4 semester hoursUndergraduateLectureNUpath DDNUpath ICNUpath WI
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.