Courses

A full or half course in supervised readings for individual students to prepare for intensive research in a selected area. Students must have a supervisor who is a full-time instructor in the Graduate Dance program, and a proposal must be submitted and approved by the appropriate Graduate Program Director.

Focus on specialized bibliography and reference materials; study of alternate methods of analysis and argument, consideration of current concerns in dance research; research design and preparation of proposals. Three hours. Required course for MA students.

Five seminars focusing on selected topics in dance studies. Topics to be announced. Lecture-discussion, seminar, research paper.

This course explores the creation of interactive stage environments for live performance. Students investigate various strategies whereby on-stage 'events' (physical, vocal, physiological, etc.) manipulate audio, video and/or lighting events. Students are introduced to dedicated interactive and show control software, and become adept at programming interactive environments. Prerequisite: DANC 3220 3.0 or DANC 4220 3.0 or equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

This course involves choreography with an emphasis on interdisciplinary productions and work on structure and form. Students work on the development of individual interests and style in choreography. The course requires students to commit themselves to pre-performance and performance schedules related to productions of their work. Only students with previous choreographic training are advised to take this course. To register for this course students must first have permission from the Course Director and Program Director. Lectures, presentations, performances. Four and one-half hours. Integrated with DANC 4220 3.0.

To investigate women as visionaries and activists, and to study their representations as heroes, this seminar considers interpretations of Joan of Arc in dance, drama, music, theatre and film.

This seminar investigates conceptions of dance, gender, sexuality, and the body in specific historical and cultural contexts.

This multidisciplinary studio course explores the design and production of dance on camera. It covers the practical aspects of video production from expressed intention through distribution. In process students have hands-on experience lighting, shooting, and editing dance video. Students also have the opportunity to investigate video production and projection for intermedial dance presentations.

This course introduces the theory and practical application of stage lighting design with an emphasis on lighting for dance.

Specialized skills for researchers in human movement providing vocabulary, writing skills and eye-training for movement description and documentation. Lectures, movement work, field study, individualized projects. Required course for MA and MFA students.

A seminar on writing about dance based on the study of historical and contemporary writers, as well as on practical writing experience of various written forms. Integrated with undergraduate course DANC 3330 3.0.

This seminar examines dance reconstruction from the Renaissance era to today, focusing on methodologies and issues related to historical performance.

This course surveys classical, folk, tribal and social dance traditions within the Canadian cultural context and from an ethnographic perspective.

This course offers students in-depth practical and theoretical experiences in the ethnographic study of popular dance practices. It draws primarily upon historical and contemporary readings within the fields of dance studies, ethnomusicology, and anthropology.

This course provides an overview of dance in Canada with an in-depth look at one or more specific periods or topics in Canadian dance. Depending on the periods and topics selected for more detailed investigation some of the following questions will be explored. Who taught dancing? What types of recreational and social dance did people engage in? How was dance activity organized and funded? How did external dance influences and trends in popular music, film and television impact on the field? What can the lives and perspectives of people dancing tell us about social change and continuity? Finally, why has dance been ignored in most accounts of Canadian culture?

This course examines the thematic structures and foundational elements of contemporary choreographies through the lens of dance dramaturgy. Students develop methodologies for researching and documenting the aesthetic content, historical contexts and political connotations of the creation and production of original choreography. Three hours. Prerequisites: GS/DANC 5300 3.0 and GS/DANC 5325 3.0. Required course for MFA students.

This course explores a variety of creative approaches to developing, structuring and editing movement. Through individual and collaborative research, the student develops a personal choreographic voice and explores the cultural and aesthetic questions arising from their choreographic research. Core requisites: GS/DANC 5300 3.0 and GS/DANC 5325 3.0. Required course for MFA students.

This course explores a variety of creative approaches to developing, structuring and editing movement. Through individual and collaborative research, the student develops a personal choreographic voice and explores the cultural and aesthetic questions arising from their choreographic research. Core requisites: GS/DANC 5300 3.0 and GS/DANC 5325 3.0. Required course for MFA students.

All Dance MFA dance students are required to complete one hundred and twenty (120) hours of production work within the Graduate Program in Dance. This work solidifies each student's understanding of the requirements for producing and mounting dance events.

This course explores practical and theoretical aspects of cross-disciplinary collaborations in the arts. With a view to reflecting on issues of representation, analysis of pre-existing collaborations supplements critical reflections on newly created works. Participants in the course augment their already acquired skills with new techniques/skills related to other art forms. Studio creative experiences, supplemented by work with analog and digital technologies, culminate in a personal or group project supported by a paper. The focus of the course shifts from year to year. Three hours.

Once a student's MFA dance thesis proposals in contemporary choreography has been accepted, the MFA student is required to present their choreographic research as part of an on going discourse into the creative research and into the specific theoretical questions the student has undertaken. There will be a minimum of three (3) professional qualifying work-in-progress showings for the students required I AM research and the the student's required proscenium stage research: for a total of six (6) practicums. Organized in conjunction with first year MFA choreography courses, these six work-in-progress practicums are designed to support student's practice-based research as an on going process/discourse that infuses and informs the student's creative methodologies, theoretical questions and practical necessities of mounting original choreography as academic research. These professional practicums will also aid the student in honing a language that can communicate their creative methodology and staged outcomes with the theoretical, historical and cultural contexts they are required to articulate in their extended essays and documentation.

Faculty offer students comment, support and direction on all facets of the dissertation research and writing process, including finding a committee, finalizing the process of preparing a detailed proposal, conducting research, writing the dissertation and getting work published. Students present work in progress and interact with fellow students and faculty at regular intervals. Three hours. Required course for PhD students in their fifth term of study (usually Winter term of second year).

This course examines dance modernism in the period immediately before World War I. Creative collaboration, working process, production, critical and popular response, social context and politics form the main reference points for an investigation of key performances. Three hours.

This course surveys the wide range of theories, methods, and issues that have animated historical research on dance and movement practices. Three hours.

This seminar examines issues related to heritage studies such as archiving procedures, methods of documenting dance works, and developing oral histories. Practical experience with videography and notation methods will be included. Three hours.

In this graduate level seminar course, students explore and employ a range of theoretical perspectives through which to examine the traditions and hegemonies associated with the transmission of dance across various cultures and time periods. Three hours.

This course surveys a wide range of theoretical approaches to the study of dance from ethnographic and cultural studies perspectives. Included are the study of dance as a system of communication, dance as part of social structure, dance as ethnicity and dance as sacred art. Three hours.

This course investigates the vast spectrum of global dance, particularly as it can be locally accessed in Canada. Theoretical research will complement practical study through internships or fieldwork. Students will develop case studies of their chosen examples. Three hours.