Theater Arts - Fall 1998

This course provides an introduction to major choreographers of twentieth century modernism. After a brief glimpse at late nineteenth-century narrative ballet, we turn to the design and movement innovations in theatrical dancing between 1900 and the 1980s, principally in Europe and America. The different works under examination will be grounded in an historical and critical discussion of modernism, understood as a radical aesthetic experiment and a discourse on modernization. Within this context, critical and historical approaches to choreography will be discussed as models for writing about particular dances.

Mark Franko, Dancing Modernism/Performing Politics Isadora Duncan, My Life, Vaslav Nijinsky, The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky and Class Readers, vol 1 and vol. 2 (at UCSC Copy Center, Communications Bldg.). The bibliography contains suggested critical readings to complement the topics of each week or refer to in your papers, broader historical background readings, and videos available at McHenry Library. All the assigned class readings are coordinated with in-class viewings of video tape or film pertaining to the readings. Since videos and films will often be viewed as part of lecture/discussions, regular attendance is crucial. Absences will adversely effect final evaluations. Certain viewings are assigned outside class and are on reserve at McHenry media center.

You are expected to come to class having done the readings on the syllabus for that day, and viewed the tapes when assigned. Your should be prepared to discuss them. Your consistent presence and verbal participation are an important requirement of this course. Other requirements are five short topical essays (four take home and one in class), a midterm exam, and a take-home final paper. The five short papers (2 pages) respond to a specific thought question on readings and dances. The midterm exam is factual and relates to identifications, styles, and dates. The final paper is an extended analysis of a choreographic work or works (7 pages) in connection with historical context and an interpretive argument. The writing goals are to bring visual perception, critical thinking, and historical context to the analysis of choreography and technique.

Dance Modernism/Franko

Sept. 26 Introduction

• [Baroque dance: excerpts; Bournonville, La Sylphide (1832), excerpts]
• view for next class: Giselle (1841): VT2114

(week one)

Oct. 1

• Alderson, "Ballet as Ideology: Giselle, Act II"
• [Bournonville, Royal Danish Ballet (1903); "Tarantella" from Napoli (1842)]

Oct. 3

• Sommer, "Loie Fuller"
• McCarren, "The 'Symptomatic Act' circa 1900"
• Franko, "The Politics of Expression" (Dancing Modernism: ix-xiv)
• [clips of Loïe Fuller; Ruth St. Denis, Insense (1903), Rahda (1906) (if available); clips of Denshawn school]
• essay 1 due today: How Giselle Act II tells a story in dancing terms. (2 pgs)
• READ: Isadora Duncan, My Life

(week two)

Oct. 8

• Duncan, "The Dance of the Future (1903)"
• Daly, "The Dancing Body" (63-5)
• Franko,"The Invention of Modern Dance" (Dancing Modernism: 1-20)
• [Dance of the Furies, Narcissus (1898), Revolutionary Etude, Blessed Spirit, Mother, Blue Danube (1902); Fokine, Chopiniana or Les Sylphides (1907)]

Oct. 10

• Hodson, "In Search of Nijinsky's Chosen One" (1987)
• Rivière, "Le Sacre du Printemps" (1913)
• Berman, "Modernity -- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"
• [Fokine, Spectre de la rose (1911), Nijinsky, Afternoon of a Faun (1912), Nijinsky, The Rite of Spring (1913); clips of Pavlova]
• Essay 2 due today: Duncan's innovations in theatrical dancing: body and space. (2 pgs)
• READ: Vaslav Nijinsky, The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky

(week three)

Oct. 15

• Wigman, "Stage Dance -- Stage Dancer," "The Mask,"
• "Group Dance/Choreography" (1927)
• Manning, "Ideology and Absolute Dance," and "Mask and Gemeinschaft" (25-30). (1993)
• [Clips from Wigman, Wandering (1924), Witch Dance (1926), Seraphic Song (1929); Dore Hoyer, Affectos Humanos (1967); clips of Gret Palucca, Laban (Mass Choirs at the Olympic Games, 1936), Hanya Holm, Valerie Bettis; Harold Kreutzberg, The Eternal Circle]

Oct. 17

• Nijinska, "On Movement and the School of Movement"
• Garafola, "Bronislava Nijinska: A Legacy Uncovered"
• Balanchine, "The Dance Element in Stravinsky's Music"
• [Meyerhold, "Bio-mechanical exercises" (1920s); Nijinska, Les Noces (1923); Balanchine, Apollo (1928); excerpt from Balanchine, Concerto Barocco (1941)]
• essay 3 due today: Nijinsky's aesthetic: Rite & the Diary. (2 pgs)

(week four)

Oct. 22

• Franko, "Emotivist Movement and Histories of Modernism: the Case of Martha Graham" (Dancing Modernism: 38-57)
• [Michio Ito, Pizzicato (1916), Ecclesiastique (1922), Warrior (1928), Tragedy (1931); Graham, Heretic (1929), Lamentation (1930): two versions; clips of Humphrey/Weidman; Humphrey , Air for the G String (1934); dancers at Bennington College (1934); Asadata Dafora, Ostrich (1932); clips of Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers (1933) & excerpt from Shawn interview]

Oct. 24

• Franko, "Bodies of Radical Will," "Interview with Edna Ocko,"
• "Martha Graham in the Proletarian Moment (Dancing Modernism, 25-37; 57-64)
• David Sears, "Breaking Down Harmonica Breakdown"
• [Graham, "Steps in the Street," from Chronicle (1936); Eve Gentry, Tenant of the Street (1938); Jane Dudley, Harmonica Breakdown (1938); Graham, Frontier (1935); Christenson, Filling Station (1938)excerpt]
• essay 4 due today: the close reading of a dance (Witch Dance, Affectos Humanos, or Les Noces)

(week five)

Oct. 29

• Marta Savigliano, "Tango as a Spectacle of Sex, Race, and Class" (30-72)
• [clips of tango]

Oct. 31

• [Bettis, The Desperate Heart (1941); Beatty, Mourner's Bench \(1947); Deren and Beatty, Study in Choreography for Camera (1945); Primus, The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1944); Sokolow, Rooms (1955) excerpts; Ailey, Revelations (1959), excerpts]

(week six)

Nov. 5

• Cunningham, "The Impermanent Art"
• Franko, "Expressivism and Chance Procedure" (Dancing Modernism: 75-87)
• Johnston, "The New American Modern Dance"
• [Merce Cunningham, Septet (1955), and TBA]

Nov. 7

Please note: This class will be divided into two parts:

• Copeland, "Post-Modern Dance and the Repudiation of Primitivism"
• Yvonne Rainer, "The Mind is a Muscle" & "No to . . ."
• [Rainer, Trio A (1966)]

• Cynthia Novack, "Looking at Movement as Culture"
• Ramsay Burt, "Dance, Masculinity, and Postmodernism"
• [Steve Paxton, clips of contact improvisation (1970s)]

(week seven)

Nov. 12

• Video Showing and Thought Questions (essay 5 in class)
• [Primer for Pina; Bausch work TBA]

Nov. 14

• In-class Midterm exam

(week eight)

Nov. 19

• Linda Hutcheon, "Encoding and Decoding: the Shared Codes of Parody"
• Deshayes, "Kingdom of the Shades" from La Bayadère (1831); David Gordon, "The Matter"; Don Quixote & Béjart, Salomé (Patrick Dupond, excerpt); Balanchine, Serenade (1934) excerpt; Richard Bull, Another Serenade]

Nov. 21

• Franko, "The Affect of Bodies" (Dancing Modernism: 87-92]
• Dunn, "Talking is Dancing"
• [Douglas Dunn, Light, O' Tease (1987); Matches (1988)]

(week nine)

Nov. 26

• Pinero, "Identifying with Dido and Aeneas"
• [Mark Morris, Dido and Aeneas (1989)]

Thanksgiving

XIV. Butoh Dance

(week ten)

Dec 3

• "Kazuo Ohno does not Commute"
• [Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis]

Dec. 5

• Franko, "Where He Danced"(Dancing Modernism: 93-107)
• [Ohno, Water Lilies (1988)]

Final Paper Due Monday Dec. 9 (7 pages): The interpretation of a dance (Morris, Dunn, Bull or Ohno) Discuss the choreography in relation to earlier dance being recycled, commented on, or parodied. How is danced meaning created by referencing earlier performers, styles, or ideas?

Revised 7/19/04.