This FYS course--a writing intensive and introduction to Wesleyan's culture--investigates the various social, political, and historical contexts that have contributed to the explosive evolution of dance since the nineteenth century, and conversely, explores the ways that performers and choreographers have utilized the medium of dance to reflect their personal concerns back to society in powerful ways. Dynamic artistic movements, choreographers, and dancers examined will include Imperial Russian Ballet, Gesamtkunstwerk of Diaghilev's Les Ballets Russes, gender manipulation in the roles of Nijinsky; WWI and II and its aftermath in the German Ausdruckstanz of Mary Wigman and Kurt Jooss; Modernism's effect on seminal choreographers in America such as Martha Graham; politics, race, class, and the Harlem Renaissance; the anthropological research in dance of Black choreographers Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus; experimentations of Merce Cunningham; exploration of Postmodern rebellion of the Judson Dance Theater; and the response of choreographers and performance artists to Civil Rights and the AIDS crisis. Students will view performance videos and documentaries, pursue extended research, and be expected to speak and write about dance in a way that will prepare them for academic writing at Wesleyan. |