This class incorporates speaking, language, sounding and scoring as activities that can be integrated with movement in complex and novel ways, through both structured and improvisatory practices.
Through these practices, we will access the expressive and artistic possibilities of sound and language as an extension of the body. Additionally, we will look at the work of contemporary artists who engage with language and body-generated speaking and sounding as part of their artistic work. Students will gain skills, confidence and a deeper understanding of these modes of expression and have opportunities to engage them through the development of their own original work in collaborative and individual projects. Also, in order to extend this work further into a multidisciplinary practice, we will spend several sessions working with the students of Kyoko Kitamura’s Composing for Improvisers course.
This course presents an opportunity for students interested in movement, acting, singing, music and sound composition, and other forms, to explore this rich area of artistic research in an interdisciplinary context. Lastly, the course considers how written language/scoring, the voice and the body create meaning in distinct ways, and thus offers tools to utilize these resources with increased sensitivity, nuance and depth. All levels of experience with moving, speaking and sounding are welcome.
Students are expected to participate fully in class sessions and discussions. Attendance is important due to the practice-based nature of this course. Video viewings and light readings will take place outside of class time, as well as devising short individual and group performance studies based on class materials. Students will create a final performance project employing course tools and concepts at the end of the course.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
-gain practical experience and confidence improvising with movement, spoken word, and sound as a studio practice, a compositional practice and a mode of performance.
-be exposed to artistic work from a variety of traditions and cultural perspectives that incorporate language, speech and vocals.
-learn about the history of the usage of scores in contemporary dance practices and develop their own original scores for their work.
-develop strategies to engage collaboratively with their peers.
-understand how movement, language and sound communicate meaning differently and explore how layering the two can enrich/enliven/complexify our creative practice.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Corequisites: Dance or Drama Lab Assignment if students are registered for 4 or more credits in designated dance courses.
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 4
Tu/F 4:10PM - 6:00PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Course Frequency: Every 2-3 years
Categories: 2000 , All courses , Dance , Four Credit , Fully In-Person
Tags: dance , language , movement practice , scores , sounding