Overview
Casey Avaunt
Bruce Walczyk
Special Appointments
Richard Lloyd
Sandra Stanton
Paris Wilcox
The goal of the Dance and Movement Studies Department is to help students find and develop their own voices and identities through classes, workshops, projects, and productions that consider dance from creative, technical, historical, and scientific contexts.
Students will learn to:
- Learn the fundamentals of movement through coursework in technique
- Develop a vocabulary enabling them to analyze, discuss, and write about a wide range of dance and movement practices
- Apply these concepts and principles in performance and the creation of original work including in solo and group performance, choreography, and improvisation
- Develop an understanding of dance and movement in a broader cultural context
A concentration in dance consists of DANCE-201, DANCE-203, DANCE-205, DANCE-305, DANCE-307, DANCE-550 or DANCE-560, and four semesters of Martial Arts and Dance (DANCE-208, DANCE-308) and/or Intermediate Technique (DANCE-213, DANCE-215,DANCE-216) and/or Advanced Technique (DANCE-313, DANCE-315). Beginning with the class of 2026, at least two different styles of dance/movement (ballet, contemporary, and martial arts) must be represented in the four semesters of technique. The Senior Program in dance may be fulfilled through satisfactory completion of one of the following options: a Senior Thesis (DANCE-550), which may be a research paper or a field study in movement behavior and its analysis/notation, or Senior Performance/Choreography (DANCE-560), which may be a performance of dance works, choreography or both. No student who has completed the requirements and maintained at least a 3.0 (85) average in dance courses will be prohibited from selecting the performance/choreography option as his/her senior project. The department highly recommends that students qualifying for and electing DANCE-560 (Senior Performance/Choreography) be enrolled in technique class during that semester. Students falling below the 3.0 (85) average will be required to register for an independent study as preparation for the project.
Beginning with the class of 2020, students concentrating in Dance and Movement Studies must fulfill the Social, Structural, and Institutional Hierarchies requirement by completing one of the following courses: Kinesiology (DANCE-205), Ballet in the 20th Century (DANCE-250), Martial Arts and Dance (DANCE-208/DANCE-308), or Composition/Choreography (DANCE-305/DANCE-307).
Departmental honors may be earned through outstanding achievement in coursework, a history of distinguished contribution to the dance program and excellence in the performance, composition, research or production component of the Senior Program, as judged by the department.
A minor in dance consists of three courses selected from DANCE-201, DANCE-203, DANCE-205, DANCE-305 and DANCE-307, and two semesters of Martial Arts and Dance (DANCE-208, DANCE-308) and/or Intermediate Technique (DANCE-213, DANCE-215) and/or Advanced Technique (DANCE-313, DANCE-315).