Introduction to Dance Studies

Catalog description

This course serves as an introduction to major concepts and issues in the study of dance, with a focus on exploring dance as a meaning making practice. Examining the cultural, historical, and artistic conditions of various forms, we will develop our ability to “read” a dance and articulate what it reveals about the social contexts in which it is performed. During the semester, through readings, lecture, discussion, videos, physical practice, and embodied reseatch, we will attend to the ways in which social identities are formed and transformed, reinforced and challenged through dance practices. We will specifically pay careful attention to how the issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality affect the making, performing and understanding of dance. Satisfies a requirement in the Communication Studies interdisciplinary major and minor. Satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts requirement.