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Bard College Catalogue 2009-2010
2009-2010
Dance
http://dance.bard.edu FacultyMaria Q. Simpson (director), Victoria Anderson, Jean Churchill*, Leah Cox, Peggy Florin, Lynn Hawley, Lenore Latimer, Aileen Passloff
In residence: Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company
*on sabbatical, fall 2009OverviewThe Bard Dance Program sees the pursuit of artistry and intellect as a single endeavor and the study of the body as a cognitive act, demanding both physical practice and exploration of the broader academic contexts in which the art form exists. The program fosters the discovery of a dance vocabulary that is meaningful to the dancer/choreographer and essential to his or her creative ambitions. This discovery leads students to cultivate original choices that are informed by a full exploration of their surroundings and to find expression in new and dynamic ways. Through intensive technique and composition courses, onstage performance, and production experience, dance students are prepared to understand and practice the art of choreography and performance.
In 2009, the Dance Program launched a partnership with the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company. Jones and members of his company will lead workshops, teach technique and composition classes, and advise dance majors on Moderation and Senior Project work.Areas of StudyThe Dance Program offers technique courses in ballet, modern dance, and world dance–flamenco, as well as courses in composition, dance history, dance science, performance and production, and dance repertory.
RequirementsPrior to Moderation, students must take a minimum of four credits in technique and three credits in dance composition. All moderating students must submit choreography for consideration in one of the year’s two Moderation dance concerts. Each moderating student must present performance work for acceptance into the major. Once accepted, students may choose to concentrate in creative work, performance, or both.
Once a student moderates, requirements for the major include two courses in technique per semester (including three ballet and one world dance and culture course); three levels of dance composition (if concentrating in performance, two levels); Dance 250, Anatomy for the Dancer; Dance 260, Dance History; a music course; two courses in arts disciplines outside of dance; an additional history course outside of the dance program; and a writing and/or criticism course (e.g., Philosophy and the Arts). Additionally, a dance workshop is required of all majors. The workshops help students prepare for one of the four annual productions. For the Senior Project, students prepare choreography, performance, or other material of appropriate scope for public presentation. All Senior Projects include a 20- to 30-page paper that synthesizes interests in areas outside of dance where appropriate and relates these processes to the development of the specific work presented.
FacilitiesThe Dance Program is located in The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, where facilities include two studios and a fully equipped, 200-seat theater.
CoursesThe Dance Program offers 100-level studio classes for first-year students and other beginning dancers; 200-level classes, which are open to all students at the intermediate level of technique; and 300-level classes, open to all students with the experience appropriate for an advanced-level course. All dance studio classes have live musical accompaniment. Tutorials arise out of a student’s interest in delving deeply into a subject that is not generally covered in the curriculum. Topics have included dance pedagogy, partnering technique, pointe work, and specific elements of dance history and dance science.Introduction to Dance
Dance 103-104
This course comprises several classes or sections, carrying one credit each, in modern dance and ballet for the beginner. No previous dance experience is required, and the courses are open to all students. The course is indivisible; that is, all sections must be completed successfully in order to receive credit for the course. Beginning Dance Composition
Dance 117-118
This course focuses on developing physical awareness and expanding movement vocabulary. Students make short studies that address timing, energy, space, balance, and phrasing. Intermediate and Advanced Studios
Dance 211-212, 311-312
Intensive technique studies are an essential part of the training of a serious dance student. Prospective and current dance majors must take two credits in dance technique each semester during their four years at Bard. Studio courses are open to interested and experienced nonmajors with permission of the instructor. Dance Composition I
Dance 217-218
This course addresses questions of phrase development, form, and relationship to sound/ music. Students experiment with new ways of generating and shaping material. World Music and Dance
Dance 220
This course offers an opportunity to study Balkan, central Asian, Irish, North African, Native American, Andean, and other music and dance forms. Students participate physically through movement, vocalization, and the making of music on their own instruments. American Folk Music and Dance
Dance 221
An experiential survey that examines great American music and dance traditions. Topics include how mountain ballads joined with gospel music and blues to become bluegrass, how English miners’ wooden-soled-shoe dances merged with Native American and African styles as Appalachian clogging, how Irish reels became hoedowns, and how tap dancing was born, among others. Students add their own singing, dancing, and playing to these traditional songs and dances. Pilates / Body Balancing Technique
Dance 240
This course provides students with a strong foundation in the Pilates method. Students work toward precisely executed, smooth, rhythmic movements, using a series of exercises designed to help them restore muscular balance, develop dynamic core strength, and increase flexibility. Flamenco
Dance 243-244, 343-344, 443-444
Technique classes in flamenco, a dance and music that has been influenced by many different cultures including Indian, Judaic, Cuban, Argentinean, and African. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Anatomy for the Dancer
Dance 250
A study of primary bones, joints, ligaments, and muscles relevant to dancing; the physiology of breathing; and the body as a complex physical system. Students learn ways to prevent injury and how to develop a full range of expression with safety and pleasure. Physics for Dancers
Dance 253
This course is for dancers who are interested in deepening their understanding of the art form through an investigation into the governing laws of physics. Classes are held in the dance studio, in order to move back and forth between theory and application. Prerequisites: successful Q exam and intermediate-level dance experience. Dance, the Body, Social Action
Dance 255
This course examines how the modern body in dance, film, and visual art has engaged with social and political causes in the 20th century. What is the relation between artistic experimentation and political progressivism? What are effective strategies for interpreting where the politics of movement become manifest? How have these strategies become co-opted? Dance History
Dance 260
This course addresses the history of dance from the Renaissance to the present. It examines a range of ideas and theories about the human body, about movement as personal and cultural practice, and about the experience of looking at and responding to movement. Students consider many forms of concert and social dance and their intersections with the cultural circumstances in which they exist. The Choreographic Public Sphere
Dance 265
cross-listed: human rights
What is the difference between public and private space in performance, and how is this difference negotiated in choreography? Students look at Anna Halprin’s AIDS workshops, the film Positive Motion, William Forsythe’s Kammer/Kammer (Ballet Frankfurt), and issues of the public sphere, social space, protest, and the civil liberties of the artist. Studio in Dance Improvisation
Dance 313-314
A basis for composition work using the improvisatory approach. Open to intermediate and advanced dancers or by permission of the instructor. Dance Repertory
Dance 315-316
Taught by two choreographers, one in the fall and one in the spring, this studio offers students an opportunity to experience choreography that is made or re-created for them and thus provides insight into the compositional process. Open to junior and senior dance majors (and others by invitation from the instructor). Dance Composition II
Dance 317-318
At the 300 level, composition classes address production elements in dance performance, including lighting, sound, and costumes. Advanced Studio in Technical Theater
Dance 320
The methods, techniques, and practice of technical production for the theater—stage management, scene building, lighting, wardrobe, and property building and/or finding—are taught through practical, closely supervised work on productions. Each student is assigned responsibility, research, and independent work in his/her area of proven competence on at least one production during the semester. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Special Topics
Dance 418
This independent study course is project-based. Examples may include choreography for musical theater, site-specific work, choreography generated from social or political issues, collaborations, voice and movement, and somatic research. Limited to junior and senior dance majors.
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