Graduate Dance Courses 2008-2009
Graduate Seminar I
This seminar encourages students to learn about the world of dance by conducting research and by analyzing and writing about aspects of dance that interest them.
Graduate Seminar II
This seminar is designed to encourage students to make connections between dance, theatre, music, writing, and the visual arts, and to make them aware of and conversant with the creative process always at work in the world. Choreographic projects from the Dance Making class will be presented and discussed.
Graduate Seminar III
This seminar emphasizes a dynamic foundation for dancing, offering participants an opportunity to refine their technique and analytical skills. Relevant aspects of functional anatomy are presented and considered throughout the class. Students are encouraged and coached to increase awareness of their current strategies as well as to broaden their range of movement possibilities.
Modern and Postmodern Practice
Emily Devine, Merceditas Mañago-Alexander, Keith S. Sabado
A study of dynamic alignment through coordination and integration of the neuro/ skeletal/muscular system in order to gain strength, balance, spatial, and rhythmic awareness. Various stylistic approaches are introduced through challenging complex movement patterns; problem solving and the demands of performance are also integral parts of this study. Attention is given to sharpening each student’s awareness of time and energy and to disciplining the body to move rhythmically, precisely, and in accordance with sound anatomical principles.
Ballet
Barbara Forbes, Merceditas Mañago-Alexander
Ballet studies guide students in creative and expressive freedom by enhancing qualities of ease, grace, and symmetry that define the form. To this end, we will explore alignment with an emphasis on anatomical principles and enlist the appropriate neuromuscular effort needed to dance optimally.
Dance Training Conference
Students will meet at least once per semester with the instructor to address individual dance training issues. We will examine these issues by discussing progress, specific challenges, and short-term and long-term goals. In addition, we will develop practical strategies to achieve those goals by means of supplemental strength, flexibility, kinesthetic awareness, and coordination exercises.
Improvisation – Beginning and Improvisation A, B
Emily Devine, Susan Rethorst, Donna Uchizono, Kathy Westwater
Internal and external perceptions will be honed while looking at movement from many points of view, as an individual or in partnership with others. This invaluable creative mode will help the student recognize, embody, and develop sensations and ideas in motion.
Contact Improvisation
We will explore movement practices that enhance our sensory awareness, with an emphasis on action and physical risk-taking. Contemporary partnering skills such as taking and giving weight and finding a common “center” will provide a basis for further exploration.
Composition A, B
Sara Rudner, Dan Hurlin, Susan Rethorst, Donna Uchizono
These components explore the expressive and communicative possibilities of movement by introducing different strategies for making dances. Problems posed run the gamut from conceptually driven dance/theatre to structured movement improvisations. These approaches vary depending on faculty. Students will be asked to create and perform studies, direct one another, and share and discuss ideas and solutions with peers.
Dance Making
Sara Rudner, Dan Hurlin, Kathy Westwater
Students and faculty will meet weekly to view individual choreographic projects and to discuss relevant artistic and practical problems. Whenever possible, the music for these projects, whether new or extant, will be performed live in concert. Students are encouraged to take Lighting Design and Stagecraft for Dance.
Dance and Tech/Media
This class will be run as a laboratory, mixing dance and computing. Students will experiment with designing interactive multimedia systems using Max/MSP/Jitter. These dance machines will provide new compositional approaches and forms for generating and disseminating dance. They can also serve as dynamic environments for digitally mediated live performances. Class readings will help place the work within a broader cultural context. No programming experience is required.
Anatomy in Action
In this class, movement is the basis for exploration of our profoundly adaptable anatomy. In addition to making drawings as we study the entire musculoskeletal system, we will learn Irene Dowd’s “Spirals,” a comprehensive warm-up/cool-down designed to mobilize all joints and muscles to their fullest range of motion.
Anatomy Seminar
This is an opportunity for advanced students who have completed Anatomy/Kinesiology to pursue their study of anatomy in greater depth. Each student will develop a specific project that will allow for further exploration of functional anatomy. We will meet as a group on alternate weeks to discuss questions and share experiences.
T’ai Chi Ch’uan
T’ai Chi Ch’uan is a Chinese-based system for health, stress reduction, meditation in movement, and nonaggressive self-defense. It is offered through the Dance department as the movement art it truly is, helping the body to balance and integrate from the movement center. Learning and practicing the deceptively simple movement vocabulary of T’ai Chi affords the opportunity to recognize, explore, and refine one’s sense of consciousness, self-awareness, and intrinsic energy. This beginner’s course teaches the basic sequence of moves so that students can practice them on their own. Particular attention will be paid to the applicability and practicality of T’ai Chi Ch’uan.
Yoga
Classes emphasize the union of spirit, mind, and body through practices that include breathing techniques, vocalizations, and postures (asanas). By offering clear principles of biomechanical alignment and balance, the practice develops integrated strength and flexibility, and helps dancers interweave technique and artistry.
Feldenkrais: Awareness Through Movement®
Moshe Feldenkrais’ system of somatic education develops awareness, flexibility, and coordination as students are verbally guided through precisely structured movement explorations. The lessons are done lying on the floor, sitting, or standing, and they gradually increase in range and complexity. Students are required to bring very fine attention to their experience in order to develop their capacity for spontaneous effortless action.
FreeStyle
Taking inspiration from both Old School and New School Hip Hop, this class merges the two. High energy and playful, students will be encouraged to use their bodies in ways that involve many different stylistic techniques.
African Dance
In this class, students will explore the fundamental aesthetic of African dance. There will be an emphasis on rhythm as we work to internalize the intricacies of African polyrhythm. Grounding, strength, and stability are important to African dance, and students will spend time exploring their cultural meaning and importance. Learning African dance enables students to better understand what dance means in African culture. This class builds personal awareness as it transcends cultural boundaries. Class will be accompanied by live drumming.
Argentinean Tango
Acquire a tango vocabulary of movement and the leading and following techniques in a close embrace. Topics include: Balance; posture; tango walk; basic steps; rhythms: Tango, Milonga, and Waltz Tango; traspie; connection (communicating with torso, tango embrace, & mark); leading and following techniques; sacadas; hooks; ornaments; musicality; and styles.
Flamenco Dance
Gypsies and Goya’s aristocrats, the swirl of a cape and the flash of a gold-toothed smile, the clatter of castanets and a wailing song, wild and indomitable ferocity and seductive, almond-eyed beauties.…These are just a few of the images associated with flamenco, the popular dance and music of Spain. This course provides an in-depth introduction to the pulsing rhythms, languid arm movements, and powerful footwork of flamenco dance. It is designed to provide the basis for understanding, appreciating, and participating in flamenco as an expression of individuality and of culture. Movement, rhythm, power of expression, and communication will be cultivated through studio experiences with flamenco dance techniques as well as through films, selected readings, and trips to see live performance.
Dance History
A course in the history of performance in the United States from the early 20th century to the present as exemplified by the dancers, choreographers, and teachers who brought about notable changes in the art. The relationship of dance to the larger cultural environment will be discussed, with emphasis placed on the dance of our time. This course is designed to help the student relate his or her own work to the development of the art and to encourage creative critical perception.
Music for Dancers
Students will expand their knowledge of musical elements, terminology, and procedures, and learn the basics of rhythmic notation. They will also learn how to scan musical scores with various degrees of complexity and explore the diverse rhythmic styles that have developed in response to different geographical, social, and philosophical conditions. This course will provide students with the opportunity to play percussion instruments.
Labanotation/Repertory
This course will cover elementary and intermediate levels of Laban’s system of movement notation. Students will concentrate on correct observation and analysis of movement, writing facility, and the ability to read and perform authentic historical dance forms. Reconstruction and performance of a notated work will be the culmination of the second semester’s work.
Teaching Conference
Detailed study of kinesthetic, verbal, and creative factors in varied teaching situations will be presented and analyzed in terms of teaching objectives. Students will be placed as practice teachers, under supervision, in dance classes on campus and in community schools.
Lighting Design and Stagecraft for Dance
We will examine the theoretical and practical aspects of designing lights for dance. Students in this class will create original lighting designs for dance program concerts.
Dance Meeting
A weekly gathering of all dance students that includes classes, performances, talks, panels, etc. Topics have included dance injuries, dance therapy, contact improvisation, kinesthetic awareness, nutrition, Indian classical dance, and presentations by young New York City choreographers.
Dance/Movement Therapy: Fundamentals
In this process-oriented course, we will study the theory and practice of dance/movement therapy. Through experiential and collaborative learning, we will examine the historical, developmental, cultural, and clinical aspects of dance’s ability to heal and promote change. Students will also explore their own relationships to dance from the perspectives of personal growth and social action.
Performance Project: Fall 2008
Barbara Bray Ketchum, Donna Uchizono
Donna Uchizono is the artistic director/choreographer of the New York-based Donna Uchizono Company, established in 1990. Known for her “wit, spicy movement, and rich invention,” Ms. Uchizono will share her creative process with the students of Sarah Lawrence College and create a dance. Ms. Uchizono normally creates a movement vocabulary specific to the individual piece and will do this in tandem with the students. As characteristic of her work, the dance will utilize a concept as a metaphor for guiding its kinetic direction, creating an atmosphere imbued with layered fragility, bold gestures, and emotional sublimity.