In this course students explore the question "what is performance?" and how this informs their understanding of an increasingly mediated and globalized world. They examine the broad spectrum of performance in its many forms including theater, dance, visual art, performance art, everyday life, folklore, rituals and celebrations, and protests as well as the processes of each. Students apply readings on performance theory to performance events and sites on campus and beyond. In addition, they engage in an in-depth exploration of both global and intercultural performances and the growing international importance of this field.

Students develop skills in inventing and structuring movement by creating solo and group studies. Reading, writing, and viewing assignments inform creative activities. No prior dance experience required. Open to first-year students.

Devising is a contemporary performance-making practice that declines the traditional single author/choreographer/director/script model of theater in favor of a collaborative approach to generating themes, content, forms, and aesthetics for creating performance. In this hybrid course students learn about devising practices, theories, and politics through the exploration of how performance companies work in this generative space, and explore devising techniques to practice these methodologies in action.

This course develops an understanding of foundational human anatomy and kinesthetics as applied to bodies in motion. Topics include an introductory study of anatomy; the mechanics of movement; sustainable approaches to training in creative and athletic movement modalities. Recommended background: previous dance or movement training. Open to first-year students.

Dance Histories of the United States invites students into creative and critical engagement with history and historiography by examining dance and performance topics and theories. This course encourages students to research aesthetic and conceptual lineage and influence in concert and commercial dance forms in the United States by considering contemporary and historic choreographies and dance artists. In researching various histories of modern, jazz, street styles, ballet, and indigenous forms, students will gain insight into a multitude of embodied expressions in africanist, europeanist, and indigenous traditions. Students will be asked to engage their curiosity and question the role that dance history plays in developing collective and individual creativity and ingenuity, as well as in resisting and/or reifying notions of power, hierarchy, and privilege in contemporary societies. Course content will include regular reading, writing, personal reflection, viewing assignments, and presentations.

An exploration of the craft and the art of making dance performance from human gesture. Readings, critical analysis, and informal showings support the complex process of creating a finished movement-based piece for public performance by the end of the semester. The course culminates in a Studio Concert presented in Plavin Studio 1 at the end of the semester. Prerequisite(s): DANC 151, 253, 270I, DN/TH 202, or significant Choreography for Bates performance clubs.

This course focuses on contemporary dance performance and practices that center, celebrate, and problematize theories of race, gender, sexuality, art, and politics. Course readings, discussions, and creative assignments center Black performance theories and methodologies, including dance, theater, poetry, music, and visual art. Students will also encounter concepts of transnational feminisms and queer fabulation across a variety of dance styles and practices. Course assignments develop students’ abilities in understanding and demonstrating their own positionality, as well as writing and researching across lines of cultural difference. Open to first-year students.

Students experience a variety of approaches to making and performing dance through intensive choreographic residencies with professional guest choreographers, all artists-in-residence at the Bates Dance Festival. The course culminates in the Marcy Plavin Dance Concert at the end of the semester. Recommended background: previous dance experience. This course may be repeated for credit. DANC 253 can be taken multiple times for credit, however can only be attributed to one major requirement per time taken. For example, if a student completes DANC 253 once, it will fulfill either the Creative Process or the Performance and Production requirement. If a student takes DANC 253 twice, one of the completed courses will fulfill Creative Process, and one will fulfill Performance and Production. Co-requisite(s): DANC 270D.

A lecture and studio practice course intended to generate a living definition of embodying activism to be performatively personified. Through a series of social justice lensings, student artists determine for themselves what they consider activist and how they would engage that distinction throughout their creative process.

This series of studio courses provides instruction in a variety of dance styles and performing practices. DANC 270 may be repeated for credit without limit. One-half credit is earned for each course completed.

In this entry and open level modern technique course, students address performance, practice, style, and form in order to build strong technique and enhanced artistry and understanding. No prior dance experience required. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

In this beginner-level ballet technique course, students explore the traditional practice, style, vocabulary and form of classical ballet. No prior dance experience required. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

Contemporary partnering skills, including contact improvisation skills, weight sharing, spatial and physical relationships, and personal responsibility, are combined with contemporary modern dance techniques. Recommended background: previous dance experience. Open to first-year students.

This intermediate-advanced dance technique course explores various approaches to dance training and practice as experienced with different guest teachers throughout the semester. Students enrolled in this course (and not DANC253) have the option of performing in one piece in the Marcy Plavin Fall Dance Concert. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students. Recommended background: intermediate experience in dance and some contemporary modern training.

In this mixed-level technique course, students address jazz dance performance, practice, style, and form in order to build strong technique as well as to enhance artistry and understanding. Recommended background: experience in dance. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

This intermediate-level course focuses on modern technique, clarity of intention, and general performance skills, in order to maintain a strong technique and develop one's personal contribution to ensemble dancing. Recommended background: intermediate experience in dance and some modern training. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

In this intermediate-level ballet course, students strengthen their technique and enhance their artistry through the practice of classical ballet. This level is appropriate for returning beginner and/or intermediate dancers who are already at ease with the ballet vocabulary. Recommended background: DANC 270B or experience in ballet technique. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

Students explore improvisational dance skills essential to any style of dance through the use of body weight, momentum, and physical contact. Some familiarity with any form of dance is helpful. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

In this mixed-level technique course, students address hip-hop dance performance, practice, style, and form in order to build strong technique as well as to enhance artistry and understanding. Recommended background: some experience in dance. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

This advanced-level course focuses on modern technique, clarity of intention, and general performance skills, in order to maintain a strong technique and develop one's personal contribution to ensemble dancing in the studio and on the stage. Recommended background: advanced experience in dance and some modern training. One-half credit is earned.

In this advanced-level ballet course, students strengthen their technique and enhance their artistry through the practice of classical ballet. This level is appropriate for the intermediate-advanced dancer who has prior training in classical ballet at the intermediate-advanced level. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

Together, master drummer and djembe artist Sayon Camara, and devoted dance artist Marita Kennedy-Castro, bring to this class live rhythms and dances that celebrate the cycles of life and nature, and are the heartbeat of Guinean culture. Students will learn foundational movements, contemporary style and choreography, cultural relevance, and the regional and historical context of each rhythm and dance. This traditional art form continues to evolve in present day Guinea and is celebrated around the globe. No prior dance experience is required. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

This course will explore the principles of sensation-driven learning, the yoga and dance movements to awaken kinesthetic, proprioceptive, and interoceptive awareness. Focus shifts from achieving aesthetically pleasing movement to discovering greater movement efficiency, freedom of expression, self-agency, awareness, and creativity. No prior dance experience is required. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

An introduction to the exercises and principles of classical Pilates. This physical training course uses the Pilates method and complementary conditioning techniques to develop core strength, alignment, and flexibility. This course is designed for physical performers, but useful for bodies of all kinds. One-half credit is earned. Open to first-year students.

Working under faculty direction, students perform major roles in departmental productions as a performer (290A); stage manager, associate stage manager, technician (290B); designer, dramaturg, assistant director (290C). One-half credit is earned. May be repeated.

For students with previous kinesthetic training who can demonstrate fluency and commitment to their practice, this course provides Bates students with the opportunity to participate in the Bates Dance Festival Professional Training Program. Full participation in this summer program requires 30 weekly hours of technical training across multiple dance disciplines and theoretical practices. Festival courses are taught by leading scholars, artists, and practitioners in their fields. An integral part of this course is attending festival concerts, informal showings, discussions, and video presentations. This course may be repeated for credit.

Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester.

A substantial creative research project in dance, usually in the form of choreographic, performance, and/or written work. Student artists register for DANC 457 in the Fall semester. Successful completion of this course qualifies as a thesis credit toward the dance major.

A substantial creative research project in dance, usually in the form of choreographic, performance, and/or written work. Student artists register for DANC 458 in the Winter semester. Successful completion of this course qualifies as a thesis credit toward the dance major.

This course introduces students to applications of a dance practice both inside and outside the field of professional performance and helps them to create a model for a dance practice that they can carry with them beyond Bates. Students also take a daily contemporary modern dance-based movement class and develop an individual project in an area of dance research that models a dance practice for them. This course is part of the Purposeful Work Infusion Project, a programming element of the college’s Purposeful Work initiative. The Purposeful Work Infusion Project is a curricular opportunity that seeks to bridge the gap between course content and "purposeful work," which may include careers, identity, meaning, and purpose. All Purposeful Work Infusion courses include three elements: at least one reading assignment related to "purposeful work"; at least one reflective writing assignment on "purposeful work"; and at least the equivalent of one class session's discussion focused on bridging the gap between course content and "purposeful work.” Recommended background: At least one college-level dance course or intermediate level of proficiency in any dance form.