Dance

Minor in Dance

Goals for Student Learning
Prerequisites
Admission to the Dance Program
Apply for the Dance Minor
Program of Study
Independent Projects

 

For more information, please contact Tina Fehlandt (fehlandt@princeton.edu), Dance Minor Advisor.

The Program in Dance welcomes all students to engage and experiment with dance. At the core of the program is the belief that dance fosters an integration of mind and body that allows for a greater connection to ourselves and our communities. To that end, the dance minor offers students deep exposure to and appreciation of dance through practice, performance and critical conversation.

The dance minor is open to students of all backgrounds and areas of training and seeks to provide a depth, diversity and flexibility of offerings to nurture beginners and challenge pre-professionals in their areas of interest. The curriculum emphasizes expansive, rigorous training and the creation of original works of choreography, performance and academic analysis. Students have the opportunity to undertake demanding courses with professional choreographers, dancers, interdisciplinary artists and scholars. The program supports multiple performance opportunities each year in the Roger S. Berlind Theatre and the Hearst Dance Theater, with choreography by faculty, guests and student independent work.

We focus on movement, the body, dance and choreography as primary sites for exploration and as ways of knowing and experiencing. Dance program courses include: comparative approaches to training in modern and contemporary dance, hip-hop, ballet, diasporic African dance and improvisational forms; repertory workshops that expose students to significant works from the choreographic canon and emerging choreographers; interdisciplinary and collaborative courses centered on embodiment, pedagogy and choreographic research; and a range of seminars exploring diverse topics in dance studies. The Program in Dance provides additional co-curricular opportunities that include drop-in classes in hip-hop and ballet, and guest choreographer workshops in multiple genres that culminate in Princeton Dance Festival performances. The Caroline Hearst Choreographer-in-Residence program provides resources for professional choreographers to develop their work on campus and performance opportunities to expose students to diverse creative practices. Princeton Arts Fellows and visiting artists enhance program offerings through performances, choreographing original work, or teaching courses, workshops and seminars.

The Program in Dance encourages in-depth collaboration with its staff, including a music director and a group of accompanists, who support and create with students. Most classes integrate live music, and student projects frequently feature original, live music, often coordinated with the music department. Students also benefit from engagement with professional costume and lighting designers and the support of staff in the areas of costume, scenery, lighting and stage management.

Many dance (DAN) courses are cross-listed with other departments and programs, including: gender and sexuality, African American studies, anthropology, visual arts, theater, music, American studies and urban studies. These courses allow students to include research in dance into their junior and senior departmental work. For example, many African American studies, anthropology, comparative literature, studio art, and art and archeology majors have woven dance scholarship and choreographic research into the focus of their departmental thesis work.

Dance also provides access to students from diverse fields of study, as our courses fulfill several distribution requirements, including: Literature and the Arts (LA), Epistemology and Cognition (EC), Ethical Thought and Moral Values (EM), Social Analysis (SA), Historical Analysis (HA) and Culture and Difference (CD). The field of dance interacts with a wide range of disciplines, and the dance minor supports all other fields of study by providing students with increased expertise in creative processes and production; strengthened capacities for reflection, taking risks and asking questions; improved artistry in analysis and research; as well as a greater understanding of methods of collaboration and community-building.

Goals for Student Learning

  • Through learning to sense, reflect and activate new ways of moving, students will increase self-awareness and develop a greater connection to themselves and to their communities.
  • Through physical practice and theorizing, creative experimentation and improvisation, students will discover how new movement patterns engage new thought patterns and vice versa.
  • Students will learn to see and analyze the choreography of people in motion for its meaning and content in dance, culture, society, and daily life.
  • Through the study of dance and movement, students will gain physical ways of knowing that enhance bodily cognition to act with greater commitment, expression, and creativity.
  • Students will gain knowledge of dance in its historical, cultural, social, and political contexts to develop critical thinking, analytical skills, and research practices.
  • Through learning models of inclusive collaboration, students will integrate diverse perceptions and experiences to work toward common goals in performance and creative projects.
  • Students will learn choreographic methodologies and tools to support risk-taking and problem solving, to develop an artistic practice that gives form to their curiosity and synthesizes their experience.
  • Through performance, students have the opportunity to hone their unique voices, share the culmination of knowledge gained, crystalize a sense of self, and enhance self-confidence.

Prerequisites

There are pathways for all students regardless of previous exposure to and experience in dance. Students interested in pursuing a minor in dance should enroll in a minimum of two DAN courses in their first and second years.

Students taking their first dance class or expanding their experience in new directions are encouraged to participate in two 200-level courses, such as DAN 207 Introduction to Ballet; DAN 213 Introduction to Contemporary Dance; DAN 222 Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance; DAN 225 Introduction to Breaking: Deciphering Its Power; DAN 211 The American Experience and Dance Practices of the African Diaspora; DAN 221 Stillness; or DAN 208 Body and Language.

For those entering Princeton with previous dance experience performing and choreographing, we recommend participation in 300- or 400-level courses, such as DAN 328 Princeton Dance Festival: Choreography and Performance in the fall and a spring studio course, such as DAN 432 Ballet as an Evolving Form, DAN 408 Approaches to Contemporary Dance (or DAN 401, 402, 431), as these provide prospective minors with rigorous, in-depth study of specific forms and methods.

A student could focus their minor on dance studies, in which case the prospective minor should take two seminars in dance or performance studies such as DAN 215 Dance Across Cultures; DAN 321 Moving Modernisms; DAN 203 Black Performance Theory; or DAN 354 Performance as Art.

First- and second-year students are also encouraged to get involved in performing through the Guest Choreographer Program for Princeton Dance Festival, dancing with senior independent choreographic projects, taking co-curricular classes and supporting productions in a non-performing capacity.

Admission to the Program

Students should enroll in the minor program during the second term of the sophomore year, but no later than the start of the first term of the junior year. We recommend that students complete at least two of the required courses before enrollment in the minor program.

To enroll in the dance minor, students submit an online application that details the courses they have taken, the performances they have participated in, whether they have completed their student show support requirements, and a plan for when and how they will fulfill the remaining requirements. Students hoping to pursue independent work in performance or choreography must also apply separately in the spring of their junior year and meet the specific requirements for respective independent work.

Apply for the dance minor

Program of Study

A minor from the Program in Dance will be awarded to students who successfully complete a substantial amount of work in the artistic, creative and academic areas of the discipline:

  • 5 DAN courses including:
    • at least one studio course
    • at least one seminar course in dance studies, for example: DAN 215, 321 or another research-based scholarly course with approval of the Director of Dance.
    • The range of required courses allows for students to focus their studies on performance, choreography, dance scholarship, or to create an interdisciplinary focus. Independent work is not required to receive a minor in dance. Students interested in pursuing independent research in their senior year must meet specific course requirements, and the substitution of requirements, if necessary, will be made with the approval of the director of dance
  • Support one dance program production in a non-performing capacity
    • All students planning to earn the minor in Dance must complete the Show Support Requirement by supporting one dance program show in a non-performing capacity. Students who will propose an independent choreographic or performance project during their senior year must have completed the show support requirement by the end of their junior year. Through supporting dance program shows, students will get to know the dance program’s students and staff, our venues and our practices, and will be better prepared for independent projects.
  • Optional Independent Work in Choreography or Performance
    • The Program in Dance offers minors the opportunity to apply to conduct Independent Work in Performance or Choreography under the supervision of its faculty. Performance projects involve commissions from emerging choreographers, or the staging of existing repertory. With permission of the student’s major department, such projects may also be part of a student’s departmental thesis work. For example, an anthropology major chose as her thesis subject Sri Lankan dance; a comparative literature thesis explored links between poetry and dance theories; and other students have looked at dance from the viewpoints of computer science, activism, mathematics, neuroscience and music.
    • Choreographic projects involve the creation of process-based dance works that encompass a broad definition of dance and choreography. All performances take place in the spring semester of senior year in the flexible environment of the Hearst Dance Theater.

Show Support Requirements

All students planning to earn the dance minor must complete the Show Support Requirement (formerly referred to as “tech hours”) by supporting one dance program show in a non-performing capacity. Students are encouraged to fulfill this requirement in your first or sophomore year, and fulfillment is required by the end of your junior year if you want to propose an independent choreographic or performance project in your senior year. This requirement is managed by the Production Stage Manager for the Program in Dance, Mary-Sue Gregson.

Show Support opportunities are available as run crews on the Princeton Dance Festival, Spring Dance Festival, and Independent Dance Projects, as well as front of house support for the Relaxed Performance of the Princeton Dance Festival. Review the dance season schedule. Students can email Mary-Sue at mgregson@princeton.edu to request specific shows. Available run crew slots will be filled in first-come, first-served order.

The average time commitment is 35 hours in the theater. For the Relaxed Performance some of that time is in preparation work. Run crew calls weekdays are 4:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays calls are 12:30-6:30 p.m. Monday is usually the day off.

Through supporting the dance program shows, students gain valuable knowledge of the dance program’s staff, venues, equipment and processes. What you do not know how to do, we will train you to do. The aim is for students to become more well-rounded and educated members of the dance community and better prepared to mount independent projects.

The run crew is a necessary and valued part of realizing the choreographer’s vision. They join the production in the critical timeframe when the show is coming together. The crew’s commitment to the production, no matter how seemingly mundane the task at hand, should match that of the dancers they are supporting. The crew are the eyes and the ears of the stage manager backstage. The crew is the last contact a dancer has before stepping into the light. Dancers should feel confident that if something goes awry, the crew will be there for them: to address the situation with dispatch and a sensitivity to the needs of dancers—a particular skill set you bring to this job. That trust is built over the tech and dress process.

The run crew’s commitment starts with the final design run. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to listen to the designers’ and choreographer’s discussion of their vision for the piece. We will schedule an hour of tech time for you to sit in back of the lighting designer, choreographer and stage manager to observe the collaborative process that makes the vision come to life.

The crew is called for all techs, dresses and performances, from the beginning to the end of the call. Consistency of presence through the tech and performance process creates a safer working environment for all. However, if you have a night class, lab or precept during design run or tech, please discuss it with Mary-Sue before signing up for a run crew. It may still be possible to do the show of your choice. If you have a night class, lab or precept on the night of the dress, the program will write to your professor to ask for an excused absence. Performances, for dancers and crew, are mandatory.

Independent Choreographic or Performance Projects

To qualify for an Independent Choreographic or Performance Project, students must meet the following requirements:

  • Four of the student’s five courses must be studio courses: two must be fall performance courses: DAN 319, 320, 328, 419, or 420, and one must be a spring studio course, for example: DAN 401, 402, 408, 431, or 432 (the fifth course would then have to satisfy the above-listed seminar course).
  • Two additional performances with a guest choreographer, or in a senior independent project.
  • Students must participate in 20 co-curricular classes over four years or an additional studio course, including introductory courses.
  • DAN 317 (Choreography Studio) is required only for those students who intend to complete an independent choreographic project. DAN 317 will count as one of the four required studio courses. To be eligible for DAN 317, students must have taken at least two choreography courses, such as DAN 319A, DAN 320A, DAN 328, DAN 419A, or other choreography courses with approval of the director.