Global Arc

In this advanced studio course, dancers will study experiential anatomy in conversation with a variety of approaches to contemporary dance. Students will train in Contact Improvisation, experimental J-Sette, and repertory by Lar Lubovitch and Robert Battle. Students will explore relationships between scientific information, aesthetic priorities, training goals, and creative practices. We'll consider ways of optimizing movement drawn from somatic and conditioning techniques such as Pilates, neuromuscular patterning, PNF, and visualization. Drawing and journaling will clarify personal goals and understanding of movement capacities.

This advanced studio course compares diverse approaches to contemporary dance and improvisation to explore how dance training fuels individual development, choreographic process and aesthetic research. This course both explores movement techniques designed to advance a student's biomechanical understanding of their body and exposes students to leading trends in the development of new movement languages created by choreographers. Knowledge gained through comparative embodied practice allows students to form research built on a synthesis of influences that have shaped current movement research and choreography.

Choreography Workshop III extends students' approaches to choreographic research by asking them to create complete works on dancers other than themselves. Students will consider how to transfer their vision to an ensemble and learn to give directives to groups that further their process. By focusing on developing an initial idea into a complete work, students will question their understanding of development and challenge themselves in new directions. Readings and viewings inform studio practice and invite students to wrestle with issues debated by today's dance artists.

Technique and repertory course that focuses on developing technical expertise, expressive range, and stylistic clarity. In technique, students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, rhythm, and momentum to emphasize efficiency in motion. In repertory, students will learn and perform dances that represent diverse approaches to dance-making either through collaboration with faculty or by learning significant dances from modern and contemporary choreographers. The course encourages rich, subtle, and stylistically accurate renditions of choreography and engages students in collaborative learning.

Students workshop their senior thesis performance. Classes delve deeply into a specific choreographic process and performance approach in preparation for Senior Thesis Production in Dance Theater. Required for seniors pursuing a Certificate in Dance.

Technique and repertory course that focuses on developing technical expertise, expressive range, and stylistic clarity. In technique, students will examine concepts such as skeletal support, sequential movement, rhythm, and momentum to emphasize efficiency in motion. In repertory, students will learn and perform dances that represent diverse approaches to dance-making either through collaboration with faculty or by learning significant dances from modern and contemporary choreographers. The course encourages rich, subtle, and stylistically accurate renditions of choreography and engages students in collaborative learning.

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. It will be divided into four units, each focusing on a different ballet choreographer. Students will be coached by internationally known guest artists to master and understand the diverse styles of each piece of repertory learned. Readings and viewings of live and videotaped performances. Three two-hour classes.

A studio course in contemporary ballet technique for advanced students. The course will consist of an advanced ballet class and explorations into contemporary choreography through readings, viewings, and the learning of repertory. The course will focus on three renowned choreographers, and prominent guest artists will coach students in the style and repertory of each choreographer. Readings and viewings of live and videotaped performances. Three two-hour classes.

A vortex is known as the rotating, whirling or circular motion of fluid around a common centerline. Through history, humans have drawn on the principles of the vortex to induce a trance state, an altered form of consciousness, and psychospiritual embodiment. This course will explore our ancestry in understanding sacred trance dance practices in the tradition of western theatrical dance and its connection to identity, creativity, and community. Students will work with the original cast of Núñez's choreography The Circle or The Prophetic Dream, to reimagine the choreographic material that they will perform as a final project in an open studio.

This course is designed for students to engage in the process of creating new work for performance. Rather than starting with a written play or a pre-conceived movement vocabulary, the students will work together to develop a show from scratch, using a range of improvisation, experimentation, and writing techniques to generate ideas, shape the content, and structure the performance. This course will take inspiration from Raja Feather Kelly's company `the feath3r theory's' model for devised danced theatre called "The Approach". The final work will be performed at the Princeton Dance Festival in Fall 2023.