts to the theatre. In each section, emphasis will be placed on basic technique, historical context, and their relationship to common theatre, musical, and opera production practices. Recommended for students who wish to participate in theatre, opera, and musical productions. Only 6 units of Movement for the Theatre (any type) can count toward the theatre arts major.

Physical Practice introduces students to dance as an embodied practice, academic study and a process of investigating and making. This class section explores the basic elements of contemporary modern dance: coordination, alignment, time, space, speed, rhythm, weight, and solo/ensemble practice. Emphasis is placed on moving and dancing a lot, getting sweaty in order to build strength and stamina in the body and mind. The course will have viewing, discussion, written and verbal critique, composition, and experiential components. Recommended for students who wish to participate in theatre, opera, musical and collaborative productions. This course can be repeated (and can be taken by students who previously took THAR 147 under the old title.) Only 6 units of Physical Practice (any type) can count toward the theatre arts major.

Physical Practice introduces students to dance as an embodied practice, academic study and a process of investigating and making. This class section explores the basic elements of contemporary Broadway dance: coordination, alignment, time, space, speed, rhythm, weight, and solo/ensemble practice. Emphasis is placed on moving and dancing a lot, getting sweaty in order to build strength and stamina in the body and mind. The course will have viewing, discussion, written and verbal critique, composition, and experiential components. Recommended for students who wish to participate in theatre, opera, musical and collaborative productions. This course can be repeated (and can be taken by students who previously took THAR 149 under the old title.) Only 6 units of Physical Practice (any type) can count toward the theatre arts major.

This studio-based introductory course examines the interplay of physical movement with verbal and written texts. Using choreographic approaches and improvisational structures, students will investigate how to mine a theatrical text for its range of expression, embodiment, and compositional qualities, and to examine the kinesthetic body as a text.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.

Topics in this series vary from year to year. May be repeated when topic is different.

This course introduces major concepts, approaches and issues in the study of dance as a cultural, historical and artistic practice. By examining key texts in dance studies, viewing dance films and engaging in the practice of dancing, students will investigate how moving bodies shaped history while considering dance as a form of cultural identity and political power.

This class introduces students to the concept of embodied knowledge, asking students 'what do our bodies know and how do they learn?' and 'what do the performances of our bodies create?' Students will explore embodied ways of knowing at the intersection of Indian classical dance, yoga, and Hindu traditions and then create and analyze their own movement practices as part of the class.

What constitutes performance and how is performance a site of possibility, discourse, dissension, and connection? Through the lens of dance as a foundation, we grapple with embodying our research and creating action in our campus communities and beyond. This upper-level course is meant to prepare students for their senior capstone and for any students who want to dive into deep research.

A tutorial is a student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or a small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members from the department. The primary goal of a tutorial is the expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. A tutorial may be arranged with an instructor in accordance with the guidelines contained in the course catalog and any departmental requirements.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.

An independent study is largely student-directed work in scholarship or creative activity supervised by a member of an academic department. An independent study may be arranged with an instructor in accordance with the guidelines contained in the course catalog and any departmental requirements.

A tutorial is a student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or a small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members from the department. The primary goal of a tutorial is the expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. A tutorial may be arranged with an instructor in accordance with the guidelines contained in the course catalog and any departmental requirements.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.

An independent study is largely student-directed work in scholarship or creative activity supervised by a member of an academic department. An independent study may be arranged with an instructor in accordance with the guidelines contained in the course catalog and any departmental requirements.

A tutorial is a student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or a small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members from the department. The primary goal of a tutorial is the expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. A tutorial may be arranged with an instructor in accordance with the guidelines contained in the course catalog and any departmental requirements.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.

An independent study is largely student-directed work in scholarship or creative activity supervised by a member of an academic department. An independent study may be arranged with an instructor in accordance with the guidelines contained in the course catalog and any departmental requirements.