This course is open to any student who wishes to explore the complicated ways in which histories form around discourses of the body, culture, aesthetic philosophy, and power. We will examine the aesthetic principles of modern and postmodern dance history; explore the artistic work of key and neglected figures from this history; and place this work within a larger social, cultural and political context.
Through recent and contemporary scholarship in the field of Dance Studies in particular, we will locate modern and postmodern dance within the socio-cultural values of its time. We will explore the significance of the innovations that artists associated with these movements offered to our cultural understanding of dance, while also considering the exclusions and social inequities sometimes perpetuated. We will also challenge the notion of modern dance as an exclusively Western phenomenon by looking at modern and postmodern experiments from other global locations, thereby complicating a singular understanding of modern dance history.
This is a reading and writing intensive course, in which students will be expected to produce written papers, creative responses to the material, and research-based class presentations.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
• gain an understanding of how modern and postmodern dance has been represented historically within Western culture.
• engage with contemporary scholarship on dance that incorporates critical analyses from often overlooked perspectives of race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and other frequently marginalized points of view.
• develop research methodologies to discuss and produce written and verbal analyses of historical representations of dances.
• reflect on and expand their understanding of how dance and related physical practices have shaped their own world view.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 4
M/Th 10:00AM - 11:50AM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Course Frequency: Every 2-3 years
Categories: All courses , Dance , Fully In-Person
Tags: dance history , dance studies , modern dance , postmodern dance