2007–2008 Dance Courses
First-Year Studies in Dance
Level: FYS
Semester: Year
First-Year Studies in Dance includes a full Dance Third, a series of coordinated component courses that consists of twelve to fifteen hours of in-class time, including a daily, required practice class. The First-Year Studies Third differs from the regular Dance Third in that students have an additional weekly forum in which to express their oral and written perceptions of diverse elements of dance and to develop analytical skills. In practice classes, attention will be given to sharpening each student’s awareness of space and time and to disciplining the body to move with energy and precision, while developing basic skills, strength, control, and an understanding of functional anatomy. In improvisation classes, we will explore somatic intelligence and imagination and mine the natural movement ability of each student; vocabulary and awareness will be expanded through informal group and individual problem solving. In dance history, students will be introduced to the history of concert dance in the United States from the early twentieth century to the present. The Dance program encourages students to explore vital aspects of dance in a variety of technical practices, creative studies, and dance history. The First-Year Studies course offers increased focus and intensity to those efforts.
Modern and Postmodern Practice
Emily Devine, Merceditas Manago-Alexander, Mr. Keith S. Sabado
Semester: Year
For students new to the study of dance, the fundamental class will develop skills basic to all movement studies, i.e., dynamic alignment through coordination and integration of the neuro/skeletal/muscular system, strength, balance, and basic spatial and rhythmic awareness. For the beginning student, emphasis will be on the continued development of basic skills, energy use, strength, and control. Introduction of stylistic forms and their development will begin at this level. Inter- mediate and advanced students will study more complex movement patterns, explore movement problems, and concentrate on the demands of performance. At all levels attention will be 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 Manago-Alexander
Level: Open
Semester: Year
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 with optimal integration of every aspect of the individual body, mind, and spirit. Level 1 students will use a body-friendly approach to learning basic ballet vocabulary and terminology. Emphasis will be placed on musicality, use of energy, and transference of weight at the barre, in center work, and in combinations. Levels 2 and 3 will further develop the ability to use the language of ballet as a powerful means of communication.
Open to theatre and music students with permission of the appropriate faculty. Yearlong course; students may enter in the second semester with permission of the teacher only.
Dance Training Conference
Semester: Year
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. This course is required for all students taking a Dance Third. It is designed to support the work being done in movement practice classes and departmental performance projects.
Improvisation–Beginning and Improvisation A and B
Emily Devine, Peggy Gould, Kathy Westwater
Semester: Year
Merge your mind and body in the moment through dance improvisation. This invaluable creative mode will help you recognize, embody, and develop sensations and ideas in motion. Internal and external perceptions will be honed while looking at movement from many points of view as an individual or in partnership with others. Beginning Improvisation is required for all students new to the Dance program. This class is an entry into the creative trajectory that later leads to composition and dance making. Improvisation A and B are recommended for students who have already taken beginning improvisation and want to explore this form further.
Contact Improvisation
Semester: Year
This course will examine the underlying principles of an improvisatory form predicated on two or more bodies coming into physical contact. Contact Improvisation, which emerged in the 1960’s out of the Judson Experimental Dance Theater, combines aspects of social and theatrical dance, bodywork, gymnastics, and martial arts. 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.
Permission of the instructor is required. Yearlong course; students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only.
Composition A, B
Semester: Year
Movement is the birthright of every human being. These components explore its expressive and communicative possibilities 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. Learn to mold kinetic vocabularies of your own choice and incorporate sound, objects, visual elements, and text to contextualize and identify your vision. Students will be asked to create and perform studies, direct one another, and share and discuss ideas and solutions with peers. Students are not required to make finished products, but involve themselves in the joy of creation.
Beginning Improvisation is either a prerequisite or should be taken at the same time.
Dance Making
John A. Yannelli, Sara Rudner, Dan Hurlin
Semester: Year
Individual choreographic projects will be designed and directed by students with special interest and experience in dance composition. Students and faculty will meet weekly to view works-in-progress 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.
Prerequisites: Dance Composition, Music for Dancers, and permission of the instructor.
Dance and Technology
Semester: Year
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.
Senior Seminar
Semester: Year
This class is designed to support the creative and technical practices, as well as the practical concerns of students in their senior year. It will also serve as a forum for discussions of art practices in other media and the nature of the creative process. Choreographic projects will be presented and discussed in seminar and in conference.
Anatomy in Action
Semester: Year
How is it possible for humans to move in the multitude of ways that we do? Come and learn to develop your X-ray vision of the human body in motion, in a course that combines movement practice, drawing, and lecture with problem solving. In this course, 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. Insights gained in this course can provide tremendous inspiration in the creative process.
Introductory-level course. Yearlong course; students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only.
Anatomy Seminar
Level: Advanced
Semester: Year
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.
students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only
T’ai Chi Ch’uan
Semester: Year
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 that it truly is, helping the body to balance and integrate from the movement center. The practice of T’ai Chi teaches us to relax while in motion, thereby bringing more consciousness and grace to all expressive and daily-life movement. This beginners’ course teaches the basic sequence of moves so that students can practice them on their own.
Yoga
Semester: Year
These courses offer students the opportunity to study the ancient art of 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®
Semester: Year
Moshe Feldenkrais believed that “rigidity, mental or physical, is contrary to the laws of life.” His 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. Self-generated learning will release habitual patterns, offer new option, and enhance the integrated activity of the entire nervous system.
FreeStyle
Semester: Year
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.
Contemporary African Dance
Semester: Year
This class fuses elements of traditional West African dance with other popular “African-derived” movement forms. The genre is not strictly structured and allows dancers to interpret the moves in various ways.
Tap Dance
Semester: Year
This tap course offers what any accomplished tap dancer should know: how to use both rhythms and space to venture into choreography as well as improvisation. The first weeks will be spent on learning the basic rhythm tap rudiments and various style elements from the Original Hoofers (with emphasis on Jimmy Slyde’s vocabulary). Then we will focus on the repertoire of “BeauteeZ’n the Beat” as an exploration of the choreographic possibilities of tap, progressing into an initiation of improvisation as the ultimate goal of tap as the language of self-expression.
Argentinean Tango
Semester: Year
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 and mark); sacadas; hooks; ornaments; musicality; and styles. Note: Bring shoes that allow you to pivot. High heels for women and leather-soled shoes for men are recommended.
Dance History
Level: Open
Semester: Year
A course in the history of performance in the United States from the early twentieth 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.
For all students beginning the Dance program. Open to any interested student.
Music for Dancers
Semester: Year
The objective of this course is to provide dance students with the tools to better understand relationships between music and dance. Students will expand their knowledge of musical elements, terminology, and procedures and learn the basics of rhythmic notation. Students 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.
students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only
Labanotation/Repertory
Level: Advanced
Semester: Year
An inquiry into the ways in which dance might be taught in various settings and under various conditions. Detailed study of kinesthetic, verbal, and creative factors in teaching 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.
For advanced and graduate students. Yearlong course; students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only.
Teaching Conference
Semester: Year
An inquiry into the ways in which dance might be taught in various settings and under various conditions. Detailed study of kinesthetic, verbal, and creative factors in teaching 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.
For advanced and graduate students. Yearlong course; students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only.
Lighting Design for Dance
Josh Epstein, Mr. Tyler Micoleau
Semester: Year
The art of illuminating dance is the subject of this component. We will examine the theoretical and practical aspects of designing lights for dance. Students will create original lighting designs for Dance program concerts. Preference will be given to graduate students and seniors.
Dance Meeting
Semester: Year
A weekly gathering of all Dance Thirds to share their work and that of invited guests who teach, perform, and inform. Topics have included dance injuries, dance therapy, contact improvisation, kinesthetic awareness, nutrition, Indian classical dance, and presentations by young New York City choreographers.
students may enter in the second semester with permission of the instructor only
Performance Project: Trisha Brown’s ”Line Up“
Semester: Year
“Line Up,” a classic postmodern dance, was choreographed in 1997 by world-renowned choreographer Trisha Brown, one of the original members of the Judson Dance Theater. It will be reconstructed by Vicki Shick, who danced with Ms. Brown for many years.
This class is open by audition to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students.
Postmodern Dance
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
Applied to dance the term postmodern has had varied meanings for dancers, choreographers, writers, and audiences for over forty years. But its genesis in the activities of the Judson Dance Theater in Greenwich Village in the mid-l960’s is rarely disputed. Encouraged by the compositional experimentation of choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage, the Judson artists questioned established assumptions about dance and dancing. The answers found in their work dramatically altered modern dance, precipitating what is inclusively called postmodern dance. In this course, we will study the work of artists who comprised the Judson Dance Theater and those who have been influenced by them, up to the present day, looking at recorded dances and documentaries, as well as reading histories, biographies, and criticism. Students will be required to attend live performances in New York City and to use the resources of the Research Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center for both class and conference work.
Open to any interested student. This course is a full seminar. It is not part of a Dance Third nor is previous dance experience a prerequisite.
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
Semester: Spring
From 1909 to 1929, Sergei Diaghilev, the Russian impresario, directed an astonishing artistic enterprise in Western Europe called the Ballets Russes. Initially a company of Russian dancers, choreographers, painters, and composers, the Ballets Russes’s roster grew to include major European artists from the worlds of art, literature, music, and dance. Diaghilev brought them together, encouraging and directing their innovative collaborations. Included among them were innovators such as Fokine, Nijinsky, Balanchine, Stravinsky, Ravel, Satie, Bakst, Picasso, and Massine. During the company’s twenty-year history, its repertoire illustrated the major artistic movements of the early twentieth century from symbolism to constructivism. We will study the dances on videotape and slides and read histories, biographies, and criticism in our attempt to re-create and appreciate the richness of this unique company.
Open to any interested student. This course is a full seminar. It is not part of a Dance Third nor is previous dance experience a prerequisite.