Identify, Analyze and Evaluate the Cultural Context of the piece.
- Research, Analyze and Evaluate a dance of your choice from within the criteria provided below.
- Apply your Dance Vocabulary, Historical Knowledge and Communication Skills to Evaluate a dance’s message.
- Create a Thesis that argues that a choreographer is commenting on social or historical events in their choreography
- Identify, Analyze and Evaluate the Historical Context and how it is reflected in the piece
- Identify, Analyze and Evaluate the Cultural Context of the piece.
- Evaluate how the movements similar to and different from other choreographers of the era or the preceding time.
- Identify Phrases of Movement that demonstrate your thesis.
- Write about a Modern, Post-Modern, Contemporary (Modern), Contemporary Ballet, or Dance Theater piece, with at least 3 minutes of dancing.
- How to Pick Your Dance
- Review the Watchlists for the dances in the style of Modern Dance, Contemporary Modern Dance, and Dance Theater, and chose a dance within one of those styles about which to write your paper.
- Remember to choose a historically relevant choreographer that we have covered by this point in the class. This is because you will need to analyze the phrases of dance through the lenses of historical and cultural content.
- NO PAPERS ON MICHEAL JACKSON.
- NO PAPERS ON “Revelations,” (‘Wade in the Water,’ ‘Sinner Man,’ etc.) or “Cry” by Ailey. (Other works by Ailey are fine!)
- NO PAPERS ON “Lamentations,” or “Heretic” or “Appalachian Spring” by Graham (other works by Graham are fine, or you can compare two).
- I’m growing suspicious of papers on “The Infernal Galop” by Bourne; they’re still allowed, but my plagiarism hackles will be up – be original!
- Dances from SYTYCD are usually not 3 minutes long, and not historically relevant (yet). They are only permitted with pre-approval.
- Your dance does not have to be from these lists, but you must choose a dance from one of these styles.
Trust me – I’ve graded (literally) thousands of these essays, and it does make it highly unlikely that you will earn a B or above if you start out with a dance that is created for entertainment value, without the multiple layers of high art. - Now — there are exceptions (maybe 3% of the papers each semester?)!
- That’s part of what the next step is about; if you think you can cover all of the talking points in your paper while writing about a Jazz or Hip Hop dance, or even a SYTYCD dance, or anything else.
