THEA 331Dances of South Asia

Catalog

This class will incorporate an exploration of the fundamentals of traditional South Asian dance with a comparative approach that enables students to develop an understanding of South Asian dance styles and practices, as well as of cultural differences between dance styles in South Asia, the West, and other global regions. Students will be introduced to various ways of presenting and performing South Asian dance genres, including not only traditional formats, but also those found in modern settings, such as concerts, television, and film. The class format will be divided equally between active physical learning of dance movements and discussion of assigned readings and films, and online excerpts relating to such topics as dance-related cultural history; dance-related vocabulary such as drum beats, costumes, music, artists, and art movements; dance as a marker of relationships within and among different cultures; and aspects of dance fusion between South Asia and the West.