51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

Scholars within dance studies, such as Randy Martin, André Lepecki, and Susan Manning, have proposed that dance serves as a unique practical and theoretical site through which to think, observe, and sense the political--what philosopher Jacques Rancière defines as dissensual modes of intervention in the seeable and the sayable, or the insertion of one world in another. Through an examination of dance, not only as a representational form, but as the practice of assembling bodies in motion, shaping time and space, and making legible certain connections and modes of being, we will consider how dance is continually engaged in the praxis of politics. Foundational texts on corporeality, biopolitics, mobilization, aesthetics, dance and labor will support our inquiry. In addition, we will engage in movement practices that explore the politics of our own embodiment as dancers: How do we experience the entwinement of our dancing bodies with socio-political, -historical, -economic, -affective and -kinetic forces? How do our respective identities, histories and desires shape our experiences of concepts such as agency, freedom, visibility, collectivity and difference? Students will be expected to read and chart approximately two articles per week, complete two short papers and contribute a movement score for the class as a whole. Each class will consist of discussion, analyses of texts, short writing exercises, and movement.