Week 1

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Topic One: Introduction to: What Is Dance?

Introduction to the Course and tech training.

Susanne K. Langer, "Virtual Powers" and "The Magic Circle," WD, pp. 28-36

Andre Levinson, "The Idea of Dance: From Aristotle to Mallarme," WD, pp. 47-54

Dance Exercises on the Foxtrot

Technological Exercises: Get to know the functions of BB and Powerpoint; preparatory exercises for Week 2 will be posted.

Week 2

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Topic Two: Introduction to: Issues of Embodiment and the Gaze in Relation to Dance

Sign up for reporting slots.

Caroline Picart, Dancing Through Different Worlds.

Sally Peters, "From Eroticism to Transcendence: Ballroom Dance and the Female Body," Laurence Goldstein, ed. The Female Body: Figures, Styles, Speculations, University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Dance Exercises on the Single Swing

Technological Exercise: An in-class powerpoint quiz will be given, which substitutes for the weekly threaded conversation.

September 6: Labor Day-No Classes

Week 3

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Topic Three: Introduction to Dance in Relation to Literature and Film

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Excerpted)

Peter Brooks, "What is a Monster (According to Frankenstein)?, BW, pp. 199-220.

Video: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Dance Exercises on the Waltz

Technological Exercise: First Threaded Conversation occurs from September 12-13 (midnight)

Week 4

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Topic Four: Dance as a Symbolic System and Its Limits

Session 1:

Nelson Goodman, "Modes of Symbolization" and "Afterword," WD, pp. 66-84

David Michael Levin, "Philosophers and the Dance," WD, pp. 85-94

Francis Sparshott, "Why Philosophy Neglects the Dance," WD, pp. 94-102

Gerald Jonas, "The Power of Dance," DPPM, pp. 12-35

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Rumba.

Session 2:

Group reports begin.

David Michael Levin, "Balanchine's Formalism," WD, pp. 123-144.
Frank Kermode, "Poet and Dancer Before Diaghilev," WD, pp. 145-160. (2 slots)

Marshall Cohen, "Primitivism, Modernism and Dance Theory," WD, pp. 161-177.
Heinrich von Kleist, "Puppet Theatre," WD, pp. 178-184. (2 slots)

Dance Exercises on the Rumba; Excerpts from Balanchine Ballets.

An in-class powerpoint quiz will be given within this week, which will substitute for threaded conversations.

Week 5

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Topic Five: Dance, the Mind-Body Connection, Modernity and Postmodernity

Session 1:

Richard Wagner, "The Art-Work of the Future," WD, pp. 191-196

Eric Bentley, "Martha Graham's Journey," WD, pp. 197-202

Sylvie Fortin, "Somatics: A Tool for Empowering Modern Dance Teachers," DPD, pp. 49-74. (2 slots)

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Merengue; Excerpts from Martha Graham Dances.

Session 2:

Christine Lomas, "Art and the Community: Breaking the Aesthetic of Disempowerment," DPD, pp. 149-170. (2 slots)

Isabel Marques, "Dance Education in/and the Postmodern," DPD, pp. 171-185. (2 slots)

Dance Exercises on the Merengue; Excerpts from Dirty Dancing

An in-class powerpoint quiz will be given this week, which will substitute for threaded conversations.

Week 6

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Topic Six: Dance as a Visual Art: The Politics of the Gaze and Embodiment in Relation to Gender and Culture

Session 1:

Constant Lambert, "Music and Action," WD, pp. 203-209
Theodore Reff, "Edgar Degas and the Dance," WD, pp. 217-224. (1 slot)

Gerald Jonas, "Lord of the Dance," DPPM, pp. 36-69

Gerald Jonas, "Dance of the Realm," DPPM, pp. 70-109

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Tango

Session 2:

Kenneth Clark, "The Naked and the Nude," PVA, pp. 205-215

John Berger, "Ways of Seeing Women," PVA, pp. 248-259

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Clyde Smith, "On Authoritarianism in the Dance Classroom," DPD, pp. 123-148

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Excerpted)

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Tango, Excerpts from DreamworldsII

An in-class powerpoint quiz will be given this week, which will substitute for threaded conversations.

Week 7

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Session 1:

Individual Reports Begin.

Peter Brooks, "Nana at Last Unveil'd? Problems of the Modern Nude," BW, pp. 123-161

Emile Zola, Nana (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Salsa/Mambo

Session 2:

Peter Brooks, "Gauguin's Tahitian Body," BW, pp. 162-198

Peter Brooks, "Invasions of Privacy: The Body in the Novel," pp. 28-53

Dance Exercises on the Salsa/Mambo

I will be away on a conference; threaded conversation will substitute for the in-class session; extra time should be spent working on your drafts. No report will be done.

Week 8

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Session 1:

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (Excerpted)

Romeo and Juliet, the movie (Zeffirelli version) and the ballet, featuring Nureyev and Fonteyne (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Waltz (II)

Session 2:

Shakespeare, The Tempest (excerpted)

Peter Greenaway's adaptation of The Tempest (Prospero's Books). (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Waltz (II)

Because your draft is due shortly, the threaded conversation is canceled; use the time to work on that drafts.

Week 9

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Session 1:

Gerald Jonas, "Classical Dance Theatre," DPPM, pp. 128-163

Isadora Duncan, "The Dance of the Future;" "I See American Dancing;" "Richard Wagner," WD, pp. 262-267

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Katherine Everett Gilbert, "Mind and Medium in the Modern Dance," WD, pp. 289-304

Roger Copeland, "Merce Cunningham and the Politics of Perception," WD, pp. 307-324

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Triple Swing; Excerpts from Merce Cunningham's "Points in Space"; possible excerpts on Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham

Session 2:

Selma Jeanne Cohen, "Reflections on Dance and Dances: Problems of Definition," WD, pp. 339-353

Lincoln Kerstein, "Classic and Romantic Ballet," WD, pp. 364-366

Andre Levinson, "The Art and Meaning of Isadora Duncan," WD, pp. 438-444

Deborah Jowitt, "Monumental Martha," WD, pp. 456-458
Gerald Jonas, "Modernizing Dance," DPPM, pp. 190-237

Note: I will be away on a professional engagement; a threaded conversation will cover the material, which will be later reviewed. Use the extra time to work on your drafts. No report due.

Week 10

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Topic Nine: Dance as a Social, Political and Linguistic Phenomenon

Session 1:

Gerald Jonas, "Social Dance," DPPM, pp. 108-127
Robin Collingwood, "Language and Languages," WD, pp. 371-375 (1 slot)

Joseph Margolis, "Art as Language," WD, pp. 376-389
Fernau Hall, "Dance Notation and Choreology," WD, pp. 390-398

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Foxtrot (II); Excerpts from Ballroom Competitions

Session 2:

Ruth Katz, "The Egalitarian Waltz," WD, pp. 521-532

Joann Kealiinohomoku, "An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a form of Ethnic Dance," WD, pp. 533-549

Dr. P. will lecture.

Euripides, Antigone (Excerpted)
Martha Graham's Antigone

Threaded Conversation is canceled for this weekend. Use the time to polish your drafts.

Week 11

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Topic 10: Body Politics

Session 1:

Drafts are due. The reporters have an extra 24 hours to turn in their papers to me: the deadline for these reporters is November 2, 11 a.m. at Williams 227 (my office).

Janet Wolff, "Reinstating Corporeality: Feminism and Body Politics," MM, pp. 81-100 (1 slot)

Susan Kozel, "The Story Is Told as a History of the Body": Strategies of Mimesis in the Work of Irigaray and Bausch," MM, pp. 101-110 (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Chacha; Excerpts from Shall We Dance

Session 2:

Evan Alderson, "Ballet as Ideology: Giselle, Act 2," MM, pp. 121-132 (1 slot)

Susan Manning, "The Female Dancer and the Male Gaze," MM, pp. 153-166 (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Chacha
Excerpts from Strictly Ballroom

Threaded Conversation on November 7-8 (midnight)

Week 12

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Topic 11: Race and Colonialism in Relation to Dance

Session 1:

Amy Koritz, "Dancing the Orient for England: Maud Allan's The Vision of Salome," MM, pp. 133-152 (1 slot)

Cynthia Jean Cohen Bull, "Sense, Meaning, and Perception in Three Dance Cultures," MM, pp. 269-288 (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Single Swing (II); Excerpts from Swing Kids

Session 2:

Randy Martin, "Dance Ethnography and the Limits of Representation," MM, pp. 321-344 (1 slot)

Kate Ramsey, "The Staging of Folklore in Mid-Twentieth-Century Haiti," MM, pp. 345-378 (1 slot)

Dance Exercises on the Single Swing (II)

Threaded Conversation on November 14-15 (midnight)

Week 13

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Session 1:

Morrison, Beloved (Excerpted)

Beloved, the movie

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Triple Swing (II)

Session 2:

Trinh Minh-ha, "Outside In, Inside Out," and "Cotton and Iron," When the Moon Waxes Red, pp. 65-78 and 11-26.

Clips from Naked Spaces

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercises on the Triple Swing (II)

Week 14

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Topic 12: Ethnography and Story Telling in Relation to Dance

Session 1:

Ann Cooper Albright, "Auto-Body Stories: Blondell Bummings and Autobiography in Dance," MM, 179-206

Sondra Stamey Sluder, "Her Story," DPD, pp. 97-122

Dr. Picart will lecture.

Dance Exercise on the Tango (II); Clips from Tango Lesson

An in-class powerpoint exercise will occur this week, which will substitute for this week's threaded conversation.

November 25-26: Thanksgiving-No Classes
No Threaded Conversation due to Holiday.

Session 2:

Julie Taylor, Paper Tangos

Clips from Tango and Forever Tango!

Dr. P. will lecture.

Dance Exercise on the Tango (II)

Week 15

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November 30 -SIR/SUSSAI evaluations; class party; final papers are due.

Week 16

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