This seminar course is designed to guide students as they imagine and design both their UMass Dance experience and craft their larger vision for careers in dance beyond university. Ideas and concepts that shape forms of expression are referenced and illuminated through writing, classroom viewings, listenings, readings as well as attendance performances. Students will research and discuss possibilities for futures in dance, and ask essential questions like: How do I view and write about dance from a critical perspective? What is the difference between academic and creative research?

This course explores the expressions of Cuban dance derived from various African ethnic groups (Bantu, Yoruba, Fon, among many others) that helped shape the Island's identity. Students will explore different movement patterns and complex polyrhythms connected to a spirituality and aesthetic that has crossed nationalities to contribute to contemporary popular culture worldwide over time. The class will feature live drummers. Coursework will include readings and discussions, video screenings, and a final ethnographic project.

This course explores the vibrant, embodied expressions of the Hispanic Caribbean, focusing on social dances such as Mambo, Bachata, Merengue, and Rumba. Students will actively participate in these dynamic dance forms, examining their cultural significance and lasting influence on the global dance scene. Through a fun and physically enriching experience, these dances foster a strong sense of community, encourage camaraderie, and promote an appreciation for cultural diversity, enhancing both the learning environment and personal growth.

This course develops technical skill and creativity through the fusion of diverse dance styles, grounded in the tecnica cubana of Ramiro Guerra, Eduardo Rivero, and Arnaldo Patterson. Students will explore techniques from Graham, Cunningham, Limon, and Humphrey alongside ballet and Afro-Cuban dances - both sacred and vernacular - integrating improvisation and expressive breathing. Emphasis is placed on spine articulation, movement isolations, and complex polyrhythms to enhance performance. Risk-taking, collaboration, and openness to experimentation are central to the learning process.

An overview of dance as a performing art in the 20th century, focusing especially on major American stylistic traditions and artists. Readings, videos, research projects, and discussions explore principles, historical and cultural contexts. Also taught at Mount Holyoke and Smith.

Dancers will create many short studies based on elements of dance composition, space, time, energy. Exploring the use of imagery, props and various forms of music as source material, they will create solos and small group studies. A background in dance improvisation is highly recommended.

This course is designed to be simultaneously technical, philosophical, and socio-cultural. It is intended to cultivate a practice of mining an available body within the landscape of Jazz dance technique and researching the possibilities of self-transformation through shifts in perception of dance.

A continuation of DANCE 120. Also taught at Mount Holyoke and Smith.

Modern Dance technique after the Humphrey/Limon style. Floor work, center and locomotor exercises geared to enhance the student's strength, coordination, balance, flexibility, spatial awareness, rhythmic understanding and dynamics of movement. Attention is given to isolated movements and full combinations across the floor.