Special Topics in Dance Research (335-0-20)
Topic
Black Dance
Instructors
Thomas Faburn DeFrantz
Meeting Info
Louis Hall 226: Mon 12:00PM - 2:50PM
Overview of class
This course explores the discursive foundations, political motivations, and aesthetic strategies of artists and writers whose works have enabled the category of Black Dance. The course offers us the urgent opportunity to explore the aesthetic foundations of contemporary dance as they have been created and framed by African American aesthetic structures and practices. As with American music, which has been largely influenced by the articulation of jazz, contemporary dance performance has been enabled by participation in structures of Black Dance. The course includes historical overview of key figures, performance venues, and events that have defined the form, as well as important works of art created in this mode.
To take on the question of how Black Dance exists, we will attempt to articulate structures of composition and performance that are commonly described as Black. Working with cultural criticism contemporary with emergent modes of Black Dance, we will assess the political motivations and aesthetic strategies of artists and writers working explicitly in this idiom. We will also look closely at current Africanist scholarship that assumes the possibility of Black dance performed by people of First World, European, Latinx, and Asian descent.
While this is not a course of dancing, we will dance together at times in the semester. Hopefully, by the end of the semester, we will come to understand aesthetic structures of Black performance; genealogies of modes of Black dance; and particular histories of several artists and dancers that every educated person might encounter.
Evaluation Method
The course requirements include five aspects: participation, leading question essays, midterm examination, and final paper.
1. PARTICIPATION: Attendance is mandatory, unless previously excused. Each student will be expected to keep pace with the required reading assignments and to partake rigorously in classroom discussion. Reading assignments should be completed and students prepared for classroom discussion on the day that reading assignments are due.
In addition, working in pairs, each student will participate in the rudimentary demonstration of aspects of Black Dance in our shared practice sessions. The modes of dance address are as follows:
Stepping
Tap Dance and Jazz
B-girl and B-Boy
Vogue and J-Setting
Participation is worth 20% of the final grade (20 points).
2. LEADING QUESTION ESSAYS (LQEs): Each student will be required to submit one (1) leading-question essay regarding the assigned readings, viewings, guest artists, or performance events to the instructor by 12 noon before the class session. These questions will serve as the basis for discussion of assigned readings and related course events. Each "essay" should begin with an actual question, followed by no more than two double-spaced pages that provide context for the implications and sources of that question. Each of these essays will be no longer than two pages, double-spaced. The seven LQEs are due xxxxxx 5 points each; 35 points total.
3. MID-TERM EXAMINATION: A mid-term examination will be offered in class on xxxxx. The exam will include multiple question, short answer, and a longer interpretive essay. The exam will allow you to demonstrate your accumulation of sophistication in thinking through attributes of Black Dance practices. The mid-term examination is worth 15 points total.
4. FINAL PAPER: Each class member will write a term research paper of 7-9 pages length, on a subject to be determined in consultation with the instructor. Paper proposals are due xxxxx; a paper draft is due xxxxx; and the final paper is due by 5pm xxxxx. The final paper shall be worth 30 points total.
While the above scoring totals 100 points, final grading is always at the discretion of the instructor. Students must be able to demonstrate mastery of concepts related to the course materials.
PLEASE ENSURE ALL WORK IS YOUR OWN. See Duke's Policy For Academic Integrity:
https://trinity.duke.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies/academic-integrity