Interested in learning more about ethnography, hip hop, butoh, Sufi whirling, and bharatanatyam? Join this seminar course that combines the study of dance’s social and political moves across cultures with studio sessions in six global dance techniques.
Students will also learn basic elements of participant observation research. Guest artists will teach different dance forms. No prior dance experience is necessary.
Sample reading list:
Cindy Garcia, Salsa Crossings: Dancing Latinidad in Los Angeles
Priya Srinivasan, Sweating Saris: Indian Dance as Transnational Labor
Jorge Popmaster Fabel, Physical Graffiti: The History of Hip Hop Dance
Sally Ann Ness, Dancing in the Field: Notes from Memory
Brenda Dixon Gottschild, First Premises of an Africanist Aesthetic
Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, Cambodian Dance and the Individual Artist
Reading/Writing assignments:
Each student will conduct a 3-visit participant observation of a Princeton University dance company or community company and discuss the results of this fieldwork using the vocabulary from the class. Two field notes and shorter assignments will contribute to the final paper.
