Dance Course Catalog

Ballet I is designed to introduce the concepts and vocabulary of ballet with a focus on developing body awareness and control. Students will learn about the art form of ballet in relationship to theatre, music and other forms of dance.

Outcome: Students will improve their posture, flexibility and coordination. They will develop a reference for enjoying ballet performances and create a foundation for further dance training.

Modern Dance I is designed to increase body awareness, strength, flexibility and musicality. The course studies the technique and theory of Fall and Recovery developed by Doris Humphrey. 

Outcome: Students will develop a basic dance technique and be able to describe and demonstrate the differences between modern dance and ballet.  They will understand the history of the development of modern dance as a uniquely American art form.

Jazz I is designed to increase body awareness, enjoyment of movement and appreciation of Jazz dance in theatrical productions. May be repeated once for credit. 

Outcome: Students will improve their strength, coordination, flexibility and correct posture. They will develop basic skills and vocabulary for performing Jazz movements and a framework to view dance in theatrical productions.

Prerequisite Skills: Students should be familiar with the five feet and arm positions and be able to work in 5th position of the feet.  Dancers should demonstrate correct alignment of the pelvis and spine in plié and relevé and while working at the barre.  Dancer must be able to execute correct articulation of the feet and leg in tendu. They should be familiar with basic petite allegro and action of the feet, hips and legs while jumping. 

This is a continuing ballet class designed to build on established vocabulary and movement fundamentals with emphasis on ballet as a theatrical art form. 

Outcome: This class further develops strength, posture, flexibility and coordination. Progressions include more work en relev at the barre, development of leg extensions, single leg jumping and more complex movement combinations. Students will develop awareness of a dancer's role in a ballet production.

Prerequisite Skills: Dancers should be able to maintain correct alignment of the legs, back and pelvis standing and shifting their weight. Must be familiar with 1st and 2nd position of the legs and demonstrate basic articulation of the legs in tendu and jumping. 

This course is designed to further increase student's body awareness, strength, flexibility and musicality. We will study the technique and theory of Fall and Recovery developed by Doris Humphrey as well as learn short excerpts of repertory to be analyzed. May be repeated once for credit. 

Outcome: Students will further develop their modern dance technique and be able to execute more physically challenging falls and longer and more complex movement combinations.

This course is designed for Dance majors to increase their body awareness, strength, flexibility and musicality through the study the technique and theory of Fall and Recovery developed by Doris Humphrey. Restricted to Dance Majors.

Outcomes: Students will develop their modern dance technique including falls and longer and more complex movement combinations. They will further their understanding of spatial patterns and musicality.

Prerequisite Skills: Dancers should demonstrate correct placement of the legs, back and pelvis standing and in plié. They should be able to demonstrate basic jazz turns, jazz runs and pas de boureé. Dancers need to use correct position and opposition of the arms in combinations. 

Jazz II is designed to further develop students' technical ability and awareness of Jazz dance in theatrical productions. Students will learn about professional Jazz dance in Chicago and improve their strength, coordination, flexibility and correct posture in increasingly complex combinations applying the vocabulary and principles of jazz dance. May be repeated once for credit. 

Outcome: Students will improve their dance technique, performance skills and appreciation of Chicago's rich tradition of Jazz dance performance.

This course surveys historical flashpoints in the evolution of American contemporary dance. It provides a critical framework for interrogating cultural and sociopolitical influences on concert dance practice and performance. Students will analyze intersecting aesthetics originating from the French courts of Catherine de Medici and Louis XIV, the Atlantic slave trade and Asian theatrical dance forms such as kabuki and bharatanatyam in the development of ballet, modern, tap, jazz and musical theater dance.

Outcome: Students will be able to identify and describe significant events, artists, performance practices, forms, and styles in the history of theatrical dance; to locate these facts in cultural context; to relate the evolution of dance forms to cultural history; and to apply this comprehension to enhanced appreciation and informed critique of contemporary dance.

This course is a studio course that explores the theories and techniques of various dance forms. A specific dance genre will be selected each time the course is offered. The course may be repeated two times for credit. 

Outcome: The student will gain a historical perspective on the dance form presented, as well as demonstrate specific skills required of the dance form.

This is an all-inclusive heading for courses rarely offered that serve under the Applied Technique designation for the Dance Minor.

Outcome: Each offering will provide discipline-specific vocabulary and applied skill acquisition.

Enrollment Restrictions: Must be an enrolled Dance Major or Dance Minor.

The purpose of this class is to present dancers with basic anatomical and kinesiological knowledge to enable them to understand the mechanisms behind dance injuries, and the tools to analyze and assess movement for injury risk.

Outcome: The methodology for achieving the goal in the Course Description will be through Lecture, Physical Exercises, and Guided Palpatory Anatomy.  Students gain factual and applied knowledge facilitating dance movement and injury prevention.

This seminar-styled course provides essential experience and knowledge through applied study of diverse lenses and movement styles contributing to contemporary dance practice.  Global influences shaping contemporary dance performance, teaching and advocacy are explored through applied practice, supporting text studies, creative research and performance. This course can be repeated for credit three times.  It is a requirement for the BA Dance and fulfils 1.0 credits in Applied studies for Dance minors. Two repetitions required for BA Dance students.

Prerequisite Skills: Dancers should be able to execute correct alignment of the back, pelvis and arms in all barre exercises and center work. Dancers need correct articulation of the leg from passé to developpéand attitude positions. They need to be able to execute basic petite allegro with correct articulation of the legs in all jumps and proper alignment of the body and legs landing in plié. Dances need to be very familiar with pirouettes en dehors and en dedans.

Prerequisite: Two semesters of DANC 212 or permission of the instructor. 

This class is designed to develop students' ability to execute ballet technique at a pre-professional level. Dance students present a studio performance as parts of the requirement. Students will improve their dance technique, performance skills and appreciation of professional dancers. 

Outcomes: Students will improve core strength, coordination, flexibility and demonstrate correct posture, befitting a ballet dance student at the intermediate level, in increasingly complex combinations by applying principles and vocabulary of ballet technique.

Co-requisites: DANC 311 or DANC 341

This course is practice-oriented and builds on dancers' knowledge of ballet vocabulary, alignment, and strength. Pointework is geared towards the development of a higher level of articulation in classical footwork. 

Outcome: The student will gain a deeper understanding of ballet technique en pointe, as well as demonstrate specific skills required of the dance form.

Prerequisite: DANC 311 or permission of the Department. 

Required Skills: Student must demonstrate correct alignment and articulation at the barre, in the center and traveling in all advanced vocabulary.  Students need required strength and skill to correctly demonstrate all variations of petit and grand allegro, adagio and turns. 

This class develops students' ability to execute ballet technique at a pre-professional level. Students work towards mastery of ballet utilizing advanced vocabulary, style, alignment, spatial, musical and performance skills. Students apply advanced ballet studies by preparing and presenting a public performance. May be repeated 8 times for credit.

Outcomes:  Students improve strength, coordination, flexibility, dynamics and spatial skills. They demonstrate correct posture in complex combinations requiring highly developed vocabulary synthesized and applied in performance.

Co-Requisites: DANC 313 or DANC 343, or permission of the department

This studio course explores ballet technique en pointe. This course explores continuing ballet technique en pointe. It requires students to apply and synthesize all aspects of pointework studies including technique, spatial awareness, dynamics and group forms by preparing and presenting a public performance. May be repeated 6 times for credit. 

Outcome: Students gain a deeper understanding of pointe technique, as well as demonstrate specific advanced skills required of the dance form. Students apply and synthesize material in a public performance.

Instructor permission required.

This course develops students' ability use modern dance technique. Students study the dance technique of Martha Graham and her influence on Modern Dance in America. Students apply and synthesize all aspects of technique by preparing for and presenting a public performance. This course may be taken six times for credit.

Outcomes:  Students increase core strength, coordination, flexibility and correct posture, improve dramatic awareness and develop physical power. Students demonstrate beginning synthesis and application of Graham technique in performance.

Prerequisites: Permission of the department. 

Dancing, choreographing, or stage managing, in a campus production. Completion of a journal or paper is required. May be repeated up to 12 times. 

Outcomes: Students will gain performance experience, assess personal artistic growth, and reflect on application of performance theory and technique into production practice.

Prerequisites: Must be an enrolled dance major.

Modern Dance is studied at an Intermediate Level and begins an intensive period of technical and artistic development. This studio course develops core strength, coordination and musical, spatial and performance skills. 

Outcomes: Students will improve coordination, phrasing, improve physical power, shift of weight, anatomical awareness, performance, projection, flexibility and placement. They will gain awareness of Martha Graham's technique of contraction and release and her role in the development of Modern Dance.

Instructor permission required.

This course develops students' ability to execute Jazz dance technique at an intermediate level.  Students improve their dance technique, dynamic, spatial and performance skills. Students apply and synthesize all aspects of jazz dance technique in public performance.  This course may be taken six times for credit.

Outcomes:  Students improve core strength, coordination, flexibility and correct posture at the intermediate level, in increasingly complex combinations applying and synthesizing all concepts and technique in public performance.

Prerequisites: by audition and must be an enrolled dance major.

This class offers ballet dance training at the pre-pointe level.

Outcomes: Students develop core and leg strength with more relevé, larger extension and introduction of more difficult petite allegro and grand allegro.

Prerequisites: Must be an enrolled dance major. 

This class is designed to develop students' ability to execute ballet technique at the pre-professional level.   

Outcomes: Students will demonstrate correct alignment in all elements of class and have strong working vocabulary of adagio, pirouettes, petite allegro, and grand allegro.

Prerequisites: Must be an enrolled Dance major or Dance minor. 

The study of child development, sequential dance pedagogy, biomechanics, nutrition and classroom management techniques as it relates to the teaching of dance. Coursework includes lecture, readings, model teaching, and research. Students observe master teachers instructing children of all ages and create sequential lesson plans consisting of all elements of dance pedagogy. 

Outcomes: Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of child development in relationship to age-appropriate dance skills as well as behavioral expectations. They will develop strategies that address the sequences of skill acquisition as well as concrete strategies for classroom management.

Prerequisites:  Must be an enrolled Dance Major or Dance Minor. Placement in Level III or higher dance technique courses. Permission of the department required. 

This course takes students from an introduction to dance composition theory and techniques through the process of creating a group work for the stage. Course work includes lecture, discussion, selected readings, viewing of masterworks of dance composition, creation of several dance studies on various themes and culminates in the creation of a work for performance in the Dance Composition Showcase. 

Outcomes:  Through the development of short dance, students learn the principles of dance composition and then apply them to their own creation performed for a public audience.

Restricted to Senior Dance Majors.

This course serves as the capstone of the Dance major and creates a platform for dancers to apply technical skills, theory and practice from many required courses for the Bachelor of Arts including DANC 341/343 Majors Ballet, DANC 321 Majors Modern, DANC 323 Rehearsal and Performance and DANC 370 Dance Composition. 

Outcomes: Dance majors will apply and synthesize all applied technique courses taken for their dance majors as well as integrate their knowledge of the choreographic and performance process.

Department permission is required. 

Dance students complete a semester long internship providing an opportunity to use their technical, research or organizations skills in a professional setting. Students must complete and reflect upon 50 hours of internship experience per credit hour that is pre-approved by the Department of Fine and Performing Arts. 

Outcome: Students gain professional experience working at a dance organization while reflecting on their work experience and applying theories and techniques acquired from their first dance courses.

Prerequisite: Written permission of chairperson 

Independent study projects may be of various kinds and in any recognized area of the dance. Such projects should be done under the close supervision of a dance faculty member. 

Outcome: To be determined by the student in consultation with the chairperson and dance faculty supervisor.

Permission of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts required.

Variable credit (1-6 hours) given for performances or projects undertaken with professional dance organizations outside the university. Students keep a journal and write evaluative papers.  Can be taken for up to 6 credit hours; however, no more than 6 credit hours of Internship or Fieldwork can be applied to the major.

Outcome: Specific outcomes and credit hours assigned to be determined by the student in consultation with the Director of Dance and the project supervisor.

Must be a declared dance major or minor to enroll.

Faculty serve as mentors for dance students pursuing research opportunities. Platforms cross various domains in cognitive, psychomotor, and artistic development. Students and faculty work together to generate qualitative and quantitative data documented in multiple modalities including: dancemaking, regression analyses, interviews, correlational and case studies. This course satisfies the Engaged Learning requirement.

Outcomes: Students will learn discipline-specific language skills, research ethics and methodologies. Students will gain valuable skills disseminating research through performances, scholarly articles, conference presentations and research symposia.