DANC 1050. Dance As an Art Form for Nonmajors. (4 Hours)
Introduces dance as a performing art. Investigates the diverse aesthetic, multicultural, and historical contexts of global dance forms. Students participate in both theoretical and practical classes to increase kinesthetic awareness and understanding of the language of dance. In viewing dance, students explore the art form as a reflection of social and cultural perspectives and integrate relationships to other artistic disciplines.
DANC 1070. Jazz 1 for Nonmajors. (2 Hours)
Presents basic knowledge of jazz dance and its history. Focuses on various styles from classical to modern jazz. Emphasizes developing coordination, timing, and strength. Introduces syncopation and isolations of the body.
DANC 1080. Tap 1. (2 Hours)
Delves deep into the captivating art form of tap dance, blending practical experience, historical exploration, jazz traditions, the present-day use of the form in collaboration with other dance forms, and the ways that it can influence technology and creativity. Celebrates the rich cultural heritage and roots of the African Diaspora that haveinfluenced social and popular culture, particularly through the birth of jazz music alongside the representation of how it can infuse with today's music culture. Immerses students in the rhythmic vocabulary, rich history, and improvisational spirit of tap dance, fostering a profound appreciation for this uniquely African American and jazz-influenced dance form, along with the push to find ways in which it can influence their own favored style of movement and be applied for any and all outside dance work. May be repeated once.
DANC 1200. Stagecraft for Dance. (2 Hours)
Introduces students to the knowledge, skills, and responsibilities associated with a wide variety of stage technologies and activities found in the world of technical theatre, particularly as it relates to dance production. Combines a grounding in the history and theory of technical theatre practices with laboratory experience to offer students an opportunity to gain a fundamental understanding of key areas of production such as light and sound operation, light hang and focus, multimedia for dance, wardrobe, and costuming. Addresses issues of stage safety as well as the imperatives of public assembly and fire codes. Students participate in assigned production responsibilities for the dance performances.
DANC 1400. Ballet 1 for Nonmajors. (2 Hours)
Investigates the physical experiences of this dance form coupled with an academic component that emphasize the history and biographies of prominent figures in the ballet world. Offers students an opportunity to develop an appreciation of ballet and to use the physical experience to gain strength, flexibility, and fluidity within this style. May be repeated once.
DANC 1410. Modern Dance for Nonmajors. (2 Hours)
Emphasizes the development of basic modern dance concepts and technique including the increase of student’s strength, control, and rhythmic awareness. Introduces early modern dance concepts and their principles. Covers the early modern dance pioneers and their movement philosophies, as well as the social and historical context of their creative work.
DANC 1450. Ballet 1. (4 Hours)
Examines elementary dance principles by studying the specific discipline of classical ballet. Introduces instruction of simple movement sequences strategically to challenge and increase students’ knowledge of form and musical phrasing. Focuses on the study of postural alignment and French ballet terminology, both in its written and physical form. Incorporates an introduction of social and historical aspects of the discipline to inform and enrich the physical study of ballet. May be repeated twice.
DANC 1490. Jazz 1. (4 Hours)
Introduces students to the idioms and influences associated with the development of jazz as a unique American dance form. Offers students an opportunity to develop an understanding of the rhythmic and dynamic differences inherent in jazz, which incorporates syncopation, improvisation, and polyrhythmic phrasing. Highlights the historical and cultural influences of jazz as an American phenomenon, its African American roots, and its continuous development as influenced by social trends. Requires students to research influential jazz choreographers and learn how to transcribe movement phrases to written form. May be repeated twice.
DANC 1890. Modern Dance 1. (4 Hours)
Introduces the form of modern dance at a basic level. Emphasizes integrating phrasing and musicality with movement patterns while developing independent learning skills in the classroom including movement analysis, problem solving, and physical and verbal articulation of the concepts. Incorporates the introduction of social and historical aspects of the discipline to inform and enrich the physical study of modern dance. May be repeated twice.
DANC 1990. Elective. (4 Hours)
Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.
DANC 2030. Rhythm in Sound and Movement. (2 Hours)
Addresses the relationships between rhythm in music and in dance movement. Offers students an opportunity to acquire a basic familiarity with musical notation as an analytical and descriptive tool. Precise technical standards for clarity of rhythmic expression, as well as an array of compositional and improvisational methodologies for rhythmic invention in sound and movement, contribute to the development of heightened rhythmic sensibilities. Cultivates sharpened listening skills and habits, designed to apply to a wide variety of artistic roles and endeavors, through study of the rhythmic features of music of diverse styles, eras, and cultures.
DANC 2080. Tap 2. (2 Hours)
Designed for the intermediate tap dancer interested in acquiring technical skills in tap dance to a level that allows the student to have command and confidence in a musical theatre audition. Focuses on vocabulary, phrasing, execution, form, style, and performance quality. May be repeated once.
DANC 2100. African Dance for Nonmajors. (2 Hours)
Introduces the technique and history of djembe-style West African dance from the Mandingo Empire. Uses movement, video observation, and historical study to cover the rich and diverse genre of West African dance and its function in the society from which it originated.
DANC 2140. Hip Hop for Nonmajors. (2 Hours)
Offers students an opportunity to develop an appreciation for and an aesthetic awareness of hip-hop culture. Presents an understanding that the genus of this dance/movement is multicultural in origin; is emotionally, socially, and culturally charged; and serves the subculture of hip-hop communities as a form of artistic communication. Examines the constructs of hip-hop origins─spawned from and representative of the life experiences of inner-city youth in America─unique from the popular entertainment that it has become today. Studies the historical, socioeconomic, and musical/aesthetic frameworks from which hip-hop dance emerged as an artistic medium of communication. Engages with the inherently diverse and varying developments and meanings of hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon through class discussion, critical thinking, writing, and physical engagement with the movement vocabulary of hip-hop.
DANC 2180. Performing Masculinity in the Ballet Canon. (2 Hours)
Emphasizes a specific dimension of movements within the ballet form. Studies turns and jumps that are particular to traditional male roles in ballet repertoire. Open to all dance majors and is a supplementary technique course offered twice per week. Requires students taking this course to attend a five-day-per-week technique course. May be repeated twice.
DANC 2200. Ballet 2. (4 Hours)
Examines the kinesthetic principles and discipline of classical ballet. The instruction of movement sequences requires a basic foundation in both vocabulary and physical awareness. Focuses on the comprehensive study of postural alignment; the refinement of French ballet terminology, both in its written and physical form; as well as introducing skills in writing self-evaluations. Students create and perform a final movement phrase that incorporates physical analysis, spatial awareness, movement patterning, musicality, and the correct application of the terminology. Incorporates the continued investigation of social and historical aspects of the discipline to inform and enrich the physical study of ballet. May be repeated twice.
DANC 2220. Embodied Africanist Aesthetics. (4 Hours)
Explores traditional dance forms of the African continent, the rich diversity of African diasporic dance, the foundational role Africanist aesthetics played in the creation of the vernacular dance styles of the Americas, and the power of contemporary urban and street dance techniques. Examines the rich history and multifaceted contexts of these movement techniques through readings and written assignments, as well as through a daily movement practice.
DANC 2300. Costume for Dance. (4 Hours)
Examines the interdisciplinary art of dressing the body for dance in its various forms: dance dress, "non-dress," costume, and everyday dress in relation to the moving body. Approaches these aesthetic concepts through cultural and historical lenses to enable students to gain perspective on this highly specialized field of design. Surveys documents and materials to encourage students to reflect on the overall concept of body movement, demands of choreography of particular works, and the effects of various fabrics in motion. Emphasizes research and collaborative relationships between costume designers and choreographers.
DANC 2430. Modern Dance 2. (4 Hours)
Builds on the knowledge achieved in DANC 1890. Emphasizes an increased kinesthetic awareness of details and concepts as new movement vocabulary is introduced. Offers students an opportunity to hone the ability to interpret, analyze, and perform at an intermediate level and continue to develop and refine their personal artistic expression in direct relationship to the principles outlined in the course. Incorporates the continued investigation of social and historical aspects of the discipline to inform and enrich the physical study of modern dance. May be repeated twice.
DANC 2490. Jazz 2. (4 Hours)
Requires students to analyze and re-create choreographic phrases incorporating stylistic differences appropriate to the diversity of jazz traditions in this advanced study of jazz as an American dance form. Discusses the evolution of jazz as an art form and expects dancers to incorporate this knowledge into their performance of the idiom. May be repeated twice.
DANC 2550. Ballet 3. (4 Hours)
Aims to refine students’ understanding and implementation of the technical and artistic aspects of classical ballet. Coursework is rigorous in content. Builds strength and stamina through movement sequencing, presents technical and musical challenges, and explores the aesthetic principles of the art form. Emphasizes the integration of movement material with cognitive operations and movement intentions to develop the psychology of the performer. Readings and written assignments are integral to the course to promote further critical thinking and theoretical analysis of ballet while historicizing its practice. May be repeated three times.
DANC 2560. Beginning Pointe. (2 Hours)
Covers the fundamental technical skills required to perform ballet on pointe. Emphasizes strengthening exercises and the proper execution of rolling through the shoe. Exercises at the barre constitute the majority of class work with center exercises remaining basic to reinforce theories from the barre. May be repeated three times.
DANC 2610. Introduction to Movement Analysis and Notation. (4 Hours)
Investigates contemporary issues in dance notation and movement analysis. Introduces students to a range of frameworks for distinguishing features of movement. Assists students to analyze and perform by identifying significant elements of dance, as well as create a living archive. Explores organizational principles and approaches of choreography and dance notation to expand students’ critical stance toward composition and preservation of dances and the social and cultural structure in which they are housed. Examines a broad array of theoretical approaches to dance analysis as they apply to different dance forms and contexts. Offers students an opportunity to become more articulate in analysis and performance.
DANC 2910. Music for Dance. (4 Hours)
Explores musical form in relation to dance movement, the effects of musical style on dance movement, musicality as perceived by performer and audience, and choreomusicology. Offers students an opportunity to learn conventional musical terminology, as well as elements of music history and music theory that most closely relate to dance. Requires analytical written and oral assignments, compositional exercises involving movement and sound, and analysis of audio and visual media.
DANC 2940. Projects. (1 Hour)
Offers students an opportunity to create individual choreographic works rehearsed by students and faculty for the fall production, which includes the student choreography workshop and the mainstage performances. Student choreographers are mentored by faculty throughout the semester. Auditions and casting culminate in biweekly rehearsals that afford experimentation, creative practices, and realization of both technical and artistic voices in performance. Addresses all aspects of producing a dance concert including publicity, costuming, lighting, and scene design. Both the Great Hall and the Theresa Lang Theatre serve as venues. May be repeated up to three times.
DANC 2990. Elective. (4 Hours)
Offers elective credit courses taken at other academic institutions.
DANC 3030. Experiential Anatomy. (4 Hours)
Offers students an opportunity to develop a practical, functional, and theoretical understanding of basic anatomical terms and principles. Applies current dance research in kinesiology and physiology to concepts of movement analysis, alignment assessment, and performance enhancement. Introduces a kinesthetic exploration of skeletal joint mechanics and the muscles that produce motion of those joints. Students apply movement analysis to the evaluation of dance technique of themselves and others.
Attribute(s): NUpath Natural/Designed World
DANC 3110. Black Dance in America. (4 Hours)
Examines the African diaspora through the lens of dance and movement. Examines the body as a potential site of empowerment and oppression. Explores the roles of both racism and the celebration of the Africanist aesthetic in a variety of vernacular, concert, and commercial American dance forms. Combines readings and written assignments with movement practices. Uses New York City as a classroom to study African diasporic forms of dance from a variety of instructors.
DANC 3400. Improvisation. (2 Hours)
Explores the connecting practices, histories, and contexts that inform the immediacy of dance, known as dance improvisation. Dance improvisation exists at the junction of “known” and “unknown” movements (Gere, 2003: xiii) and can be located within the ever-growing scope of embodied practices of 21st century dances. As a cultural and historically significant approach to dancing and dance-making, e.g., social dances, House, salsa, West African, contact improvisation, and Capoeira, the study of dance improvisation requires a rigorous practice comparable to other forms of dance study. Through collaborative and community-centered processes for embodiment, this course will support students in their investigations of a wide range of improvisational dance: dance practices which possess clear intentions or approaches yet have no pre-conceived outcome or expectation and are essentially aleatory. Ultimately, this course will provide students with innovative improvisational methods to draw from and an improved sense of comfort with risk-taking in relation to movement. May be repeated twice.
DANC 3410. Modern Dance 3. (4 Hours)
Emphasizes a conscious use of intention as an integral part of performance and an awareness and investigation of the importance of the dancers’ relationship to space. Dancers utilize an expressive and qualitative range in movement, performance, and creative work. Expects students’ written work to be reflective of an increased intellectual understanding of modern dance and its social and historical influence. May be repeated twice.
DANC 3430. Ballet 4. (4 Hours)
Presents a concentrated inquiry of and exploration in upper-level, intermediate classical ballet. Expects students at this level to have attained both an intellectual and physical understanding of the aspects of placement, alignment, and the required strength for execution of complex movement sequences. Offers students an opportunity to refine the integration of movement material with cognitive operations and movement intentions, including physical memory and sensory awareness, to develop quality of movement as a platform for artistic expression. Readings and written assignments are integral to the course to promote further critical thinking and analysis of ballet while historicizing its practice. May be repeated three times.
DANC 3490. Jazz 3. (4 Hours)
Offers an advanced study of jazz as an American dance form in a five-day-a-week studio-based course. Aims to improve and expand upon previous and concurrent dance training by focusing on multiple aspects of jazz dance, including concert dance, choreography, improvisation, and social/vernacular techniques. Explores traditional, improvisational, and contemporary ideas of jazz dance. Students analyze and recreate choreographic phrases incorporating stylistic differences appropriate to jazz's diverse ideologies. Gives students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of jazz dance's defining characteristics and aesthetic qualities and an appreciation for its roots, history, and continuity. Through performance and portfolio processes, students explore their own expressive and creative possibilities while making connections to the concert jazz dance form. May be repeated twice.
DANC 3510. Dance Composition 1. (4 Hours)
Introduces students to the nature of composition through a variety of disciplines including music, visual art, poetry, and in particular dance. Examines diverse choreographic styles developed in response to cultural, philosophical, and artistic influences as a foundation for thinking critically about dance. Classes are structured around compositional exercises, movement analysis of choreographic homework assignments, readings, and viewing seminal works of art on video or in museums. Seeks to offer a forum through which students can deeply engage with movement creation, develop their own artistic voices ,and investigate new ways of thinking about form through the lens of choreographic inquiry.
Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov
DANC 3520. Dance Composition 2. (4 Hours)
Continues DANC 3510. Asks students to merge individual creativity with acquired compositional skill. Students create solos, duets, and small group works while considering the way that sound scores influence the experience of movement studies. This intermediate-level course offers students an opportunity to obtain a broader choreographic tool kit and a context for working within differing aesthetic conventions. Examines the politics of aesthetics, forcing students to locate themselves within broader historical, artistic, and cultural frameworks. Through assigned readings, video and live performance viewings, written work, and class discussion, students may develop deeper analytical skills and greater clarity about their personal voice as dance makers and how choreography functions as a mirror for the times in which we live.
DANC 3540. Dance and Cultural Histories. (4 Hours)
Introduces major concepts, approaches, and issues in the study of dance as a cultural, historical, and artistic practice. Incorporates a critique of Western dance history, the dance canon, mastery, and the focus on aesthetic representation as benchmarks of success in dance. Examines important developments in dance in a global context, as we critically reflect on our assumptions on what knowledge in dance is and how it is structured. As such, we question the supremacy of Western dance forms as the standard for dance training, production, and performance and examine who has the right to speak about dance, who decides on ways to move, and consider who is excluded from these movements. Seeks to understand how dance practices are bodily enactments of specific historical, cultural, and political developments and to critically investigate different approaches to dance and the writing of its history.
Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Writing Intensive
DANC 3570. Techniques for Teaching Dance 1. (4 Hours)
Offers a practical exploration of the principles, theories, and methods of teaching creative dance to children. Aims to help students develop and employ critical thinking skills for assessment of pedagogical goals and objectives for use in class planning. Covers the educational dance model for use in public schools and introduces students to the benefits and outcomes of an integrated creative arts experience. Students are required to assist in creative movement classes for children at various institutions in New York City.
DANC 3580. Advanced Pointe. (2 Hours)
Covers the technical skills required to perform ballet on pointe. Emphasizes strengthening exercises and the proper execution of rolling through the shoe. Exercises at the barre constitute the majority of class work, with center exercises remaining basic to incorporate attack of movements and musicality. May be repeated three times.
Prerequisite(s): DANC 2560 with a minimum grade of D-
DANC 3640. Critical Approaches to Dance. (4 Hours)
Explores what dance is, how we study it, and what dance can do in society. Analyzes critical approaches in the field of dance studies and key issues raised by dance. Such analysis enables us to situate specific dance examples and the creation and interpretation of dance in relation to culture in a global context. Offers students an opportunity to understand dance as a social structure and how dance and culture develop out of shared aesthetics as well as political principles. This allows analysis of agency in dance and choreography and addresses their role toward the creation of a socially just, environmentally conscious, and decolonized society. Taught in the studio and values and approaches the moved and choreographed the same as the written and spoken.
Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive
DANC 3700. Movement, Media, and Theory. (4 Hours)
Provides theoretical and historical perspectives on the representation of human movement in traditional and digital media. Surveys principal media applications currently in use in the dance field: film/video, photography, audio recording/editing/design, automated production elements, digital animation, motion capture, movement generation and modeling, web-based and interactive and virtual technologies. Investigates problems concerning the nature of embodiment in visual and audio media, cross-modal perception in interdisciplinary artwork, and the innovative implementation of movement-based media. Designed for those interested in creative and compositional work, as well as documentary, archival and promotional/marketing projects in movement-related fields.
DANC 3710. Somatic Awareness. (4 Hours)
Facilitates experiential research into the nature of the body/mind. Somatic movement practices explore the body/mind as a dynamic, interconnected system. The health of this complex system impacts the potential for human movement and thought, in a variety of dance idioms and everyday activities. Introduces yoga, meditation, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Body-Mind Centering, Alexander Technique, Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, and Contemplative Dance Practice. Explores the intersections of anatomy, human developmental movement patterns, habit forming and re-patterning of movement as adults, the embodied mind, and the interconnectivity of our bodies and the earth. Explores the body/mind through readings, writing, and experiential practices.
DANC 3990. Elective. (4 Hours)
Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.
DANC 4250. Dance Production. (1 Hour)
Offers students an opportunity to participate as choreographers, dancers, and technicians to produce the spring dance concert. Students create and rehearse individual choreographic works, and renowned guest artists also create or restage choreographic works for the production. Faculty mentors student choreographers throughout the semester. Auditions and casting culminate in biweekly rehearsals that afford experimentation, creative practices, and realization of both technical and artistic voices in performance. Addresses all aspects of producing a dance concert including publicity, costuming, lighting, and scene design. Both the Great Hall and the Theresa Lang Theatre serve as venues. May be repeated up to three times.
DANC 4410. Contemporary Dance. (4 Hours)
Requires students to demonstrate a high level of intellectual understanding and an ability to articulate both physically and in written work the concepts and theories presented. The integration of movement material with cognitive operations and movement intentions, including physical memory and sensory awareness, is refined to offer students an opportunity to develop quality of movement as a platform for artistic expression. Assumes that past practices supply a body of knowledge that deepen the theoretical engagement with the work both in execution and in written and reading assignments. May be repeated twice.
DANC 4450. Ballet 5. (4 Hours)
Investigates and explores advanced ballet as an art form. Emphasizes proficiency of execution of intricate choreographic phrases utilizing dynamics, musicality, and speed, along with increasing mastery of ballet vocabulary. Highlights quality of movement for artistic expression, using the ballet language as a sophisticated means of communication. Offers students an opportunity to obtain a deeper kinesthetic and artistic sensibility through reflexive and reflective inquiry, analysis and discussion, and contextualizing movement studies within historical developments in the discipline. Readings and written assignments are integral to promote further critical thinking and analysis of ballet while historicizing its practice. Assumes that past practices supply the student with a body of knowledge that deepens theoretical engagement with the work. May be repeated twice.
DANC 4530. Dance Composition 3. (4 Hours)
Continues DANC 3520. Offers students an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of compositional approaches that reinforce their own art and craft. Students conduct scholarly research to create a work and write a paper chronicling how that research influenced their choreographic process. Students analyze live performances to consider how dance theory, criticism, and practice intersect. Students must demonstrate an ability to articulate physically and in writing the concepts presented. Integration of movement material with cognitive operations and movement intentions, including physical memory and sensory awareness, is refined to develop quality of movement as a platform for artistic expression. Assumes past practices supply a body of knowledge that deepen theoretical engagement with the work. Culminates in an informal showing.
DANC 4570. Techniques for Teaching Dance 2. (4 Hours)
Aims to develops the ability to deliver sound pedagogical practices in teaching dance techniques to a variety of populations, through experiential, hands-on learning,. Students examine the values and goals of dance in education and fundamental movement principles as related to the teaching of Ballet, Modern and Jazz techniques. Through lectures, readings and practice, students develop analytical skills for facilitative correction while also cultivating their personal teaching philosophies.
DANC 4950. Senior Seminar. (4 Hours)
Explores the artistic trends influencing today’s dance scene. Through readings, research assignments, discussions, and guest speakers, students may become familiar with the cultural climate in which to establish themselves and their artistic philosophies. Emphasizes exposure to current issues surrounding the field including the dance reviewer and their influence, financial dynamics and historical practices of nonprofit dance organizations, dance education in the United States, legalities of copyright, government and the arts, and arts advocacy. Underscores the need to maintain awareness of the current state of the profession and its sociopolitical implications on the arts as a whole. Students develop a research project to strengthen their focused concentration in dance and to reflect entrepreneurship in the arts and the responsibilities of being an educated dance professional.
DANC 4990. Elective. (4 Hours)
Offer elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.
DANC 4992. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)
Offers independent work under the direction of faculty members on a chosen topic. Course content depends on instructor. May be repeated once for a maximum of 8 semester hours.
DANC 6962. Elective. (4 Hours)
Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions.