Special Topics in Performance Studies

Undergraduate

Theme: Sounding Dance. This semester's special topic performance studies will be on the space between music and dance; sound and movement. We are motivated by questions like: How is the dance floor a musical one? How is choreography a core creativity in musical performance? How are spaces constructed by sound, and how do bodies move through them? Course texts include those that are central to the instructors' own scholarly research areas, in Caribbean Black and queer performance and South Asian and Muslim performance, respectively. Both instructors consider issues of migration and diaspora centrally, which reflect critical theories of sound-making and movement as bodies navigate geopolitical borders and vernacular structures of power. Students have the opportunity to delve into the specificity of performance methodologies while also benefiting from a series of scholars external to Yale who will come to conduct focused talks and workshops on their research between sound and movement throughout the semester. HU RP Th 1:30pm-3:25pm