This course is for students with prior experience making dance or performance art. In this class we will begin by looking at dances or performances from students’ own past work, or work they admire or are inspired by. We will use these as a springboard to discuss what attracts us in terms of aesthetics, site, style, identity, narratives, politics, etc., and consider how aesthetic issues are directly related to ideology. We will then explore making our own work from that lens in a spirit of curiosity and pushing new limits. The students will develop their own material to further learn about their particular aesthetic interests and what is behind them, in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of themselves and their work. Students will discover aesthetic rigor and creative methods rooted in their own particular ideology.
This class will meet once a week but will have assignments and some reading; it will be held in-person one week and remote the next.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
*Be exposed to a broad range of work and be able to share and talk about their influences as well as their own work in a supportive environment.
*Develop more articulate language to speak about dance and performance and their own interests and aesthetic and where it comes from.
*Develop a greater connection with their own artistic voice..
*Gain a better understanding about why they like what they like and begin to have more awareness about what aesthetic choices they are taking.
*Learn about aesthetic rigor and its relationship to creative methods and the politics behind those choices.
*Learn to connect aesthetic choices to ideological and political choices and choose responsibly when making and talking about work.
Delivery Method: Hybrid
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor; priority given to students with prior experience in making dance and/or performance. Please email lucianaachugar@bennington.edu by Monday, November 28 to express your interest and a brief statement (1-2 sentences) about your dance experience.
Corequisites: Dance or Drama Lab Assignment if students are registered for 4 or more credits in Dance.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 2
Tu 4:10PM - 6:00PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Course Frequency: One time only
Categories: 4000 , All courses , Dance , Hybrid , Two Credit
Tags: aesthetics , composition , dance , movement , performance art , politics