Dance Minor
Minor Description
The Minor in Dance introduces students to aspects of the creative act of dance—imagining, making, and doing. Students minoring in Dance will combine classes in physical practice and technique with elective courses in which performance projects are conceived and created, and other electives and hybrid courses that explore topics such as the cultural history of dance as a form of research, writing about dance, and anatomy and kinesiology.
Dance minors will gain interdisciplinary knowledge and abilities that can enhance their opportunities for future study or careers, such as creativity, performance, body awareness and mechanics, discipline, and time.
Admission to the Minor
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Minor Requirements
The Minor in Dance consists of 5.25 credits:
Physical Practice in Dance Techniques 2 credits
Four courses (two credits at .5 credits per course) in a physical practice representing at least two traditions, and achieving level 2 in at least one tradition.
Elective 1 credit
One additional credit (any level) within the Dance Department. This can be in the form of one 1 credit course, or two .5 credit courses.
Performance .25 or .5 credit
One Advanced Dance Practice experience (either DANC435 .25 credit or DANC445 .5 credit).
Project-Based courses 2 credits
Two credits must be in project-based courses within the Dance Department that culminate in making. At least one of these must be an upper-level course. These may be dance-making courses or hybrid courses that require a substantial final practical project in the form of a public performance or event. The culminating project does not need to be a choreographed dance. Projects could be events, workshops, site-specific happenings, social media platforms, etc., that have an embodied component and circulate in a public context. Projects need to be approved by a Dance Department advisor.
Physical Practice Courses include: West African Dance I, West African Dance II, West African Dance III, Bharata Natyam I, Bharata Natyam II, Bharata Natyam III, Contemporary Techniques I, II, III, Afro Brazilian Dance I, Ballet I, Ballet II, Javanese Dance I and II, Dance Forms of the African Diaspora I and II, Hip Hop, Contact Improvisation, and Delicious Movements.
Project Based Courses include:
Dance making courses such as Solo Dance Composition, Group Dance Composition, Site Specific Choreography, Choreography Workshop, and Hybrid courses such as Dancing Bodies, Perspectives in Dance as Culture: Queering the Dancing Body, Research Methods, Auto-Ethnographic Methods, Dances of the African Diaspora, Repertory, Performance Art, and Media for Performance.
Other elective options include, in addition to those listed above: History, Repertory, Dance FYS courses, Introduction to Dance, Space Design for Performance, and Forays into Dance (TBA currently being developed).
Physical Practice Courses include:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| DANC202 | Ballet I: Practice and Theory | 0.5 |
| DANC211 | Contemporary Dance Technique I | 0.5 |
| DANC213 | Jazz Technique | 0.5 |
| DANC244 | Delicious Movement: Time Is Not Even, Space Is Not Empty | 1 |
| DANC251 | Javanese Dance I | 0.5 |
| DANC260 | West African Dance I | 0.5 |
| DANC261 | Bharata Natyam I: Introduction of South Indian Classical Dance | 0.5 |
| DANC360 | West African Dance II | 0.5 |
| DANC362 | Bharata Natyam II: Embracing the Traditional and the Modern | 0.5 |
| DANC365 | West African Dance III | 0.5 |
Project Based Courses
Includes dance making courses, such as:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| DANC249 | Making Dances I: Solo Work | 1 |
| DANC250 | Dance Composition: Choreography Workshop | 1 |
| DANC371 | Site-Specific Choreography | 1 |
and hybrid courses such as:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| DANC103 | Dancing Bodies | 1 |
| DANC237 | Performance Art | 1 |
| DANC244 | Delicious Movement: Time Is Not Even, Space Is Not Empty | 1 |
| DANC364 | Media for Performance | 1 |
| DANC375 | Dance History: Why Dance Matters | 1 |
| DANC377 | Perspectives in Arts as Culture: Ukrainian Arts and Language as Resistance | 1 |
| DANC378 | Repertory and Performance: The Jewel Thief: A Ballet of the Mind | 1 |
| DANC381 | 1.5 |
Other elective options
In addition to the courses listed above, elective options include:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| DANC104F | Introduction to Contemporary Dance from Global Perspectives (FYS) | 1 |
| DANC107 | Writing Is Dancing, Dancing Is Writing | 1 |
| DANC111 | Introduction to Dance | 1 |
| DANC301 | Anatomy and Kinesiology | 1 |
| DANC447 & DANC378 | Dance Teaching Practicum and Repertory and Performance: The Jewel Thief: A Ballet of the Mind | 0.5 |