The College Catalogue

First-Year Seminars

For a full description of first-year seminars, see the First-Year Seminar section.

10 {1010} c. Understanding Theater and Dance: Doing, Viewing, and Reviewing. Fall 2012. Melissa Thompson. (Same as Theater 10 {1010}.)

Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced Courses

101 {1102} c - ESD, VPA. Cultural Choreographies: An Introduction to Dance. Spring 2013. Paul Sarvis.

Dancing is a fundamental human activity, a mode of communication, and a basic force in social life. Investigates dance and movement in the studio and classroom as aesthetic and cultural phenomena. Explores how dance and movement activities reveal information about cultural norms and values and affect perspectives in our own and other societies. Using ethnographic methods, focuses on how dancing maintains and creates conceptions of one’s own body, gender relationships, and personal and community identities. Experiments with dance and movement forms from different cultures and epochs—for example, the hula, New England contradance, classical Indian dance, Balkan kolos, ballet, contact improvisation, and African American dance forms from swing to hip-hop—through readings, performances, workshops in the studio, and field work. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 102 {1102}.)

102 {1101} c - VPA. Making Dances. Every year. Fall 2012. Gwyneth Jones.

Explores ways of choreographing dances and multimedia performance works, primarily solos, duets, trios. A strong video component introduces students—regardless of previous experience in dance—to a wide range of compositional methods that correspond to creative process in other arts: writing, drawing, composing. Includes some reading, writing, and discussion, as well as work with visiting professional dance companies and attendance at live performances.

103 {1103} c - ESD, VPA. African American Diasporic Dance: From the Ring Shout to Hip-Hop. Fall 2012. Nyama McCarthy-Brown.

Combines dance history, embodied research, and performance. Students engage in readings, class discussions, and movement studies that allow them to learn movement techniques from past eras. Students explore connections between cultural values and norms and movement aesthetics, and discover how African American vernacular dance and jazz music influenced jazz forms and American dance throughout the twentieth century (ragtime, swing, hot jazz, and hip-hop). Culminates with a performance in the December Dance Concert. Students meet once a week in a seminar setting to investigate one dance era, such as swing. The next two class meetings take place in a dance studio in order to embody the dance form discussed that week, and include rehearsals. (Same as Africana Studies 103 {1103}.)

104 {1301} c. Stagecraft. Every year. Fall 2012. Michael Schiff-Verre.

Introduction to the language, theory, and practice of technical theater. Hands-on experience in lighting, scenic and property construction, costuming, and stage management. Considers the possibilities, demands, and limits inherent in different forms of performance and performance spaces, and explores the job roles integral to theater and dance production. Includes forty hours of laboratory work. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. (Same as Theater 104 {1301}.)

111 {1211} c - VPA. Modern I: Technique. Spring 2013. The Department.

Classes in modern dance technique include basic exercises to develop dance skills such as balance and musicality. More challenging movement combinations and longer dance sequences build on these exercises. While focusing on the craft of dancing, students develop an appreciation of their own styles and an understanding of the role of craft in the creative process. During the semester, a historical overview of twentieth-century American dance on video is presented. Attendance at all classes is required. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

112 {1212} c - VPA. Modern I: Repertory and Performance. Spring 2013. The Department.

Repertory students are required to take Dance 111 concurrently. Repertory classes provide the chance to learn faculty-choreographed works or reconstructions of historical dances. Class meetings are conducted as rehearsals for performances at the end of the semester: the December Studio Show, the annual Spring Performance in Pickard Theater, or Museum Pieces at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in May. Additional rehearsals are scheduled before performances. Attendance at all classes and rehearsals is required. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

121 {1221} c - VPA. Ballet I: Technique. Every other year. Fall 2013. Charlotte Griffin.

Introduces the fundamental principles of classical ballet technique as a studio practice and performing art. Includes barre, center, and across-the-floor exercises with an emphasis on anatomical alignment, complex coordination, movement quality, and musicality. Combines dance training with assigned reading and writing, video viewing, performance attendance, and in-class discussion to increase appreciation for and participation in the art form. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. Ballet I is a one-credit course with a repertory component.

130 {1302} c - VPA. Principles of Design. Every year. Fall 2012. Judy Gailen.

An introduction to theatrical design that stimulates students to consider the world of a play, dance, or performance piece from a designer’s perspective. Through projects, readings, discussion, and critiques, students explore the fundamental principles of visual design, as they apply to set, lighting, and costume design, as well as text analysis for the designer, and the process of collaboration. Strong emphasis on perceptual, analytical, and communication skills. (Same as Theater 130 {1302}.)

140 {1501} c - VPA. History of Twentieth-Century Dance. Fall 2012. Paul Sarvis.

Excavates histories of twentieth-century modern dance and ballet by asking aesthetic, philosophical, and social questions. Focuses on dance vocabularies and notions of representation—illusion and authenticity, intention and authorship, changing ideas of the performance space, the countercultural attitude of modernism, and the sociopolitical dimensions of dance performance. These inquiries are introduced by movement exercises in the studio, and elucidated by video viewing, reading, discussion, and writing.

145 {1203} c - VPA. Performance and Narrative. Fall 2013. The Department.

For millennia, we have organized our fictions, our religions, our histories, and our own lives as narratives. However much the narrative form has been called into question in recent years, it seems we just cannot stop telling each other stories. Examines the particular nexus between narrative and performance: What is narrative? How does it work? What are its limits and its limitations? How do we communicate narrative in performance? Involves both critical inquiry and the creation of performance pieces based in text, dance, movement, and the visual image. (Same as Theater 145 {1203}.)

211 {2211} c - VPA. Modern II: Technique. Every semester. Fall 2012. Gwyneth Jones.

A continuation of the processes introduced in Dance 111. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

212 {2212} c - VPA. Modern II: Repertory and Performance. Every semester. Fall 2012. Gwyneth Jones.

Intermediate repertory students are required to take Dance 211 concurrently. A continuation of the principles and practices introduced in Dance 112. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

221 {2221} c - VPA. Ballet II: Technique. Fall 2012. Charlotte Griffin.

A continuation of the processes introduced in Dance 121. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

Prerequisite: Dance 121 or permission of the instructor.

222 {2222} c - VPA. Ballet II: Repertory and Performance. Fall 2012. Charlotte Griffin.

Repertory students are required to take Dance 221 concurrently. Repertory classes are an opportunity to learn and perform new choreography or historical reconstructions created by faculty or guests. Class meetings conducted as rehearsals. Additional rehearsals may be required. Attendance at all classes, studio and stage rehearsals, and performances required. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

231 {2231} c - VPA. Jazz II: Technique. Spring 2013. Nyama McCarthy-Brown.

Extends students’ technical proficiency by increasing practice in jazz dance styles and intricate combinations; learning dance technique along with the appropriate historical and cultural contexts. Includes vocabulary, and variations of jazz, and focuses on its roots in social dance heavily influenced by African American traditions. Students have the opportunity to embody various jazz styles such as vintage jazz, Broadway jazz, lyrical jazz, and the jazz techniques of Bob Fosse and Luigi. A series of dance exercises and combinations teach jazz isolations, syncopation, musicality, and performance skills. Through this ongoing physical practice, students gain strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination, and style. Includes a performance requirement, and several readings. Attendance at all classes required. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit. (Same as Africana Studies 235 {2234}.)

Prerequisite: Dance 111 or 121, or permission of the instructor.

232 {2232} c - VPA. Jazz II: Repertory and Performance. Spring 2013. Nyama McCarthy-Brown.

Intermediate repertory students are required to take Dance 231 (same as Africana Studies 235) concurrently. A continuation of the principles and practices introduced in Dance 231. Attendance at all classes is required. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit. (Same as Africana Studies 232 {2232}.)

240 {2502} c - VPA. Performance in the Twenty-first Century. Fall 2013. The Department.

Hybrid by nature, rebellious in spirit, performance rejects the boundaries and conventions of traditional theater and dance, combining and recombining these live forms with every other artistic mode and medium imaginable. Yet as the first decade of the new century draws to an end, so does the fifth decade of this “new” form. Is it still breaking boundaries, or has boundary-breaking itself become a convention? What, these days, is new about performance? Examines the genealogical roots of performance and studies the ways twenty-first-century performance is exploring the body, the mind, technology, intercultural aesthetics, and globalism. Students will enact critical inquiries in the creation of their own performance works. (Same as Theater 240 {2502}.)

Prerequisite: One 100-level course in theater or dance.

250 {2402} c - VPA. Theater, Dance, and the Common Good. Spring 2014. The Department.

Theater and dance have a long history of political engagement, social intervention, and community building. Examines the historical precedents for today’s “applied” theater and dance practice, including Piscator, Brecht, Boal, Cornerstone Theatre, Judson Dance Theatre, and Yvonne Rainer. Significant time also spent working with local agencies and institutions to create community-based performances addressing social issues such as homelessness, poverty, prejudice, and the environment, among others. (Same as Theater 250 {2402}.)

270 {2401} c - VPA. Choreography for Dancers: Invention, Method, and Purpose. Fall 2012. Charlotte Griffin.

Through a vigorous sequence of creative projects, fluent dancers excavate sources and explore methods for making dance. Detailed work on personal movement vocabulary, musicality, and the use of multidimensional space leads to a strong sense of choreographic architecture. Students explore the play between design and accident—communication and open-ended meaning—and irony and gravity. Studio work is supported by video viewing, and readings on dance, philosophy, and other arts.

Prerequisite: Dance 101 or 102 and two of: Dance 112, 212, or 312.

291–294 {2970–2973} c. Intermediate Independent Study in Dance. The Department.

299 {2999} c. Intermediate Collaborative Study in Dance. The Department.

311 {3211} c - VPA. Modern III: Technique. Spring 2013. The Department.

A continuation of the processes introduced in Dance 211. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

312 {3212} c - VPA. Modern III: Repertory and Performance. Spring 2013. The Department.

Intermediate/advanced repertory students are required to take Dance 311 concurrently. A continuation of the principles and practices introduced in Dance 212. May be repeated for credit. Grading is Credit/D/Fail. One-half credit.

340 {3301} c. Live Performance and Digital Media. Spring 2014. The Department.

Over the past two decades, digital media has infiltrated live performance to such an extent that it has become almost as indispensable as sets, lights, and costumes. Theater and dance artists have embraced these media as a way to enhance the expressivity and scale of their work, as well as a cultural phenomenon to be critically investigated. Introduces students to sound and video applications such as Garage Band, Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Isadora, and requires them to create performances incorporating these tools. Also contextualizes student projects with theoretical readings and examinations of contemporary performance practitioners. (Same as Theater 340 {3301}.)

Prerequisite: One 100-level course in theater or dance.

343 {3303} c. Topics in Choreography: Dance and the Camera. Spring 2013. Charlotte Griffin.

Original creative projects arise from dance and video explorations, and from examining historical and contemporary models of dance for the camera. How do the languages and techniques of film production and dance composition intersect? What strategies support the transposition of movement from live action to flat screen? What values do choreographers bring to digital mediums? Includes dance studio work; instruction in the basics of videography and editing; viewings, critiques, readings, discussion, and written responses. (Same as Film Studies 343 {3303}.)

Prerequisite: Dance 270 or permission of the instructor.

401–404 {4000–4003} c. Advanced Independent Study in Dance. The Department.

405 {4029} c. Advanced Collaborative Study in Dance. The Department.