PMA 3214

Dance in America: Cultures, Identities, and Fabrication

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2022-2023.

This class explores dance across multiple stages—TikTok videos, concert halls, streets—to assess how people create, sustain, and challenge markers of difference (race, gender, sexuality, ability, and class). How is dance appreciation different from appropriation? What are dancing avatars in video games allowed to do that real persons are not? We will examine genres such as k-pop, hip hop, salsa, modern dance, and ballroom as we develop the tools necessary for viewing dance, analyzing it, and understanding its place in larger social, cultural, historical, and political structures. We will explore how markers of difference affect the practice and the reception of dance forms, and, in turn, how dance helps shape representations of identities. This is a seminar course. Previous performance experience is not necessary.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (LA-AS, ALC-AS)
Course Subfield (HTC)

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