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Dance - Professional Courses (DAN)
161 Gerlinger Annex, 541-346-3386
School of Music
Course Data
  DAN 301   African Dan Aesthetics >1 >GP >IC 4.00 cr.
Using the field of dance studies to examine African dance aesthetics in popular culture, daily media landscapes, and expressive cultures in Africa and the diaspora.
Grading Options: Optional; see degree guide or catalog for degree requirements
Instructor: Honka RE-mail Office:   166 Gerlinger Annex
Phone:   (541) 346-3379
Course Materials
 
  CRN Avail Max Time Day Location Instructor Notes
  12171 1 30 1415-1545 mw 00 REMOTE Honka R  
Academic Deadlines
Deadline     Last day to:
September 27:   Process a complete drop (100% refund, no W recorded)
October 3:   Drop this course (100% refund, no W recorded; after this date, W's are recorded)
October 3:   Process a complete drop (90% refund, no W recorded; after this date, W's are recorded)
October 4:   Process a complete withdrawal (90% refund, W recorded)
October 4:   Withdraw from this course (100% refund, W recorded)
October 5:   Add this course
October 5:   Last day to change to or from audit
October 11:   Process a complete withdrawal (75% refund, W recorded)
October 11:   Withdraw from this course (75% refund, W recorded)
October 18:   Process a complete withdrawal (50% refund, W recorded)
October 18:   Withdraw from this course (50% refund, W recorded)
October 25:   Process a complete withdrawal (25% refund, W recorded)
October 25:   Withdraw from this course (25% refund, W recorded)
November 15:   Withdraw from this course (0% refund, W recorded)
December 2:   Change grading option for this course
Caution You can't drop your last class using the "Add/Drop" menu in DuckWeb. Go to the “Completely Withdraw from Term/University” link to begin the complete withdrawal process. If you need assistance with a complete drop or a complete withdrawal, please contact the Office of Academic Advising, 101 Oregon Hall, 541-346-3211 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday). If you are attempting to completely withdraw after business hours, and have difficulty, please contact the Office of Academic Advising the next business day.

Expanded Course Description
Nearly every time you turn on the TV, log into Facebook, or go to a dance club, you are very likely to encounter African dance aesthetics. Although rarely made explicit, the influence of African dance and music on popular culture worldwide is pervasive and undeniable. This course introduces students to African dance aesthetics so that they may make connections - and detect important differences - between their daily media landscapes and expressive cultures in Africa and the Diaspora. Course materials focus on dance in Africa, the Caribbean/Latin America, and United States and ask students to consider several major issues in the field of dance studies: How is dance a means for forming social identities? Why do dances change as they travel across national and ethnic borders? How do dance aesthetics communicate cultural values?

While no prior dance experience is required, students will be expected to actively engage in modes of inquiry that define the discipline of dance: choreographic analysis, historical inquiry, and culturally specific aesthetic literacy. With help from the instructor, students will develop literacy in viewing dance, a vocabulary for writing and talking about it, and a framework for connecting it to society, politics, and culture. The course culminates with individual research papers in which students will apply course concepts to self-selected case studies that demonstrate the pervasive impact of African dance aesthetics on global, contemporary popular culture.

This course satisfies the requirements for a 300-level Arts and Letters course because students will actively engage in modes of inquiry that define the discipline of dance: choreographic analysis, historical inquiry, and culturally specific aesthetic literacy. This course focuses on African dance aesthetics in Africa, the Caribbean/Latin America, and United States, locating that subject in the broader context of major issues in the discipline: how dance is a means for forming individual, national, and global identities; the reasons that dances change as they travel across geopolitical and ethnic borders; and the ways in which dance aesthetics communicate cultural values. The course culminates with individual research papers in which students will apply course concepts to self-selected case studies that demonstrate the pervasive impact of African dance aesthetics on contemporary, global popular culture.

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Release: 8.11