Dance Major
Major Description
The Major in Dance is centered on the creative act—envisioning, making, and doing—to cultivate artistry and inspire personal and social transformation. It is an interdisciplinary, hands-on, and collaborative journey, demanding both physical and intellectual rigor. Our curriculum covers contemporary dance with a global lens, featuring historical and experimental approaches in Bharata Natyam, Ghanaian, Afro-Brazilian, ballet, Javanese, jazz, and hip hop, and contemporary dance. Students explore choreography, improvisation, pedagogy, research methods, dance ethnography, history, and techniques that embrace diverse learning styles.
Dance majors are driven by a passion for expressing themselves through movement. The artistic practice of dance requires physical strength, flexibility, endurance, and a dedication to refining their craft. Alongside their academic pursuits, they may have some performance experience or interests in other areas of dance, theater and arts production.
Dance majors develop keen intercultural competence and understanding of dance in its cultural manifestations, leading them to a deeper celebration of difference. They become articulate in movement, words and action, honing their skills to articulate original ideas and collaborate with fellow artists and scholars to create powerful original work.
Admission to the Major
- Successful completion of one .5 credit dance technique course and one additional 1.0 credit course in the Dance Department. These two classes will count towards Major Requirements.
- An admissions interview with the Prospective Major Advisor, Katja Kolcio.
Major Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Choreography Workshop * | 2 | |
| Dance Tech Lab | .5 | |
| Dance Techniques | 2.5 | |
| Advanced Dance Performance Practice | .75 | |
| Advanced Research in Dance ** | 2 | |
| Applied Tech Practice | .75 | |
| Elective *** | 1 | |
| Senior Research (Project or Thesis) # | 1-2 | |
| Total Hours | 10.5-11.5 | |
- *
Choreography workshops should be taken freshman, sophomore, or junior years
- **
At least one of the two credits in advanced research must be a hybrid methodology course with a substantial written component.
- ***
Any Advanced Research course can be counted as an elective after the 2-credit research requirement is met.
- #
either a 1 credit essay or 2 credit thesis
Advanced Research in Dance Course Options
At least one of these two credits must be a hybrid methodology course with substantial written component.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| DANC249 | Making Dances I: Solo Work | 1 |
| DANC250 | Dance Composition: Choreography Workshop | 1 |
| DANC371 | Site-Specific Choreography | 1 |
| DANC375 | Dance History: Why Dance Matters | 1 |
| DANC376 | The Artist in the Community: Civic Engagement and Collaborative Dancemaking | 1 |
| DANC377 | Perspectives in Arts as Culture: Ukrainian Arts and Language as Resistance * | 1 |
| DANC379 | Dance as Activism | 1 |
- *
Perspectives in Dance, including:
- Perspectives in Dance: Queering the Dancing Body: Critical Perspectives on LGBTQ Representation
- Perspectives in Dance: South Indian Cinema: An Ethnography of Dance and Film
Total Credits: 10.5 (Project) or 11.5 (Thesis)
Student Learning Goals
The major is designed to provide broad and deep exposure to the discipline of dance as a critical, embodied, reflexive, and socially engaged research method. The department conceives of dance performance broadly, embracing traditionally staged performances and site-based works as well as mediated and interdisciplinary performative modes. Students take courses in choreography, improvisation, pedagogy, research methods, dance ethnography, history, and dance techniques as well as unique interdisciplinary courses that integrate varied modes of learning. The curriculum focuses on providing students with the skills to develop new knowledge and produce original research expressed through performance, writing, and their vital intertwining into new hybrid forms.
- Majors will develop keen intercultural competence. One of the fundamental tenets of the major is that the analysis of dance through practice and observation is central to the study of cultures and is a vital aspect of exploration in cross-cultural inquiry. Students should develop a proficiency in the understanding of dance in its cultural manifestations, leading them beyond knowledge of a culture or an appreciation of diversity to an understanding and celebration of difference.
- Majors will develop an awareness of the ways in which dance structures and is structured by culture. This includes a thoughtful understanding of the problematics of spectatorship and the role of the artist in society; as well as issues of embodiment, difference, and performativity.
- Majors will develop an understanding of the basic principles of dance-making through creative process work including choreography, improvisation, and public enactments. They will acquire the ability to develop an idea or research question through the elements of dance performance such as: the skillful exploration and application of movement vocabulary; choreographic form; and the consideration of framing devices. They will develop the ability to structure original ideas and to create powerful original work.
- Majors will develop an intercultural understanding of the elements of physical expression and performance artistry and will attain and/or maintain intermediate (or above) technical proficiency, based on sound kinesiological principles. They will develop these skills in at least two of the following techniques: modern/contemporary, Bharata Natyam, West African, ballet, black vernacular forms/hip hop, and South East Asian dance forms (when available).
- Majors will develop strong reflective and critical awareness of the research methodologies available in dance studies articulated in written, choreographic, and performative forms.
- Majors will develop the ability to work collaboratively to complete complex tasks through engagement with all elements of performance production, including technical theater, scenographic design, and publicity.
Honors
Dance majors who wish to be candidates for departmental honors must complete senior research in the form of a thesis. Projects are not eligible for the award of honors. The student’s proposed research design will be revised and finalized in consultation with the student’s prospective tutor and should reflect the special interests and talents of the individual student. The award of honors or high honors is based on the scope and excellence of the thesis and on the student’s creative work.
To receive the award of honors, a thesis must follow these guidelines:
- The honors thesis typically consists of approximately 20 minutes of group choreography (usually two 10-minute dances) and an 80- to 100-page research paper situating the choreography within an aesthetic and historical context.
- It must involve enough work to warrant two credits.
Each honors candidate is required to make a commitment to candidacy in advance. The student must file a written statement of his or her intention to stand for departmental honors with both the department and the Honors College. The department will nominate candidates for departmental honors to the Honors College. Nominations will occur only if it appears reasonably certain that the candidate’s work will be completed on time and in the desired form. The department in cooperation with the Honors College will arrange suitable mid-April deadlines for performances and the submission of theses.
Each honors thesis will have two readers. One of these must be chosen from outside the Dance Department. The department will base its recommendation for departmental honors upon the readers’ written evaluations and joint recommendations.
Capstone Experience
All majors complete a capstone experience, either a one-semester senior project or a two-semester senior thesis.