100

This course is for first-year Dance majors. The course will cover departmental and university policies and procedures, dance program expectations, campus resources, academic advising & registration, time management strategies, and tools to navigate the field as a professional dancer.

This course introduces the dance student to the fundamentals of exploring movement from a place of internal physical perception and proprioceptive awareness. Coursework will engage with techniques which emphasize body awareness through internal reflection on movement habits. Students will develop skills to increase awareness of movement as a practice of the body generated from within.

Dancer Wellness is a foundational course designed to give students the tools to ensure their physical and mental wellbeing throughout their careers. Presented through a combination of lecture and experiential coursework, the class will cover topics such as injury prevention and supplemental training, mental health first aid, nutrition, sleep, and time management, as well as looking at wellness through the lenses of local and global communities.

This course explores various styles, genres, and theories of Contemporary Dance at the 100 level. Emphasis is placed on advanced modern, postmodern, and contemporary dance techniques and the application of movement principles essential to the training to make a professional dancer. Different styles of contemporary dance will be presented with an emphasis on improving anatomical awareness and alignment, developing integrated movement patterns and internal connections, rhythmic awareness and using dance as a form of expression. Students will observe dance on video and performance, read and write, from a scholarly perspective, about Contemporary Dance as well as discuss the genres and styles of individual ideals relating to the overall form.

This course will develop competence in classical/contemporary ballet technique at the 100 level and explain its Euro-centric origin. The student will broaden and refine their fundamental awareness in the art by applying proper technique and anatomical principles to support a healthy body and the application of movement principles essential to the training to make a professional dancer. Emphasis will be given to the proper alignment, placement, coordination and the quality of movements. The study of terminology, theory and history will deepen the understanding of this dance discipline and its relationship to other dance styles.

This course examines which elements of jazz dance situate it outside the paradigms of ballet and modern/contemporary's value systems of form, function, musicality, and technique, and examines how African and Black Diasporic roots of jazz dance make it a distinct form, worthy of study without being qualified from a colonist perspective. The class will develop the dance student's understanding of these entry points at the 100 through movement and academic study. Class covers the fundamental elements of the Africanist and Black Diasporic roots and movement aesthetics of multiple jazz dance styles. Coursework will also incorporate the theory and pedagogy of Jazz Dance through readings, written assignments, and in-class and online discussions. All coursework is designed to improve a dance student's jazz technique, movement skills, understanding of musicality, theory, and history through participation and academic study, and the application of movement principles essential to the training to make a professional dancer.

Tap I will provide the student with a basic competence in Tap Dance and an awareness of its historical origin. It is an introductory course which does not require previous training, but demands a professional approach by the student. The practical part of this course will focus on the proper articulation of individual movements and steps as well as the recollection of short dance combinations (e.g. time steps, rhythms, and short routines). Together with the proper implementation and the proper use of the terminology, the student will study the fundamental technique of tap dance. The scholarly part of this course will cover the historical roots of tap dance and will introduce well-known masters of this performing art.