Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0122 - Dancing Modern 1

Dancing Modern 1 is a beginning level studio practice course designed to introduce students to ensemble performance-making as research practice, and employing "modern" and "contemporary" dance methodologies as a framework. The course will function as part dance technique class, part rehearsal/dance-making session, and part research seminar. Together we will examine ensemble dancing as a collective mode of being. We will look at how dancing ensembles have enacted utopian visions, massive spectacles, activist interventions, and we will question assumptions about whose bodies have been tasked to speak for a larger whole. We will dance-working to expand our capacities for embodied play, experimentation, and meaning-making-alongside physical and intellectual rigor, the development of dance literacy, and writing as a way to contextualize and process various aspects of embodied experience. The course will culminate in an informal sharing of the work made together, with the possibility of performing more formally early in the spring semester. No previous dance experience is necessary.

Arts, Design, and Media Independent Work Field trip fees: $30-$50 to attend performances throughout the semester. In this course, students are expected to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.