DSDAN 220E — Viewing Dance

1 credit
Spring
Paul Singh

With archival support from the Special Collections department at the NY Public Library of the Performing Arts, this course explores the filmed performances of work by 8 to 10 contemporary choreographers, both domestic and international, with the aim of broadening student awareness of often-overlooked work and inspiring students to learn about new work by taking initiative and going straight to “the source.”

Each week, students will view the complete work of a dance-maker in class, including the likes of Ultima Vez, Pina Bausch, Dimitris Papioannou, Akram Khan, Ralph Lemon, and Sankai Juku, and are then expected to lead and/or participate in a discussion about the relevance of the work, elements of attraction and/or dissatisfaction, and research about the company, among other topics. Each student will be assigned a choreographer about whom they will conduct preliminary research and will share their findings and relevant facts with the class at each session.