VISST 2360

Public Voice and Civic Gesture

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

Working with students from various performing and non-performing backgrounds, as well as different levels of technical proficiency. This course combines acting and movement techniques encouraging process-oriented work. Focusing on performance in civic spaces, the class works to examine the politics of status and the social role of bodily (including vocal) expression of both performer and audience.  Working within the specific context of urban public spaces, the class will question the function of monument and the character of urbanism in relation to individual bodies while understanding how these bodies combine to create a body politic. The class will consider traditional tools of political and social satire, including Commedia dellArte.  Fundamental in commedia is the exploration of status, the gradation of power and influence and role-playing. Students will create their own texts and movement as well as draw from other textual and visual sources. The class will conclude with a public performance.

When Offered Summer.

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