*Western Dance History

This course explores the artistic developments of Western concert dance from the Renaissance to the 20th century with the purpose of understanding and appreciating the historical influences that shaped western concert dance. considering the development of ballet, modern and postmodern dance, the influence of African-American dance, and the recent trends in the American and European dance scene. In this course students will observe how the development of Western concert dance has been influenced by specific socio-political conditions and how it has always hybridized genres, traditions, and cultures, merging ritual and entertainment, low and high culture. although structured along a chronological timeline, the course will pay attention to the anthropological, philosophical, and sociocultural issues linked to dance across time. Rather than approaching history as a list of dates and names, we will highlight the connections between the past and the present with the awareness that history is hard to separate from what we do. the course will seek to trace the aesthetic values of western dance forms over time and to connect them to the students’ own emerging identities as dance practitioners. through readings, lectures, discussions and extensive viewing of video and live performance, students will come to understand the rich lineage of current dance forms. Readings will range from the historical to the theoretical.