Course Overview:

I. We will explore the following questions:

• What is dance? How is it defined?
• Why do people dance?
• Why are dance and music important to a culture?
• Why was dance used in primitive and ancient cultures?
• We will study how dance and music anthropologists/historians have pieced together the history of a culture through artifacts, oral tradition, literature, for example.

II.  We will gain an understanding of the anthropological aspects of dance:

• How does geography influence dance and music?
• Is the particular cultural dance gender specific?
• Is the dance social/secular?
• Is the dance considered religious/non-secular?
• What is the setting or environment for the dance?
• What are the set and costume elements?
• What are the musical elements accompanying the dance:  Style and instrumentation?
• Has the “traditional” dance and music of a culture survived to present day?
• Has the dance and music of a culture had an influence on present day dance and music genres?

III.  We will study the following types of dances and their musical elements:

• Elements of Religious Dances -
  • Dances of Imitation
  • Medicine
  • Commemorative
  • Dances for Spiritual Connection
  • Musical Elements (if any at all)

IV.  Religious Dances and Music in World Cultures:

• African Sacred Dances
• Australian Aboriginal Dances
• Dances of Greece and Ancient Rome
• Dances of India
• Jewish Dances
• Native American Dances
• Southern and Central American Dances
• Dances of the South Pacific
• Tibetan and Nepalese Dances
• Christian Dances

V.  We will study the types of social/secular dances of world cultures:

• Courtship Dances
• Work Dances
• War Dances
• Communal Dances

VI.  We will follow the evolution of American social dances and music:

• Reels, contra-dances, jigs
• History of dance on the Plantations
• Evolution of American social dances after 1900

VII.  We will study and compare the dance and music of the royal courts:

• Chinese Court Dance
• Japanese Court Dance
• Development of Ballet 
  • 18^th Century
  • Romantic Period
  • Early 20^th Century
• Ballet Russe
• Ballet in America and Europe

VIII.  We will study the evolution of modern dance from traditional ballet:

• Pioneers
• First Generation
• Second Generation

IX.  We will study the influences of African American culture on American tap, jazz, musical theater, film, dance and music:

• Vaudeville
• Tap Dance and Hollywood
• Jazz Dance
• Music Theater and Film