This intensive 7-week course focuses on the making and performing of solo dances/movement-based performances for students interested in deepening their engagement with their own creative work. We will consider dance making not as a craft that can be taught but as a collective practice of excavation of the self and personal interest. We will explore and expose our own creative inclinations, take on aesthetic values that may be different from our own, watch and learn from one another, engage in verbal and physical feedback, and explore strategies of how we position our work in relation to audience, space and interdisciplinary materials. The course will consist of a series of structured exercises, showings and conversations that address issues of ownership, aesthetic preference, preconceived concepts of form, commitment, risk and vulnerability.
This course is designed for students working in the field of body-based performance. Technical dance experience is not necessary. Attendance and fully committed participation and investment in class sessions is critical in this course, as well as some preparation of performance work outside of class. The course will culminate with an in-class studio showing for an invited audience.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
• develop a consistent practice of making and remaking solo performance work.
• gain insight into their own creative interests and methodologies, and make intentional and expansive choices about how to develop these interests further.
• develop strategies for giving and receiving feedback.
• Explore movement-based performance in relation to space, sound, objects, audience, and direction/intention.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor, with priority given to students with a concentration in dance, and/or prior experience with making original dance or body-based performance work. Please email levigonzalez@bennington.edu with a brief statement of interest by May 12, 2023 for first-priority consideration.
Corequisites: Dance or Drama lab assignment if students sign up for 4 or more credits in designated dance courses.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 2
W 8:30AM - 12:10PM (1st seven weeks)
Maximum Enrollment: 10
Course Frequency: Every 2-3 years
Categories: 4000 , All courses , Dance , First Seven Week , Fully In-Person , Two Credit
Tags: aesthetics , choreography , creative process , dance , vulnerability