Contemporary Movement Lab II

Catalog description

An intermediate level modern dance technique utilizing composition to enhance technical and performance issues: alignment, connection, balance, transition, expression, discovery. DANCE 366 Contemporary Movement Lab II (3) DANCE 366 is an intermediate level modern dance course utilizing the techniques, tools and theories of composition for understanding technique and performance. This class is designed specifically for the Dance Studies Minor student to enhance the efficient and expressive use of the body as a vehicle for expression. The student will not only develop greater flexibility, strength, and alignment, but also will gain self-awareness and further develop a personal dance vocabulary.Contemporary Movement Lab II will meet four hours a week, with an additional 1-hour studio lab for personal discovery. CML II is designed to further expose the intermediate level dancer to the style and techniques of modern dance as it uses composition for expression and performance. The intermediate level dancer will be further developed through a more thorough level of movement requirements: floor work, and strengthening experiences while exploring the connections of technique to composition and performance. Full articulation of body, feet and arms will be fostered through regular exercises, which will bring about stronger connections through the body to support complicated and difficult movement. Each class period will allow time to be spent in the traditional aspects of an intermediate modern dance technique class: floor warm up and connection to center of weight, center floor balance and strengthening technique exercises and combinations, traveling sequences across the floor, and final accumulative combination.An equal amount of time will be spent in discovering the many theories and tools of composition: time, weight, space, rhythm/phrasing, theme based creative experiences, and dance as a tool for communication. Students will be expected to create a variety of studies regularly through individual and group work. Outside reading and follow up discussions will further support their experience in the studio. Discussion, journals, goal setting and writing assignments will allow for opportunities to share and express levels of comfort and personal discoveries with various experiences.