TRDA 191, George Washington University Instructor: Mary Buckley
DANCE HISTORY, 3 credits Office: Marvin 224, MVC Academic 204
M&W, 9:30-10:45am Office Hours: FB—M/W 11-12:30pm
Gelman Library, B04 MVC—T/TH 2-4pm
Spring, 2001 Phone: 242-6694
Email: buckley@gwu.edu
Course Description:
History of Dance presents an overview of the development of Western theatrical dance. This course introduces the major figues and movement theories of the 19th & 20th Centuries. Readings, discussions, lectures, and films/videotapes will introduce selected choreographers and the concerns that inform their work. Additional readings in dance philosophy and aesthetics will consider the broader question "What is Dance?", and address ideas such as form, expression, virtuosity, technique, the body as an expressive instrument, audience expectations, and performance conventions.

Course Objectives:

  1. Present an historical overview of dance as a performance art form in the Western world.
  2. Introduce the work of selected choreographers through their own writings, dance criticism, and the viewing of films and videos.
  3. Consider issues in dance theory and philosophy (the nature of dance, form versus expression, classicism and modernism, the body as art, etc) in light of the historical development of dance.
  4. Develop an appreciation and understanding of modern dance as an art form.
Course Content:
  1. Dance Philosophy & Aesthetics
  2. Classicism, Romanticism, Modernism
  3. History of Ballet and Innovations in Ballet in the 20th Century.
  4. Modern Dance Pioneers & Innovators
  5. Post-Modern Dance
  6. Dance & Text
  7. Collaborations and Interdisciplinary Art
  8. Today’s Choreographers
Course Texts:
Time and The Dancing Image, Deborah Jowitt, University of California Press, 1988
The Shapes of Change: Images of American Dance, Marcia B. Siegel, Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, 1979
Terpsichore In Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance, Sally Banes, Wesleyan University Press, 1987
The Vision of Modern Dance: In The Words of Its Creators, ed Jean Morrison Brown, Naomi Mindlin, and Charles Woodford, Princeton Book Company, 1998

Course Requirements:

  1. One research paper based on a choreographer and analysis of her/his work. Papers should be 8-10 pages in length, double-spaced with at least 5 references cited. Student will present the work of this choreographer to the class.
  2. Final Exam
  3. Three dance criticism papers—based on attendance of performances from this semester.
  4. Journal of reading/class notes and comments on video/film presentations.
Grading Policy:
Attendance/Journals: 15%
Research Paper 25%
Final Exam 30%
Criticism Papers 30%

TRDA 191, Dance History, Professor Buckley
Weekly Schedule
Spring, 2001

January 17
Review Syllabus
Overview of Dance History, examination of cultural, aesthetic, contextual analysis of dance
How to analyze a dance’s form, content, movement technique
Reading: Jowitt, preface and Vision of Modern Dance, preface

Attend the Art Nouveau Exhibit at the National gallery of Art, be sure to see Loie Fuller video in the exhibit—the exhibit closes on 1/28. January 22
19th Century Romantic Ballet: Form, Narrative, and Ideology
La Sylphide & Giselle
Reading: Jowitt p29-65
Susan Foster, ":Giselle, ou les Wilis (1841)"
Evan Alderson "Ballet as Ideology: Giselle, Act II" Dance Chronicle 10/3 (1987): 290-304

January 24
Petipa and the Imperial Russian Ballet
Sleeping Beauty & Swan Lake
Reading: Jowitt p 241-252

January 29
Isadora Duncan: Moving from the Inside Out
The Bacchanale, 1904 & Mother, 1913
Reading: Jowittp69-102
Vision p 3-10

January 31
Age of Astonishment/Fokine, Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe
Videos: The Dying Swan (Fokine) 1905
Rite of Spring (Nijinsky, Stravinsky) 1913
Reading: Jowitt p105-123
Jacques Riviere "Le Sacre du Printemps"

February 5
Ruth St. Denis/ Ted Shawn: From Sacred Dance to Jacobs Pillow
Reading: Jowitt p125-147
Siegel p 11-22
Vision p21-25

February 7
Martha Graham
Frontier (Graham, Noguchi) 1935
Appalachian Spring (Graham, Copeland) 1944
Reading: Jowitt, p 201-233
Siegel p 37-41 & 140-152
Vision p 43-53

February 12
German Modern Dance
Hanya Holm, Mary Wigman, Dore Hoyer
Videos: Witch Dance
Reading: Vision p33-40 & 71-82
Susan Manning: Ecstasy and the Demon, excerpt chapters 1 & 3

February 14
Doris Humphrey
New Dance Trilogy
Reading: Jowitt, p184-198
Siegel p 23-32 & 79-89
Vision p 55-64

February 19
Jose Limon
Moor’s Pavane
Reading: Siegel 168-174 & 305-311
Vision p 97-105

February 21
George Balanchine
Agon
Reading: Jowitt, p 237-241 & 253-274
Siegel p 69-71 & 210-213 &227-234
Ann Daly "George Balanchine (1904-1983)"
Ann Daly "The Balanchine Women: Of Hummingbirds and Channel Swimmers"

February 26
Midterm

February 28
Black Dance in America: Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Alvin Ailey
Reading: Siegel p285-292
Vision p131-134
"Agnes de Mille "Katherine Dunham"
Albirda Rose Dunham Technique: "A Way of Life"
Constance Valis Hill "Katherine Dunham’s Southland: Protest in the Face of Repression"

March 5
An American Iconoclast: Merce Cunningham
Reading: Jowitt p277-302
Siegel p 292-299 & 324-332
Vision p 85-91

March 7
Dance/Theatre/Artist
Alwin Nikolais’s Imago
Reading: Jowitt p 241-373
Vision p113-121

March 12
Judson Memorial Church: Post-Modern Dance
Reading: Jowitt p305-337
Siegel. Introductions
Jowitt p 304-337
Vision 137-139

March 14
The No Manifesto: Yvonne Rainer
Video: Trio A & Beyond the Mainstream
Reading: Siegel p41-55
Vision p 157-165
Ann Daly "Everyday Bodies Study Questions"
Robin Silver Hecht "Reflections on the Career of Yvonne Rainer…"

March 18-24 Spring Break

March 26
Contact Improvisation: Steve Paxton
Reading: Siegel p 57-74

March 28
The Grand Union
Reading: Siegel 203-234

April 2
Dance/Theatre/Music
Meredith Monk
Reading: Jowitt p
Banes p 149-167

April 4
An American Classic: Paul Taylor
Aureole
Reading: Siegel p 299-304 & 332-341
Vision p 123-129

April 9
Twyla Tharp
In the Upper Room, Deuce Coupe, Push Comes to Shove
Reading: Siegel p 262-270 & 351-363
Vision p193-196

April 11
Mark Morris
Vision p203

April 16
Urban Bush Women: Jowale Willa Jo Zollar
Batty Moves
Reading: Vision p 214-215
Tessa Triumph. "Jawole Willa Jo Zollar"
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar "Listen: Our History if Shouting at Us"
Veta Goler "Life Dances: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Choreographic Construction of Black Womanhood"

April 18
Eiko & Koma: Cross Cultural Identities
Vision p 213

April 23
Bill T. Jones: Text & Movement
Uncle Tom’s Cabin & Still/Here

April 25
European Dance—Pascale Rioult, Wien & Pina Bausch

April 30
Netherlands Dance: Jiri Kylian