Department of Dance Performance and Choreography Faculty through embodied creative process, theoretical ➢ Veta Goler, Associate Professor research, literature, and performance. ➢ Julie B. Johnson, Lecturer HISTORICAL/CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ➢ Omelika Kuumba, Instructor 2.Articulate — orally, in written form, and ➢ T. Lang, Chair and Associate Professor through embodied practice — historical and ➢ Kathleen Wessel, Lecturer contemporary sociocultural contexts of dance ➢ Victor Rojas, Lecturer practice. ➢ Christen Weimer, Instructor CHOREOGRAPHIC PROCESS 3.Demonstrate high level choreographic skills to Department Location investigate, engage in, and develop creative West End Dance Lab processes. 1392 Ralph David Abernathy PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION PRACTICE 4.Demonstrate ability to self-generate Special Entry Requirements professional opportunities and creative spaces, None and maneuver within various concert, commercial, and social communities locally, Placement Requirements regionally, and internationally. None General Core Requirements Mission Fine Arts Dance at Spelman is a critical and creative The following courses fulfill the Fine Arts division thinking laboratory that nurtures women of the requirement for non-majors: African Diaspora. Students investigate DAN 105 Dance Perspectives and Process intersections of experimental creative practices, DAN 241 Black Dance in American Dance cultural discourse, and technology. The curriculum centers on the choreographic Major Requirements process through the lens of black feminist The Dance Performance and Choreography theories, contemporary dance techniques, and major consists of 48 semester credits. The major interdisciplinary collaborative practice. Students is divided into four areas: Technique, Theory, engage with an exciting roster of visiting artists Composition, Performance. Students majoring in who explore and push boundaries through the Dance Performance and Choreography are Spelman College Dance Artist Incubation required to take all of the courses offered in the Residency (A.I.R.). Department faculty includes core (40 credit hours) and three electives (8 globally recognized working artists who mentor credit hours). and guide students through scholarship, artistic production, and entrepreneurial strategies. The department cultivates freethinkers and intelligent movers interested in becoming creators, innovators, writers, historians, and scholars Dance Performance and Choreography within the evolving field of dance. Core

Technique 7 credits Objectives ➢ African Dance Forms [1] After completing the major, students will be able ➢ *Principle of Jazz [1] to ➢ Jazz Funk [1] KNOWLEDGE & CRITICAL THINKING ➢ Commercial Hip Hop [1] 1.Engage in dance as a mode of inquiry, ➢ Improvisation [1] knowledge production, and critical thinking ➢ *Beginning Contemporary Modern beginning of each academic year. Spelman Dance [1] Dance Theatre performs original works by dance ➢ Intermediate Contemporary African [1] faculty and graduating seniors presented in the ➢ Advance Contemporary Modern Dance fall and spring semester. The company also [1] provides platforms for students to create and ➢ *Beginning Ballet through the Lens of present their own original works mentored by Kinesiology [1] faculty. Non- Majors are welcomed to audition ➢ Intermediate Advanced Ballet through for Spelman Dance Theatre. the Lens of Kinesiology [1] Audition Process: Theory 17 credits ● Performance Audition: Students attend ➢ Dance Perspectives and Process [3] a two-hour audition process led by ➢ Black Presence in Dance History [4] dance faculty. Students will learn ➢ Critical Writing for Dance [4] contemporary movement phrases and ➢ Teaching and Leading through Dance [4] perform phrases in small groups. ➢ Dance Seminar [2] Students will also perform structured Composition 14 credits improvisation phrases. Auditions are ➢ Choreographic Process I - evaluated by faculty. Open to all classes Solo/Womanist Theories with lab [4] and majors. ➢ Choreographic Process II - Group/Art as ● Choreography Audition: Students attend Activism with lab [4] a two-hour process led by dance faculty. ➢ Choreographic Process III - Students will participate in an Collaboration/ Experimentation in improvisation class followed by Technology with lab [6] presenting their 2 minute choreography. Performance 2 credits Students are required to submit a work ➢ Spelman Dance Theatre [2] one year description of their proposed course. choreographed project that details their content, inspiration/resource material, The electives must be in technology, theory sound score, description of casting and or design an outline of rehearsal strategy. Electives 8 credits ➢ Dance for Camera [4] Internships ➢ Women in Dance [4] Majors are encouraged to participate in at least

Other Requirements one internship during their time in the department. While internships will earn students Department Productions credit toward graduation, they will not count as a All majors must audition for Spelman Dance core credit. Theatre, the department's performance

company beginning their 2nd year and participate in the company for 4 consecutive Departmental Honors semesters in performance,production, or The qualifications for departmental honors administrative. include: Entrance and Exit Interview/ Exam 1. A grade point average of 3.5 or above Majors are required to participate in an 2. Completion of a senior choreographed interview/exam when they begin the major and self-produced evening length dance as graduating seniors. concert 3. No grade lower than a “B” in Auditions Choreographic Process courses The audition for Spelman Dance Theatre, the 4. Participate in Spelman Dance Theatre departments dance company, will be held at the performances for 4 semesters 5. Participate in an international dance Emphasis on the dance created and intensive study abroad performed by African American artists. 6. No withdrawals from major courses Offered every spring. unless for reasons of serious illness or other extenuating circumstances DAN 251 Dance Seminar ➢ 7. All required courses must be taken in Learn effective tools to take your discipline into the professional dance the Spelman College Dance Department world as practitioners, dance makers, and scholars. Dance Performance and Choreography DAN 203 Critical Writing for Dance pre req for Minor Requirements Teaching and Leading through Dance ➢ Engage in thoughtful dance and contemporary A completion of 22 credit hours art criticism as well as self-promotion through ➢ Dance Technique - Improvisation individual artist statements and short-form pre req for choreographic process social media content. ➢ Spelman Dance Theatre for 1 year DAN 300 Teaching & Leading Through Dance ➢ Choreographic Process I pre req ➢ Engage in an experiential multimodal ➢ Choreographic Process II process to discover how the interrelated-yet-distinct modes of ➢ Creative and Critical Writing for creating, educating, and leading Dance intertwine within the practice of dance. ➢ Teaching and Leading through Dance Dance Performance and Choreography: ➢ Black Presence in American Composition course descriptions Dance DAN 201 Choreographic Process I pre req for Choreographic Process II ➢ Examines choreographic devices for the General Electives creation of solo works through the The Department of Dance Performance writings of bell hooks with a focus on and Choreography offers the following embodied analysis of space/time/energy courses for the college community as relationships. general electives. Choreographic Process I rehearsal LAB DAN301 Choreographic Process II pre req for ➢ All dance technique classes Choreographic Process III Dance Performance and Choreography: ➢ Generate distinct movement Theory course descriptions vocabularies for the creation of group DAN105 Dance Perspectives & Process works. Examine art as activism as well ➢ Explore dance as a creative practice as Audre Lorde’s writings on the where individual and collective dynamics of power. The course is embodiment serves as a research designed to connect a student’s craft to method to examine how dance shapes social commentary and discourse that and is shaped by social identity, political impacts her community. discourse, and community building. Choreographic Process III rehearsal LAB DAN241 Black Presence in American Dance CRN pending Choreographic Process III one ➢ Chronological study of the function and year structure of dance, principal events, ➢ Capstone course - Design an developments and personalities from interdisciplinary dance work with late Renaissance to the present. collaborators from another discipline. Students learn effective methods to ➢ Continued training in modern dance produce an original, self-produced while focusing on merging Africanist dance work for an annual show while aesthetic in technique. employing black performance theories DAN333 Advanced Contemporary Modern and innovative technologies for ➢ Focus on complex movement performance. sequences and experimentation with Choreographic Process III rehearsal LAB technology for dance performance. Dance Performance and Choreography: DAN252 Commercial Hip Hop dance technique Technique course descriptions level III ➢ DAN101 Improvisation Dance pre req for Investigate the evolution of the Hip Hop Choreographic Process I movement aesthetic in conjunction with ➢ Introductory course to the choreographic history, music, performance, and the process structure - Explore movement commercial dance industry. generating devices with embodied writing and other creative research tasks that investigate creating authentic Dance Performance and Choreography: movements. Performance course descriptions DAN161 Principles of Jazz I DAN200 Spelman Dance Theatre ➢ Introductory dance technique course ➢ For students who have dance skills that examines pioneers of the jazz beyond the elementary level of aesthetic and their distinct styles while accomplishment in contemporary embodying fundamental dance modern, jazz and African and who wish techniques to continue their development in DAN131 Contemporary Modern level I performance techniques through ➢ Introductory dance technique course Spelman Dance Theatre. Concentration that examines spatial awareness and will be on performance techniques, body connections such as weight, creative process, clean execution and breath, and alignment to provide the high disciplinary standards expected efficiency in movement. of professional performers. This course DAN121 African dance technique produces a four dance concerts in the ➢ Introduction and practice of movements academic year. This is a one year from various West African countries credited course. Admission to course DAN111 Beginning Ballet through the Lens of by audition. Kinesiology ➢ An introduction to ballet and the skeletal Dance Performance and Choreography: systems for safety alignment of the body Major Electives course descriptions DAN215 Intermediate Ballet through the Lens of Kinesiology. DAN 262 *Major Elective **Dance for Camera ➢ ➢ Continued development of technique, Explore nuances and trends in the art of skeletal and muscular systems of the capturing movement through and body. performing for the camera’s lens. DAN 202 Jazz|Funk dance technique level II *Major Elective **Art & Technology ➢ Study of jazz dance at the intermediate DAN377 *Major Elective **Women in Dance ➢ level while exploring classic Examine women's history in dance by choreography from the 80s to present. investigating gender dynamics in the art DAN233 Intermediate Contemporary Modern form -- including relationships between gender and power, body, race, class, and sexuality -- within the context of concert dance history