World Dance: Movt as Culture

4.0 credits

This course investigates the anthropological and historical significance of dance by looking at the many roles dance can play in society including religious devotion, power displays, conflict, healing, resistance, community bonding, “classical art” and more. We discover how cultural beliefs about gender, class, politics, economics, family and the arts are embedded in dance practices. The transmission of dance practices over time and along historic migration routes helps us explore how ideas cross cultures in embodied ways. We experience the basic steps of various dance traditions from around the world and begin to understand how movement both creates and communicates cultural meanings.