Calendar

UNIT # TOPICS READINGS VIEWINGS ASSIGNMENTS / EVENTS
I Introduction and Overview - 2 Sessions

Redfern, Betty. "What is Art."

"The Power of Dance" In Dancing. Pp. 12-35.

"Manifestos." In Modern Bodies... Pp. 8-26.

Dancing: The Power of Dance.

Lecture Demonstration/Master Class: Rennie Harris Puremovement at Killian Hall.

Members of Rennie Harris' Puremovement Dance Company, masters of hip-hop, popping, locking, stepping, break, house and other styles from inner city America will present a lecture on the artform, followed by a dance class.

II Dance as an Expression of Religious Worship - 3 Sessions

"Lord of the Dance." In Dancing. Pp. 36-69.

Stuckey, P. Sterling. "Christian Conversion and the Challenge of Dance."

"Lord of the Dance." Dancing.

Ailey, Alvin. Revelations.

Paper #1 due in Session #5 - How does the dance "Revelations" (Ailey, 1960) convey concepts of religion and social order?
III Dance as an Expression of Social Order and Power - 3 Sessions

"Dance of the Realm." In Dancing. Pp. 70-107.

"Pioneer Women." In Modern Bodies... Pp. 27-50.

"An Introduction to Choreography."

"Dance of the Realm." Dancing.

Humphrey, Doris. "New Dance."

Special Event in Session #8: Jigna Desia, Mit Alum, will give an invited lecture titled “Watching 'Home' Movies: Hollywood Cinema in South Asian America.”
IV Dance as an Expression of Cultural Mores - 3 Sessions

"Social Dance." In Dancing. Pp. 108-127.

"Men Must Dance." In Modern Bodies... Pp. 79-103.

DeFrantz, Thomas. "Simmering Passivity: The Black Male Body in Concert Dance."

Ward, Andrew H. "Dancing in the Dark: Rationalism and the Neglect of Social Dance."

"Sex and Social Dance." Dancing.

Shawn, Ted. "Kinetic Molpai."

Jones, Bill T. "Fever Swamp."

Paper #2 due two days after Session #11 - How does the dance "Fall River Legend" (DeMille, 1950) convey concepts of Cultural Mores and Cultural Identity?

Performance Event between Sessions #10 and #11: Mark Morris Group at the Shubert Theater.

V Dance as an Emblem of Cultural Identity - 2 Sessions

"New Worlds of Dance." In Dancing. Pp. 164-189.

"Primitive Moderns." In Modern Bodies... Pp. 51-78.

Malone, Jacqui. "'Keep to the Rhythm and You'll Keep to Life': Meaning and Style in African American Vernacular Dance."

Nash, Joe. "The Mission of Black Modern Dance."

Myers, Gerald. " African Americans and the Modern Dance Aesthetic."

Thompson, Robert Farris. "Dance and Culture, An Aesthetic of the Cool: West Africa Dance." 

Dance Black America. Special Lecture seven days after Session #15: Yutian Wong, Professor at Bryn Mar College, will deliver invited lecture “Upstaging Orientalism: Performing Race and Gender in (Asian) American Modern/Postmodern Dance.”
VI Dance as a Classical Art - 4 Sessions

"Classical Dance Theater." In Dancing. Pp. 128-163.

"Organizing Dance." In Modern Bodies... Pp. 104-129.

Kealiinohomoku, Joann. "An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance."

Novak, Cynthia. "Ballet, Gender and Cultural Politics."

Daly, Ann. "The Balanchine Woman: Of Hummingbirds and Channel Swimmers." 

Balanchine, George. Agon, Jewels, Prodigal Son.

"Classical Dance Theater." Dancing.

In Class Presentations begin two days before Session #16.
VII Dance as a Medium of Cultural Fusion - 1 Session

Huenemann, Lynn. "Northern Plains Dance."

"Dancing America." In Modern Bodies... Pp. 130-156.

Gottschild, Brenda Dixon. "Barefoot and Hot, Sneakered and Cool: Africanist Subtexts in Modern and Postmodern Dance."

"Dancing on One World." Dancing. Performance Event between Sessions #16 and #17: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Wang Center.
VIII Dance as the Autobiographical Creation of Individual Artists - 2 Sessions

"Modernizing Dance." In Dancing. Pp. 190-237.

Deborah, Jowitt. "A Private View of Dance Criticism."

Graham, Martha. "I am a Dancer." 

Dempster, Elizabeth. "Women Writing The Body: Let's Watch a Little How She Dances."

Brown, Carol. "Re-tracing Our Steps: The Possibilities for Feminist Dance Histories."

"Individual and Tradition." Dancing.

Rainer, Yvonne. "Trio A." 

Tharp, Twyla. Catherine Wheel.

Cunningham, Merce. Story.

Paper #3 due Session #19 - How does the "gold section" of The Catherine Wheel (Tharp, 1981) describe issues of gender and individuality?
Wrap Up and Review - 1 Session