DTS2500

The study of dance

R Fensham

8 points - 3 hours per week - Second semester - Clayton

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject will be able to identify different traditions within the history of dance and develop an understanding of contemporary dance culture. They will also have learnt skills of movement analysis and dance composition that could be applied to performance criticism, or to the construction of dance and dance theatre.

Synopsis This subject will introduce students to the diversity of dance in contemporary cultures. It will consider dance as an aesthetic and cultural practice and will focus on different dance traditions and genres, European and non-European, as well as a history of twentieth-century dance as performance. Emphasis will be given to studying dance as a popular medium, through modern and contemporary approaches to dance and movement, and through comparison with other cultural traditions and contexts. Ways of analysing dance informed by aesthetic and critical theory will also be considered. There will be opportunities for practical exploration and projects to inform the theoretical components of the course.

Assessment Research paper (1500 words): 30% - Class exercises (2000 words): 20% - Seminar participation and class presentation (equivalent to 2500 words): 50%

Prescribed texts

Foster S Reading dancing U California P, 1986
Jowitt D Time and the dancing image 2nd edn, Berkeley U P, 1988
Thomas H Dance, gender and culture Routledge, 1993

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