Contemporary Dance Courses

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required and will be determined by previous experience and space availability.

Description:

This introductory course allows students to explore and contextualize their personal history of dance and begin to understand what it means to produce dance in a university setting. Students learn how to choreograph solos for each other, read and discuss texts about dance, examine issues of appropriation, and observe and critique different theories, including Indigenous, non-Western, decolonial approaches to choreographic work.

Component(s):

Seminar; Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 200 or DANC 201 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following course must be completed previously: DANC 202. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required and will be determined by previous experience and space availability.

Description:

In this studio-based course, students explore theoretical, conceptual, and embodied approaches to creating collaborative choreography. Students make connections between academic theory, their personal choreographic explorations, and collaborative practice-based work. Students critically examine culturally diverse theories of Indigenous and decolonial choreographic collaborative practices including Western choreographic models.

Component(s):

Seminar; Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 200 or DANC 201 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, written permission of the Department is required.

Description:

Emphasis is placed on the proper alignment and placement of the body in stillness and in motion. Integration and execution of movement fundamentals and sequences are taught as a preparation for dance.

Component(s):

Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 210 may not take this course for credit.

Description:

A survey of the history of dance, including relations between modernism, post‑modernism, and beyond. Support material may include slides and videos, and bibliographies of specific topics. The course is also designed to provide opportunities for personal and critical reflection and stimulation for contemplating ideas related to dance.

Component(s):

Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

A survey of technical skills, improvisation, and dance composition.

Component(s):

Studio 4 hours per week; Laboratory 2 hours per week

Notes:

• Students enrolled in the Major in Contemporary Dance may not take this course for credit towards their degree program.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, written permission of the Department is required.

Description:

This course provides students with a forum for exploration, experimentation, and for study of process and principles of technical production in the performing arts. Students learn the basic techniques of creation‑based production as well as the practical skills used in the successful application of technical theory. Topics may include costume, make‑up, audio‑visual support and documentation as well as the use of current technologies within the context of the creative and choreographic process of contemporary dance.

Component(s):

Lecture

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

The basics of music theory through guided analytical text using singing, single line score reading and moving, including the study of rhythm, melody, harmony, tempi, dynamics, tone colour, and musical forms with emphasis on the fundamental understanding of rhythm, melody, and harmony physically and mentally.

Component(s):

Lecture

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 230 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

Sequences of studio sessions which may include body movement, improvisation, performance technique, and choreography.

Component(s):

Studio 4 hours per week; Laboratory 2 hours per week

Notes:

• Students enrolled in the Major in Contemporary Dance may not take this course for credit towards their program requirements.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

A continuation of DANC 261.

Component(s):

Studio 4 hours per week; Laboratory 2 hours per week

Notes:

• Students enrolled in the Major in Contemporary Dance may not take this course for credit towards their program requirements.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following courses must be completed previously: DANC 202 and DANC 203, or DANC 200 or DANC 201; and DANC 211. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required and will be determined by previous experience and space availability.

Description:

In this practice-based course, students examine dance from culturally diverse viewpoints to investigate the question of who has the right to dance and choreograph. Students critique how dance has been used to exclude Indigenous and marginalized communities. Ethnographic choreographic alternatives are explored in order to move towards more culturally diverse, decolonized, sustainable, and inclusive practices.

Component(s):

Seminar; Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 300 or DANC 301 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following courses must be completed previously: DANC 202 and DANC 203, or DANC 200 or DANC 201; and DANC 211. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required and will be determined by previous experience and space availability.

Description:

The course focuses on space as context for the development of choreographic concepts. Students are exposed to and explore a variety of spaces, from the arrangement of the audience to physical dance sites, and examine how changes in these factors result in different choreographic outcomes. The course supports collective making, feminist and decolonial approaches as essential elements of contemporary art.

Component(s):

Seminar; Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 300 or DANC 301 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, written permission of the Department is required.

Description:

Emphasis is placed on the technical development of suppleness, strength, coordination, rhythm, and kinetic fundamentals. Loco‑motor patterns, spatial relations, and phrasing are formulated into movement sequences to prepare the students for dance.

Component(s):

Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 310 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following appropriate technique course, as determined by the Department, must be completed previously: DANC 205 or DANC 210. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required.

Description:

Choreography is the art of rendering a concept into the physical design of dance through movement and forms of notation. This course develops personal creativity and broadens the student’s physical and expressive potential into public performances. By organizing movement, space, and time into dances, students follow through the stages of originating ideas, developing themes, and rehearsing and performing choreographic creations. The course also explores the role that technology plays within both the choreographic and production processes. Practical exercises provide students with a working knowledge in the use of video, sound manipulation, and stage lighting.

Component(s):

Studio

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following courses must be completed previously: DANC 205 / DANC 210. Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

A workshop of movement fundamentals based on the practical understanding of anatomy and dance technique.

Component(s):

Studio 6 hours per week

Description:

An introduction to human anatomy in relation to movement and dance. The study of skeletal structure and the function of muscles and joints for proper alignment.

Component(s):

Lecture; Studio

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

Topics vary from year to year, taking into account the special aptitudes of instructors and students.

Component(s):

Studio 6 hours per week

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following courses must be completed previously: DANC 211; and DANC 302 and DANC 303, or DANC 300 or DANC 301. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required and will be determined by previous experience and space availability.

Description:

This studio-based course provides an overview and choreographic application of key texts in critical dance studies. Students learn how dance is a form of political expression and how choreographic practices can impact society. As a result, students understand dance in relation to social structures, and how dance and culture, as decolonial practices, develop out of shared aesthetic and political principles.

Component(s):

Seminar; Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 400 or DANC 401 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following courses must be completed previously: DANC 211; and DANC 302 and DANC 303, or DANC 300 or DANC 301. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required and will be determined by previous experience and space availability.

Description:

In this studio-based course, students examine environmental and sustainable practices in relation to dance. Attention is given to how dance can be used as a tool to communicate environmental issues to diverse audiences and to interrogate the impact of dance practices on the environment, dancers’ bodies, and communities. Students study the work of choreographers who practice social, decolonized, and environmental sustainability and examine ways to apply these approaches to their own creative practices.

Component(s):

Seminar; Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 400 or DANC 401 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, written permission of the Department is required.

Description:

Emphasis is placed on refining and consolidating the student’s practical understanding of kinetics in relation to placement, locomotion, movement patterns, dynamics, and phrasing. Students refine their perceptual and memory skills, and learn to integrate more complex movement notions to support interpretation in dance.

Component(s):

Studio

Notes:

• Students who have received credit for DANC 410 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

The following appropriate technique course, as determined by the Department, must be completed previously: DANC 205 or DANC 210; or DANC 305 or DANC 310. The following course must be completed concurrently: DANC 405. Enrolment in the Major in Contemporary Dance is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required.

Description:

Building on initial research carried out in DANC 320, further exploration is conducted into the use of technology within the choreographic process as well as an examination of the role that it plays in all aspects of production. This course expands on various approaches to choreography through movement research, discussion and theory, extended studio assignments, rehearsal management, and production. Students also examine the role of the choreographer in social, political, and artistic contexts. Students are expected to produce work for public performance.

Component(s):

Studio

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department is required.

Description:

Students who have completed advanced choreography courses or the equivalent have the opportunity of carrying out a project of independent study. Subject matter must deal with specific aspects of contemporary dance. Tutorials with the project advisor are mandatory.

Component(s):

Studio

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

A student repeating DANC 441 registers for credit under DANC 442.

Component(s):

Studio

Prerequisite/Corequisite:

Written permission of the Department of Contemporary Dance is required.

Description:

Advanced choreography where movement shares equal emphasis with all other arts developed into multimedia theatre. Studio: four hours per week.

Component(s):

Studio 4 hours per week; Laboratory 2 hours per week