Introduction to Dance Studies

This class is an introduction to dance studies and the complex meanings bodily performances carry both onstage and off. Using critical frames drawn from dance criticism, history and ethnography and performance studies, and readings from cultural studies, dance, theater and critical theory, the class explores how performing bodies make meanings. We will read theoretical and historical texts and recorded dance as a means of developing tools for viewing and analyzing dance and understanding its place in larger social, cultural, and political structures. Special attention will be given to new turns in queer and feminist dance studies. This course blends theory and embodied practice. This means as we read, research, and analyze, we will also dance. Students enrolled should expect to move throughout the quarter and complete a two-part choreographic research project. TAPS 11 has been certified to fulfill the Writing in the Major (WIM) requirement.