Course Offerings
DAN 209
Introduction to Movement and Dance
Aynsley Vandenbroucke
Designed for people with little or no previous training in dance, the class will be a mixture of movement techniques, improvisation, choreography, observing, writing, and discussing. Students will investigate their own movement patterns and delve into many facets of dance and the cultural questions surrounding it. We will explore the role of the dancer, choreographer, and audience member and critic in relation to such topics as aesthetic questions, politics, identity, religion and complex views of the human body.
DAN 211/AAS 211
The American Dance Experience and Africanist Dance Practices
Dyane Harvey Salaam
A studio course introducing students to American dance aesthetics and practices, with a focus on how its evolution has been influenced by African American choreographers and dancers. An ongoing study of movement practices from traditional African dances and those of the African diaspora, touching on American jazz dance, modern dance, and American ballet. Studio work will be complemented by readings, video viewings, guest speakers, and dance studies.
DAN 215
Introduction to Dance Across Cultures
Claudia Brazzale
Bharata Natyam, Hula, Salsa, Sabar, and Capoeira are some of the movement practices that will have us travel from temples and courtyards to clubs, streets, and stages around the world. Through dance activities, readings, and viewing of filmed and live performances the course will introduce students to dance across cultures and historical periods while questioning categories such as classical, traditional, ethnic, folk, and world dance. The course meets twice a week, one class is dedicated to studio practice and one to theory. Throughout the semester guest artists will teach different dance forms. No prior dance experience is necessary.
DAN 220
Modern Dance: Beginning/Intermediate Technique and Choreography
Tina Fehlandt, Susan Marshall
Dance technique and choreography for beginning and intermediate levels. Technique class will emphasize placement and the increase of movement efficiency through proper alignment. Students will also explore dancing to different rhythms, tempos and styles of music while emphasizing weight of the body and its relationship to space and gravity. In choreography class students will develop their understanding of the ways in which structural elements and movement vocabularies contribute to a dance's overarching impact and content.
DAN 321
Special Topics in Dance History, Criticism, and Aesthetics - Social Conscience in Modern Dance
Rose Anne Thom
From the solos of Isadora Duncan in the early part of the 20th century to the postmodern ensembles of John Jasperse in the 21st, each generation of modern dancers reflects its cultural environment resulting in altered aesthetics and changing bodies. Focus is on eras when heightened artistic expression parallels political and social turmoil - the depression of the 30's, the anti-war activities of the 60's, and the AIDS crisis of the 80's - as well as the persistent issues of race, feminism and gender identity.
DAN 409
Contemporary Dance: Advanced Technique and Choreography
Rebecca Lazier, Susan Marshall
Advanced dance technique and choreography, with a focus on contemporary practices. In technique, students will be challenged to expand their movement range and increase their mastery of various styles in ways required by today's dance world. Students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, and momentum to emphasize ease and efficiency in motion. In choreography, students will work together on group objectives in movement-based laboratories focusing on collaboration and choreographic choice-making skills.
DAN 431
Approaches to Ballet: Technique and Repertory
Tina Fehlandt
A studio course in ballet technique and repertory for advanced and high intermediate students. This course will consist of a pre-professional ballet class and learning selections of classical, neo-classical and contemporary ballet repertory. The course will be divided into three units, each focusing on a different ballet choreographer: Auguste Bournonville, Antony Tudor, Twyla Tharp. Students will be coached by internationally known guest artists, including, Nilas Martins, Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner and Rita Okamoto and Alexander Brady, to master and understand the diverse styles of each piece of repertory learned.
DAN 209
Introduction to Movement and Dance
Aynsley Vandenbroucke
A mix of movement techniques, improvisation, and composition. Students with no previous dance training will learn how to recognize their own movement potential and how to build their own dances. The essential principles and evolution of 20th-century modern and post-modern dance will be studied through readings and viewings of live and videotaped dance performances.
DAN 219
Modern Dance: Beginning Technique and Choreography
Tina Fehlandt, Aynsley Vandenbroucke
Dance technique and choreography for beginning and intermediate levels. Technique class will emphasize placement and the increase of movement efficiency through proper alignment. Students will also explore dancing to different rhythms, tempos and styles of music while emphasizing weight of the body and its relationship to space and gravity. In choreography class students will develop their understanding of the ways in which structural elements and movement vocabularies contribute to a dance's overarching impact and content. Readings and viewings broaden students understanding of dance's position in the world of art and ideas.
DAN 300
Muscle/Memory: Dance
Susan Marshall
Performed actions inform both contemporary art and dance--this course will investigate how, since the 1960s, both fields have put pressure on the body as a "site" of aesthetic experience, and on sculpture as the body's "trace." This studio seminar is offered with VIS 300. Students in DAN 300 will create performed movements as visual art, students in VIS 300 will address sculpture and the body--these classes will meet together periodically. How can nearly identical movements and objects be considered dance in some contexts and art in others? A lecture series comprised of prominent choreographers and artists will accompany the course.
DAN 319
Dance Performance Workshop: Intermediate Repertory and Choreography
Brian Brooks, David Parker
Intermediate dance technique and choreography, with a focus on contemporary practices. In technique, students will be challenged to increase their body's strength, coordination and alignment, and to develop awareness and range of motion in multiple spatial planes. The repertory component of this course calls on students' collaborative abilities as they work with faculty in the development a new dance. In choreography, students will work in movement-based laboratories to develop their fluency with a wide range of contemporary choreographic approaches. Readings and viewings contextualize the work culturally and historically.
DAN 419
Dance Performance Workshop: Advanced Repertory and Choreography
Vicky Shick, Eva Karczag, David Parker
In this course students will learn and perform an excerpt from master choreographer Trisha Brown's revered Set & Reset. This course will focus on mastering Brown's uniquely weighted, articulated and loose approach to movement. Additional emphasis will be placed on performing dance movements with attention to alignment, detail, spatial clarity and an awareness of other dancers. In choreography, students will work together on group objectives in movement-based laboratories focusing on collaboration and choreographic choice-making skills. Readings and viewings inform the studio work and place it in relationship to current artistic movements.
DAN 420
Chamber Dance: Repertory and Choreography
Heather Watts, Rebecca Lazier
George Balanchine is a towering figure in 20th century culture. His legacy continues to influence generations of dancers, choreographers and directors. This course will examine Balanchine's processes and innovations, seeking to understand his works and impact. In technique and repertory class, students will learn excerpts from Apollo, Serenade, and Agon, among other works, and through practice, discussion and performance we will investigate the complex and distinct nature of each of the pieces. In choreography class students will utilize the frameworks of Balanchine's dances as the basis for experimentation and adaptation.
ATL 498 / DAN 451
Princeton Atelier - Bodies and Guitars: Choreographic and Musical Structures
Susan Marshall, David Lang, Taylor Levine
James Moore
Professor of Dance Susan Marshall, Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer David Lang with Taylor Levine and James Moore, members of the electric guitar quartet Dither, will collaborate on original music to which Atelier students and Marshall will choreograph new dances. Dance students will explore questions of structure and form: how does "phrasing," both musical and choreographic, fit a contemporary understanding of the relationship of dance to music? how do we think of music and dance structures in terms of evolutions and progressions? Students and Marshall will craft finished works for performance at the end of the semester, some of which will be premiered at Princeton's Spring Dance Festival.
Photo by Denise Applewhite
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