COURSE: DANC 1960 Conditioning for Dancers

SEMESTER: Spring 2006

COURSE TIMES: Monday through Thursday from 8:00-8:50 a.m.

LOCATIONS: Conditioning Room; other locations announced in schedule or in class. Some days we will meet in the 3127 Dalton classroom or at the SRC. Watch the conditioning room door and the web site for weekly schedules.

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

TEACHING ASSISTANT: Noel Powers

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 and get an answer quickly!)

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

OFFICE HOURS: I’m normally on campus from 7:45 a.m. until late afternoon. My office hours for the semester are posted in the main dance office. You may sign up for a time 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.

REQUIRED TEXT: The Coursepack for this course is available in the Bernhard Center Campus Bookstore. Additional readings may be distributed and/or announced and placed on reserve in the Maybee Music and Dance Library in Dalton Center.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An introduction to the principles of physical conditioning with a focus on specific application of the information to individual needs and capacities. The course covers methods of building strength, flexibility and cardiorespiratory endurance as a means of enhancing dance performance, including instruction on equipment such as rotator disks, Therabands, and the Current Concepts Reformer utilizing the Dancer Specific technique. This course, in combination with DANC 295, meets the Area VIII Health and Well-being General Education requirement for dance majors.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. To provide study and activities which expand the student's understanding of the specialized conditioning needs for dancers that are not addressed by traditional dance technique classes.

2. To provide study and activities which introduce the student to various methods of aerobic conditioning, strength building and flexibility stretching.

3. To provide information that will enable the dancer to make individual assessment of conditioning strengths and weakness, thereby allowing him/her to design an individualized conditioning program that is safe, effective and realistic.

4. To provide study and activities that will acquaint the student with principles of conditioning and conditioning variables from a scientific viewpoint.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND ASSIGNMENTS:
Exams: There will be two exams in this course. The midterm exam will consist of objective (multiple choice, short answer, and true/false for example) and essay questions, and will cover all material presented through February 20 and is scheduled for February 21. The final exam will be comprehensive and will consist of a take-home essay portion, and an in-class performance portion which is scheduled during finals week according to the University exam schedule.

Paper: You are required to submit one paper for this course. For the paper, DUE NO LATER THAN THURSDAY, MARCH 23, you should select an exercise video or attend an exercise class at the Rec and critique it. After reviewing the tape or attending the class, write a one-page summary of it and a one-page assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the video or class, applying conditioning principles covered in class. If appropriate, provide suggestions for improving the tape or class. For students without access to video equipment, several exercise tapes are available in the Music and Dance Library and may be viewed on the library's equipment.

Late assignments will be accepted, however, the grade will be lowered half a letter grade for each weekday the assignment is late. The paper must be presented in typed or computer-printed format with a clean, legible ribbon, double-spaced, and must have a title page. Exams may only be made up if a written rationale is submitted stating the reason for missing the exam and at the instructor's discretion. Documentation from other sources (e.g., court summons) may be required. Only under these circumstances will a make-up be considered.

Readings and attendance: You are expected to keep up with reading assignments from the coursepack and other readings that may be assigned in class. All students will be expected to participate physically and verbally in class. In order to realize improvement in physical capacities, regular attendance and full participation are critical. Four absences will permitted without affecting the student's grade for the course. For each absence beyond four, the grade will be lowered 0.5. The course will begin and end promptly. Tardiness or early departure will constitute an absence. The instructor reserves the right to excuse absences in extremely extenuating circumstances (e.g. death in the immediate family, hospitalization, etc.). Appropriate documentation will be required for full consideration. Please note that there will not be class on Monday, February 6 to allow Winter concert participants some recuperation time.

Scheduling details: To fully realize the benefits of this course, you must also make the commitment to practice activities introduced in class outside of the class time. Rather than expecting extensive reading or paperwork, I ask that you commit a minimum of three hours outside of the scheduled class time to do the conditioning activities which best meet your individual conditioning needs. To help you "stay on track," you will choose a fellow class member to be your conditioning partner. Regular, active workouts with your partner will enhance your growth. In addition, you may only use the Current Concepts Reformer with your partner, a teaching assistant or the instructor present for safety reasons until you have passed the course.

Mondays will be designated for aerobic workout. We also will have some group aerobic instruction days. On aerobic days when a group session is not scheduled, students should check in with the instructor at the indoor track area of the Student Recreation Center no later than 8:30 a.m. Then you may select your form of aerobic exercise, either walking or jogging on the track or using the aerobic fitness equipment for the designated length of time at your target heart rate. You will also need to do aerobic workouts on your own outside of class to maintain or expand your aerobic capacities.

In recognition of the time demands outside of class, and to optimize learning, you will sign up for one group time to receive instruction on the Reformer with your partner. You and your partner must be in the same group. Groups meet during class time on Tuesdays and Thursdays for this instruction from 8:00-8:25 and from 8:25-8:50. You are excused from class on Tuesday or Thursday when your group is not scheduled. All students will meet together in Studio B on Wednesdays for other conditioning work.

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.

DEPARTMENT POLICY FOR EVALUATION OF WRITING IN DANCE COURSES:
Students are evaluated on their mastery of language arts skills. Each course will specify assignment requirements. The student who meets all course requirements should expect to receive a grade appropriate to his/her level of mastery.

An "A" student:
1. Demonstrates maturity and originality of thought reflected by the ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate.
2. Sustains the development of a point or idea over the length of the assignment.
3. Uses organized paragraphs and transitional devices.
4. Makes conventional use of capitalization and punctuation.
5. Uses consistently the grammar, syntax and spelling of standard English, with particular attention to sentence structure and to agreement between subjects, verbs, pronouns and antecedents.

• A "B" student's written work shows proficiency in four of the above criteria.
• A "C" student's written work shows proficiency in three of the above criteria.
• A "D" student's written work shows proficiency in two of the above criteria.
• An "E" student fails to fulfill the requirements of the course regardless of his/her language arts skills.

GRADING:
The grading scale for coursework is shown below. Your letter grade for each assignment will be multiplied by the weight indicated below to determine your final course grade. The participation portion of the course grade will be based on several areas, including active participation in all physical activities, meaningful oral contributions, as well as your partner's assessment of how well you met your commitment to him/her as required by the course. Partners may be asked to complete a confidential evaluation form on each other at the end of the semester that will be submitted to the course instructor. Borderline cases will have grades adjusted to the nearest grade on an individual basis.

Assignment Weight
Midterm Exam = 15%
Final Exam = 30%
Paper = 15%
Daily Participation = 40%
TOTAL = 100%

Grading Scale for the Course
95-100% = A
94-90% = BA
85-89% = B
80-85% = CB
75-79% = C
70-74% = DC
65-69% = D
Below 65% = E