ECA Dance Department Course Descriptions
Year One
Modern Dance Technique: the study of contemporary dance based on 20th- century and 21st century, including Graham and Dunham technique and exploring my own technical variations. The primary focus in Modern Technique one is to develop appropriate alignment (placement of the spine and pelvis), good movement habits, and core strength. Students will develop basic modern technique skills including as use of the torso in curves and arches, rapid changes of direction, parallel position in the feet and body, off-center balances, floor work, and various ways to jump and turn. Students will also hone their ability to retain extended and continuous movement phrases and examine aesthetic principles as technical demands increase. Students will develop their ability to accurately retain movement phrases. Students will increase their practice in the principles of time, space and energy, improvisational exploration and expressive movement performance. The technique class will address the development of proficiency in the following areas: Body alignment, centering, kinesthetic, awareness, use of breath, focus and dynamics, perception and attention to detail.
In Ballet, students explore beginning/intermediate techniques of classical ballet. These techniques include basic barre and center exercises designed to develop strength and articulation of the whole body. Barre exercises are designed to progressively warm up muscles. They include plié (small and large leg bends); tendu, degagé and frappé (leg gestures of various speed, accent and leg height); rond de jambe, développé and adagio (fluid, sweeping leg gestures designed to increase strength, flexibility and fluidity of movement). During center exercises students connect dance steps into various phrases. Types of phrases include allegro (quick and intricate stationary or traveling jumps like glissade, jeté and assemblé); balancé and pirouette practice (waltz steps and turns); and grand allegro (sweeping steps, jumps, and turns which travel across the floor). In Ballet, students are expected to work independently at their own level, continually trying to develop their overall ballet technique and master appropriate ballet vocabulary.
In Choreography 1 students will explore ways to improvise movement, invent movement phrases, and create solo studies. Students will work with partners and in large and small groups, examining ways to ‘borrow’ the movement ideas of others to as a springboard in the creation of their own movement, both improvised and choreographed. Emphasis will be placed on four choreographic elements – movement improvisation, invention, manipulation and organization. Students will explore ways to successfully to work as an ensemble and offer positive constructive criticism. Students will discuss and examine the choreographic and improvisatory ideas of Joyce Morgenroth, Lynn Anne Blom and Anne Bogart.
West African Dance Technique explores the traditional rhythms and dances of Guinea, West Africa, and how the two interact and reinforce each other. Students explore techniques, terminology, and history common to traditional West African Dances. Developmental exercises will condition the body and refine the ear for the rhythmic requirements of this dance form. Technical exercises will emphasize grounded stance and appropriate use of alignment. This is an oral tradition, and the students are required to learn the material without written or digital aids. It is a collaboration and involves learning to listen so to hear how it all fits together.
Dance in Guinea occurs collectively in a community setting. It expresses the life of the community more than the mood of an individual or a couple. In villages throughout the country, the sound and the rhythm of the drum express the mood of the people. The drum is the sign of life; its beat is the heartbeat of the community. Such is the power of the drum to evoke emotions, to touch the souls of those who hear its rhythms. In a Guinean community, coming together in response to the beating of the drum is an opportunity to give one another a sense of belonging and of solidarity. It is a time to connect with each other, to be part of that collective rhythm of the life in which young and old, rich and poor, men and women are all invited to contribute to the society.
In this class we study important figures in 20th century modern dance such as Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Edna Guy, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, and Rod Rodgers. We use a text, The Vision Of Modern Dance, edited by Jean Morrison Brown. This text is a collection of writings from these dance personalities with historical introductions. All of these dance personalities have specific choreographic and artistic ideas that we explore through their writings, videotapes of their dances, and by creating dance studies that are based on their ideas. We relate our work in Choreography I directly to our Dance History I studies so that the students complete written work as well as create a dance study in the studio about each historical personality.
For all students in the dance department, in this course the faculty creates new dances for the student dancers. Each year, after an audition, every student is placed in a faculty repertory cast. The faculty choreographs a new dance for the students using a variety of rehearsal techniques and methods to generate material and to structure the dances. Each year the faculty decides on a different broad, generalized theme within which to work. Examples of repertory projects have included:
- Use of spoken text as part of the score
- Development of a commissioned musical score in conjunction with the choreography
- Collaboration with ECA music ensembles requiring choreography with set musical scores
- Use of poetry, sculpture, or painting of major artists as source ideas
- Use of political and social theory or current news events as source ideas
In Kinesiology/Body Alignment, students will examine the structure and function of skeletal and muscular systems. (Kinesiology is the study of the body in motion through examination of how the skeleton, joints and muscles move and function.) In this course students will examine and evaluate their own muscular flexibility and strength. From this examination, each student will summarize strengths, limitations, muscle tension and flexibility that will be used to create a personal conditioning plan. Students will also explore and apply principles of body alignment, explore how muscles and joints work in motion, increase flexibility and range of muscle and joint motion, examine anatomical and connectivity relationships to the execution of movement, examine ways improving overall strength and flexibility influence dance technique, promote greater body awareness and concentration and encourage self-responsibility and autonomy.
This course is for all students in the ECA dance department. The purpose of the Senior Choreography Project is for senior dance students to develop and implement an original piece of choreography and for dancers to have the unique opportunity to examine the choreographic process. Dancers will explore improvisatory exercises, learn and manipulate movement phrases, and will be an integral part of the final piece of choreography. With seniors as their guides, dancers will explore choreographic devices such as spatial design, timing variations and dynamic range. This kind of exploration will require dancers to work with patience and a generous spirit so that the seniors can take risks, make mistakes and work through choreographic challenges. The dancers should be focused, enthusiastic and also willing to take risks. Dancers will keep journals throughout the project and respond to reflection questions regarding the rehearsal and choreographic process.