*Topics in Dance Studies

“Choreographing community: Dance, culture, and Society”: the course will explore the meanings of culture as it relates to dance and discuss the relationship of the term ‘society’ to the study of culture and dance. “Dance and Everyday”: Students will explore the connections between daily movements and dance and discuss how postmodern dance turned to the neglected aspects of the ‘quotidian’ to fill the gap between art and everyday life.

“Dance, Kinetic Knowledge, and Ethnographic Methods”: Discussion on why ethnography and qualitative research are the preferred methods in dance studies. “Self-reflexivity and auto-ethnography. Dance and the Body”: to examine how the concept of body has recently stirred the attention of the social sciences and explore the key contribution that dance and dance studies can make to the discussion.

“Dance and gender”: We will consider the contribution of feminist and gender theory to dance scholarship.

“Dance and Multiculturalism”: students will explore how multiculturalism, a term taken up most strongly in the arts, relates to issues of race and ethnicity. Discussion of postcolonial theory and diaspora studies will be included.

“Dance and tourism”: consideration will be given to the role of dance in the representation of a nation/culture through global tourism. “choreographing the Virtual”: the emergence of videodance, the creation of dances in virtual settings, and the use of Ict in dance (DanceForms software) will be covered. Prerequisites: Dance Workshop or equivalent.