DA 317 - World Dance Perspectives

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Dance reflects cultural heritage and is a key to understanding diverse societies. Dance is both of a tradition, and a living presence, and it’s social functions are continually evolving. In this arts workshop, students will explore several varieties of dance as they appear on six continents of the world. We will examine these dances as encoded forms of a society’s religious, artistic, political, economic, and familial values, and come to understand the different language and movement systems of that culture. In discovering these dances, we will read contemporary writings on their culture and grapple with questions of globalization, fusion and authenticity. We will see how migration, missionaries, trade routes and the diaspora have led to the creation of new dance forms like “Bollywood” and “Tribal” that are a synthesis of earlier forms. Each week, students will be introduced to a different cultural dance form through selected readings and a rich collection of video footage. After a brief warm-up, the class will learn simple steps, floor plans and rhythms from the music and dance of the culture being studied. We will move with the particular energy and movement style of a culture and gain identity with the culture through it’s physical language. The students will pick a dance from a tradition of their choice and go into the field to learn about it through readings, interviews and participation in dance events of this culture. Prerequisite(s): DA 304