Dance Theater and Performance: An Interdisciplinary Investigation

Catalog description

The course will introduce students to the field Dance Theatre both by retracing its influences, as well as experimenting with compositional elements and creating work in class. We will start with the major performance traditions from which Dance Theatre grew: modern dance, mime, physical theatre, postmodern dance, butoh and performance art. This highly interdisciplinary studio course will benefit students in a variety of fields, among them music, design, the visual arts, scenography, as well as dance and theatre. Readings will include texts by: Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook, Michael Chekhov, Royd Climenhaga, John Martin, Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, Doris Humphrey, Nobert Servos, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Jerzy Grotowski, among others. Examples of artists we will discuss include Anna Sokolow, Kurt Jooss, Pina Bausch, Bill T. Jones, Anne Bogart, DV8, and Jan Fabre among others. Students will also learn, rehearse, and do informal class showings of repertory pieces.