COURSE:                   DANC 1800 The Creative Choreographer

SEMESTER:              Spring 2009

COURSE TIMES:      Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00-6:30 pm

LOCATIONS:              MMR (C and D available on work days)

INSTRUCTOR:          Jane Baas, Professor of Dance, 3123 Dalton Center
                                   
OFFICE PHONE:       269-387-5845--Please leave a detailed message if I'm not available and be sure to leave you local phone number if you want me to call you back.  PLEASE DO NOT call the main office to leave me a message.

HOME PHONE:         269-628-4650 before 9:00 pm, please. (machine available)

EMAIL:                       jane.baas@wmich.edu (Best way to reach me quickly!)

WEBSITE:                  http://homepages.wmich.edu/~baas
Do not use www or you will get an error message!  Course information and schedule updates are posted on this site.  Please check the site weekly.

OFFICE HOURS:      My office hours are by appointment.  Simply email me to schedule an appointment, or just stop in if your business is brief.

REQUIRED TEXT:    Lavender, Larry.  Dancers Talking Dance:  Critical Evaluation in the Choreography Class.  Champaign, IL:  Human Kinetics, 1996.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  A practical experience focusing on the choreographer’s creative process for solo dances.  Emphasis will be placed on identifying, selecting and utilizing a variety of source material through use of critical evaluation skills for dance, use of choreographic devices, use of improvisation for generating movement, creating meaning through the use of time, space, energy/force, and weight, and creation of a written personal artistic statement.  Prerequisite:  Advisor Approval.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Expand individual movement vocabulary;
• Explore the use of improvisation in development of movement vocabulary;
• Understand how to use time, space and dynamics to manipulate the vocabulary;
• Be able to analyze rhythmic, dynamic and spatial structure;
• Be able to discuss dances intelligently and be able to cite bases for critical comments;
• Understand the relationship of movement to other theatrical elements such as music and costuming;
• Be able to clearly and effectively write a personal artistic statement;
• Be able to make a unified solo dance statement that uses music.

COURSE PROCEDURES
The class will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00-6:30 pm.  The final examination is scheduled for Monday, April 20 from 5:00-7:00 pm.  Students will perform their final solo dances at this time.  The public is invited to attend this performance.  All dances will be videotaped.

Students should dress in comfortable dance attire.  Be sure to wear dance attire that enables us to see your body moving when presenting your studies in class.  Dance shoes should be carried between studios.  You will also want to bring along additional clothing to help you stay warm during discussions and viewings.  Please be sure to bring slippers, flip flops or socks to wear when traveling between Studios C, D and MMR.  If you have not attended technique class just prior to this course, please protect yourself by giving yourself a warm-up.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. The policies can be found at http://catalog.wmich.edu under Academic Policies, Student Rights and Responsibilities. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with your instructor if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.  In addition, you may access the Code of Honor and general academic policies on such issues as diversity, religious observance, student disabilities, etc. at http://osc.wmich.edu and www.wmich.edu/registrar.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the professor and the appropriate Disability Services office at the beginning of the semester.

CHOREOGRAPHIC ASSIGNMENTS
Each student will create and perform one or more short choreographic studies per week for the majority of the semester.  Together, the student and the instructor will select one of the studies to develop further for the final solo dance.  The final solo dance will performed during the final exam time according to the University exam schedule. A selection of music for the final studies will be available on the server accessed in dance computer lab.  Students select music for the final to burn to CD at a cost of 25 cents per CD or provide their own media. If an alternate music selection is desired, it must be approved by the instructor in advance.

READING/WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
You will be asked to prepare various written assignments throughout the semester.  It is also strongly recommended that you keep a journal to record your ideas and feelings regarding your creative work, responses to readings and class discussions, as well as your responses to studies presented by other class members.   

Reading assignments from the course text will be made regularly and discussed in class.  Other reading and writing assignments may be given to broaden the student's concepts of the choreographic process and to assist the student in clarifying his/her ideas regarding choreographic craft and aesthetics.  Other reading assignments will be brief and will either be distributed in class, sent via email, put on the website, or placed on reserve in the Music and Dance Library.  Brief writing assignments will be specified in class and may include such requirements as:

• Response to reading assignment
• Analysis of movement motifs, music structure, spatial structure and/or dynamics of your own choreographic studies
• Critique of your own choreographic studies
• Critique of another student's choreographic study
• Critique of a formal dance performance 

VIDEO
Your studies will be videotaped in class.  I will retain a master copy, but each student must also purchase and bring to each showing a mini-DV tape to record their own studies for their own use.  Students will alternate the responsibility for taping peers’ dances.  Video cameras are available for overnight check-out for choreography class projects and assignments.  Students are urged to tape their work in progress to aid in the effective revision of work.

EVALUATION
Students will be evaluated on the degree to which they meet course objectives.  The instructor will provide written and oral assessments of student work periodically throughout the semester.  Oral feedback will be provided by classmates after each study.  Students are encouraged to schedule an appointment at any time during the semester to discuss their progress.

Choreographic Studies (averaged)               50%
Final Solo Dance & written analysis             20%
Other Written work (averaged)                       20%    
Active Daily Participation in Class               10%

An "A" student creates dances or dance studies that:
            1.         meet the requirements of the specific assignment
            2.         demonstrate knowledge of the relationship of time, space and dynamics
            3.         are individualized statements
            4.         are unified statements
            5.         demonstrate aesthetic sensitivity
A "B" student creates dances or dance studies that show proficiency in 4 of the above criteria.
A "C" student creates dances or dance studies that show proficiency in 3 of the above criteria.
A "D" student creates dances or dance studies that show proficiency in 2 of the above criteria.
An "E" student shows proficiency in one of the above criteria only or fails to fulfill the         requirements of the course regardless of his/her choreographic skill.

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING DANCES
Please consider the following when evaluating dances or studies during discussions or in written assignments for this course:

• Did the dance meet the requirements of the specific assignment?
• Was the use of the choreographic elements of time, space and dynamics clear?  Interesting?  Exciting?  Appropriate to the perceived context? 
• Is the formal design clear?  Do sections emerge in the best order of could they be reordered for more clarity?  Did the structure contribute to holding your interest?
• Was the movement theme clear?  How have the motifs been used and varied?  Was there sufficient use of contrast to avoid monotony?  Was there sufficient infusion of the motifs to provide a unified and integrated whole?
• Was the movement vocabulary inventive?  Was there anything unique about the dance?  Were there any "flowers" for you? 
• Did the dance have clarity?  To what extent was the choreography and/or performance responsible for the clarity or lack of it?
• Did the production elements (sound, costume, set, props, lighting as appropriate) enhance or inhibit the choreographer's ability to make a statement?
• Did the dance touch you, awaken you, startle you, anger you?  Do you think the choreographer intended this response?  Would you want to see this dance performed again?  What would you change and why?
• Was the dance the right length to accomplish the choreographer's intent?  Was there anything extraneous?  Was something missing? 
• Does this dance study show growth on the part of the choreographer/performer?

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT CHOREOGRAPHY…..

From The Art of Making Dances by Doris Humphrey:  "First of all, the potential choreographer should be predominantly extrovert and a keen observer of physical and emotional behavior. . . The dancer's medium is the body . . . I should say that the first mark of the potential choreographer is a knowledge of, or at least a great curiosity about, the body--not just his own, but the heterogeneous mixture of bodies which people his environment. . . To compose for himself, he must put a stethoscope to his own heart and listen to those mysterious inner voices which are the guide to originality."  (20-21)

Also from The Art of Making Dances:  "Finally, our choreographer had better have something to say. . . A young choreographer should choose something quite simple, which is thoroughly familiar or within the range of his own experience."  (24)

The choreographic process requires you to be open and honest with yourself, and your classmates, sometimes confronting difficult or painful truths.  To make a dance that is truly your own and says what you want to say is always challenging, sometimes frightening, and simply exhilarating.