Dance 272AF - Dance and Culture: 'Improvisation from an Africanist Perspective'

This course will be a contemporary exploration of the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the African-rooted community dance circle. Through technical, literary, and media-based explorations, students will examine the circle as a culture of healing and transformation that sustains people of African heritage across geographic spaces spanning both oceans and time. By investigating dance improvisation as a practice of deep listening and as a method of negotiating with precarity and the unknown, we will conduct in-depth research on the potentials of the circle as a place of embodiment, resource, and belonging that can be participated in by people across all cultures, races, and backgrounds.