COURSE: DANC 1810 Dance Improvisation

SEMESTER: Spring 2007

COURSE TIMES: Monday and Wednesday from 1:00-1:50 p.m.

LOCATIONS: Dance Studio B

INSTRUCTOR: Jane Baas, Associate Professor of Dance, 3123 Dalton Center

OFFICE PHONE: 387-5845--Please leave a detailed message if I'm not available and be sure to leave you phone number if you want me to call you back. PLEASE DO NOT call the main office to leave me a message.

HOME PHONE: 628-4650 before 9:00 p.m., please.

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: I’m normally on campus beginning at 7:45 a.m. until late afternoon. My office hours for the semester are posted on the faculty appointment board in the main dance office. You may sign up for a time to meet with me on the appointment board in the main dance office. Simply write your name in 24 hours in advance to schedule an appointment, or just stop in if your business is brief.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Exploration of movement through spontaneous problem-solving. The course is designed to evoke the student’s creative individuality and sense of ensemble.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
• NATURAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE: To understand the importance of natural physical response to whatever stimulus is presented. To sense physically, sentiently, personally, the neuromuscular logic of the body, as well as the specific quirks, strengths and weaknesses of your own body. To disregard preconceived notions of what dance/motion/movement "should" be like according to your intellectual sense of logic or form.

• SENSING MOVEMENT DEVELOPMENT: To develop the skill of following the direction of a position and/or a movement--sensing where it needs to go--the kind of energy, texture, dimension, shape, tempo, rhythm, focus that it requests you to follow.

• RESPONSE TO MULTIPLE STIMULI: To develop the skill of relating your motion to an "object" -- be it a sound, a prop, another person, an image, an idea, a gesture, a character, a word, a poem -- whatever. To involve yourself deeply in the object and allow yourself to respond to it motionally.

• RISK-TAKING ABILITY: To develop the confidence in movement to take risks, to follow where you feel you need to go without worrying what you might look like.

• PARTNER/GROUP SKILLS: To sense the motion of another person or group, to communicate motionally, without any need for verbal cures. To know where you are going together.

• PERFORMANCE POISE: To develop the ability to maintain the improvisational process while performing in front of an audience.

• CONCENTRATION AND PERSISTENCE: To directly focus on the problem at hand, while ignoring external distractions. To stick to the problem. To develop the fortitude and stamina to work through an obstacle rather than backing away from the challenge.

• MOVEMENT INVENTION: To develop the skill of creating movement appropriate to the situation. To be motionally inventive.

COURSE PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS
The class will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00-1:50 p.m. Classes will start and end promptly. Tardiness and early departure can be disruptive to the improvisation process and should be avoided. There is no final examination required for this course under university policy. Please note that there will not be class on Monday, February 12 to allow Winter concert participants some recuperation time.

The improvisation process requires continual involvement, and missed classes cannot be made up. Therefore, attendance is extremely important. Three absences will be allowed during the semester without affecting your grade. Each additional absence will lower your final grade by 0.5 GPA per absence (e.g. a student with a B would be reduced to a CB on the fourth absence, etc.)

Students should dress in comfortable dance attire which leaves the foot bare. You may also want to bring along additional clothing to help you stay warm during discussions and viewings. 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 Catalog (pp. 268-269)/Graduate Catalog (pp. 26-27)] that pertain to academic integrity. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. 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 me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.

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.

READING/WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Each student is required to keep an improvisation journal for the duration of the course. In some instances, topics and/or questions will be assigned for journal entries. The journal should also be used to record your ideas and feelings regarding your creative work. I will collect the journals four times during the semester and return them with comments and suggestions for improvement. Failure to submit an acceptable journal will lower your final grade by 0.5 GPA.

Reading and writing assignments may be given to broaden the student's concepts of the improvisational process and to assist the student in clarifying his/her ideas regarding movement preferences, invention and areas for improvement. Assignments will be brief and will either be distributed in class, put on the website, or placed on reserve in the Music and Dance Library. Brief writing/journal assignments will be specified in class and may include such requirements as:
• Response to an improvisation experience;
• Response to observing improvisations of others;
• Critique of your own movement invention strengths and weaknesses.

VIDEO
Class may be videotaped periodically to enable students to view their work for self-assessment purposes.

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. Students are encouraged to schedule an appointment at any time during the semester to discuss their progress.

An "A" student demonstrates complete proficiency in all 8 objectives.
A "BA" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 7 objectives.
A "B" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 6 objectives.
A "CB" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 5 objectives.
A "C" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 4 objectives.
A "DC" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 3 objectives.
A "D" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 2 objectives.
An "E" student demonstrates complete proficiency in 1 objective only, or fails to fulfill the requirements of the course regardless of his/her improvisational skills.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT IMPROVISATION…..
From The Intimate Act of Choreography: "Dance improvisation fuses creation with execution. The dancer simultaneously originates and performs movement without preplanning . . . . The improvising spirit allows itself to be carried along, ready to indulge in (and take advantage of) whatever visions present themselves; ready too, to follow the 'road less taken.'"

From Dance Improvisation: "Structured improvisation is a mixture of conscious choice and spontaneous reaction. It includes periods of sustained concentration and moments of unreproducible magic. By responding to each other's imagination, intelligence, style, and energy, the dancers find themselves breaking through the patterns of thinking and moving that have limited them."

From New Dance: Approaches to Nonliteral Choreography: "Dance improvisation is a complex process of responding to a specific stimulus. Since the stimulus cannot remain pure (it is almost immediately transformed by past knowledge and experience and feelings), the individual's response to it is necessarily complex -- charged with feelings and associations that are largely subconscious. The same stimulus is therefore unlikely to yield the same response in the same individual receiving it under different circumstances."

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