Department of Dance

Dance 442: Dance and Social Identity in the United States

Standard Course Outline

I. General Information

a. Course Number: Dance 442

b. Title: Dance and Social Identity in the United States

c. Units: 3

d. Prerequisites: Completion of GE Foundation requirements. Students must have

scored 11 or higher on the GWAR Placement Examination or completed the

necessary portfolio course that is a prerequisite for a GWAR Writing Intensive

Capstone.

e. Responsible Faculty: Dr. Colleen Dunagan (other dance faculty as needed)

f. SCO Prepared by: Colleen Dunagan and Andrew Vaca

g. Date Prepared: 10/15/12

II. Catalogue Description

Prerequisites: Completion of GE Foundation requirements. Students must have scored 11 or

higher on the GWAR Placement Examination or completed the necessary portfolio course

that is a prerequisite for a GWAR Writing Intensive Capstone.

Development of dance in the American context with an emphasis on its socio-cultural

influences and concert forms.

In order to use Dance 442 to fulfill the Writing Intensive Capstone requirement students must

earn a C or better in this course.

Letter grade only (A-F). (2 hours lecture, 2 hours studio)

III. Curriculum Justification:

Dance 442 is an upper-division writing intensive course in dance history for the major. The

course will be taught as a Writing Intensive, Integrated Learning Capstone course meeting

curricular requirements for the GE category of History (D.2) and the Arts (C.1) through an

emphasis on Intercultural Knowledge (i.e. Human Diversity). The course will focus on skill

building through Integrative Learning and the following Essential GE student learning

outcomes: Written Communication, Intercultural Knowledge (Human Diversity), Critical

Thinking and Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery.

While many dance majors have encountered elements of dance history in previous dance

courses or at the community college level, they have rarely been introduced to ways of

looking at dance history that ground discussions of dance in more than a chronological

accounting of choreographers, dance works, dates, and places. There is a decided need to

provide students with deeper insight into dance’s role and place within America culture.

This course engages students in an investigation of how the traditions of Western concert and

social dances intersect with socio-cultural, economic, ethnic, and political issues of identity

within the U.S. context. In doing so, the course examines dance in relation to region,

religion, gender, sexuality, immigration, nationalism, slavery, and colonialism. Through the

lens of dance, the course covers historical shifts from the 1800s to the early 2000s with

attention to non-Western and/or non-European influences.

The course emphasizes the inherent interdisciplinarity of dance studies as a field by

introducing students to primary (dances and dance practices) and secondary (theory, history,

criticism) texts and by looking at dance through the methodological lenses of social and

cultural theories arising out of various disciplinary approaches. The instructor will introduce

theoretical approaches from two or more of the following: literary studies, cultural studies

and Marxism, philosophy/critical theory, American studies, gender and sexuality studies, and

critical race studies. Entrance into these varied approaches will be achieved through the

course texts and discussion of the strategies employed by the authors in their analysis of

dance.

The course looks at the American concert dance canon (ballet and modern) in relation to

dvelopments in ballroom and jazz dance to illustrate how ethnic diversity has informed the

development of each genre. The course will focus on how markers of social identity such as

class, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity have shaped and continue to shape dance in

America, and will demonstrate the important influences and contributions of ethnic

minorities in the field by looking closely at the contributions of African-Americans and at

least one other ethnic minority group from the following: Native Americans, Chicano/Latino

American, Pacific Islanders, Asian Americans, and/or Middle Eastern Americans. By

directing attention to two or more ethnic minority groups, the course will highlight the

development of new dance genres within America and how their contributions have

influenced the incorporation and shaping of the European-derived genre of ballet within the

United States. In addition, the course is designed to facilitate written communication and

integrative learning by placing the humanities-based theoretical perspective of dance studies

into dialogue with the artistic-based tools of dance composition, requiring students to move

ideas across the borders of these two areas and to demonstrate these skills through both

writing and choreography.

Capstone – Integrative Learning

Goal: 1) To integrate the learning of disciplinary knowledge with essential general education

skills that students need to succeed in college, life, and work. 2) To utilize the LEAP

framework to bring interconnectivity to the entire university experience, providing students

with an understanding of how general education supports learning within the major. 3) To

promote synthesis and advanced accomplishments across generalized and specialized studies.

4) To promote the essential GE skills of Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Human

Diversity, and Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery.

Developed By: Students will synthesize disciplinary approaches drawn primarily from the

humanities (such as ethnography, literary studies, cultural studies, Marxism,

philosophy/critical theory, American studies, postcolonial theory, gender and sexuality

studies, and critical race studies) with methodologies found within the creative practice of

dance. They will apply critical thinking to reading and analyzing texts, watching and

analyzing visual examples, and synthesizing their own ideas with the ideas of others in a final

analytical paper. Students will further integrate their learning from the humanities and the

arts by applying ideas regarding the nature and construct of social identities in U.S. society to

the practice of choreography by creating a small group dance.

Capstone – Writing Intensive

Goal: 1) To provide students with a writing intensive experience that provides them with the

opportunity to write at least 5,000 words over the course of the semester, to approach writing

as a process through drafting and revising, and to receive feedback from both the instructor

and their peers as part of the writing process. 2) To have the writing portion of the course

culminate in a final paper of substantial length in a form appropriate to the subject matter and

methodology of dance studies. 3) To insure that at least two-thirds of the students’ grade is

derived from writing assignments. 4) To provide students with instruction and practice in the

following: expression and synthesis of their own and others’ ideas; to demonstrate

comprehension of texts by composing accurate summaries and reasonable responses and

analyses, and to evaluate and incorporate source materials as appropriate to a given task.

Developed By: Students will complete written reading responses and small group and class

discussions of readings, instruction in drafting, revising, providing and incorporating peer

feedback, analysis and summary of sources, the creation of an annotated bibliography, and

the completion of a final analytical paper that incorporates research and requires students to

synthesize their own and their sources’ ideas. Course assignments will receive timely

feedback from the instructor on an ongoing basis throughout the course in order to facilitate

the continual development of writing skills.

Intercultural Competence and Knowledge (Human Diversity)

Goal: 1) To foster an understanding of human diversity in the United States of America. 2)

To examine the influence of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and religion on dance

and American society. 3) To engage in comparisons of the role of African Americans and at

least one other significant minority culture within the U.S., including Native Americans,

Chicano/Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and/or Middle Eastern

Americans, on dance practices within U.S. culture.

Developed By: Students will apply critical reading, writing, and thinking skills to the study of

social identity and dance within the U.S. context. They will engage with the texts and visual

examples in an exploration of how the texts and dances interrogate social categories such as

race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and class. Students will be asked to consider how

markers of identity circulate and to compare the ways these markers are embodied and/or

activated within and across different ethnic groups.

IV. Measurable Student Learning Outcomes, Evaluation Instruments, and

Instructional Strategies for Skill Development

The following content-based, skill-based, and essential GE skills student learning outcomes

will appear on all course syllabi:

1. Analyze and interpret the diversity of American dance practices by integrating

knowledge and methodologies from multiple disciplines, including relevant cultural

and historical knowledge of the specific ethnic groups.

2. Analyze dance practices in terms of structure and content and interpret how these

elements intersect with the construction and maintenance of social identity in regards

to race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, and sexuality.

3. Demonstrate the ability to communicate in clear prose analyses of dance practices

studied, conduct research and incorporate sources into analysis, and use appropriate

citation systems.

4. Demonstrate the ability to apply concepts and knowledge of dance history to the

practice of concert dance composition.

Student Performance Benchmarks, Evaluation Instruments, and Instructional

Strategies for Skill Development for each outcome include the following:

1. Analyze and interpret the diversity of American dance practices by integrating

knowledge and methodologies from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including

relevant cultural and historical knowledge of the specific ethnic groups. (Critical

Thinking, Interdisciplinary Learning)

a. Measurable Benchmark: Students will explain issues, identify evidence,

articulate a perspective/thesis, and accurately apply theoretical models and

methodological approaches of two or more disciplines in their discussion of

ethnicity and dance.

b. Evaluation Instruments: In-class discussions of texts and visual examples of

dances, written and choreographic reading responses, and summaries and

syntheses of visual examples, textual materials, and lectures.

c. Strategies for Skill Development: The instructor will provide readings and

lectures on appropriate disciplinary methods and theories to be used in the

analysis of global dance practices; will model ways of critical thinking that

employ these methods and theories; will model ways of integrating concepts

from dance studies with choreographic tools, will assign a final project that

asks them to create a choreographic work, and will assign a final paper that

includes a research component that draws from two or more disciplines.

2. Analyze dance practices in terms of structure and content and interpret how these

elements intersect with the construction and maintenance of social identity in regards

to race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, and sexuality. (Intercutural Knowledge,

Critical Thinking, and Creativity and Discovery)

a. Measurable Benchmark: Students will practice empathy and non/verbal

communication as they develop knowledge of cultural frameworks; they will

synthesize information and demonstrate innovative thinking through

identifying and assessing choreographic structures and movement

vocabularies employed in varied dance practices in relation to social identity.

b. Evaluation Instruments: In-class discussions, reading responses, and a final

paper that requires students to synthesize visual examples and

knowledge/theories gained from readings in an analysis of social identity

within American dance practice(s) and a final choreographic project that asks

them to create a dance that addresses, comments on, critiques, and/or

incorporates elements of social identity.

c. Strategies for Skill Development: The instructor will provide readings and

lectures on methods of dance analysis and tools for assessing the relationship

between dance forms and social identity within the American context. The

instructor will model critical thinking and ways of applying interdisciplinary

thinking to dance practices. The instructor will assign research assignments

and small group reading responses, discussions, and choreographic projects to

facilitate development of analysis and synthesis skills.

3. Demonstrate to the ability to communicate in clear prose analyses of dance practices

studied, conduct research and incorporate sources into analysis, and use appropriate

citation systems. (Written Communication, Critical Thinking)

a. Measurable Benchmark: Students will demonstrate the ability to write in clear

prose and employ the conventions of standard written English, and the

appropriate rhetorical strategies and compositional form to support a

comparative analysis; to locate relevant information in both scholarly and

popular print and digital sources using the University library and other online

databases; to explain issues, offer evidence in support of a thesis, and to

appropriately cite sources and construct a bibliography.

b. Evaluation Instruments: Written reading responses, summaries and analyses

of readings, small process-focused research process that requires use of the

library and/or internet, drafting and incorporating peer and instructor

commentary on a final paper, and a final paper and bibliography that requires

students to gather, organize, and synthesize information from course readings,

lectures/discussion, visual examples, and their own research, as well as to cite

sources.

c. Strategies for Skill Development: The instructor will provide discussion and

lectures on tools and strategies for research using the library and internet,

appropriate forms of incorporating and citing sources, tools for analyzing and

writing about visual examples, and strategies for reading and responding to

textual sources. The instructor will provide feedback on early drafts of

writing, facilitate peer review workshops, and provide grading rubrics for

written assignments.

4. Demonstrate the ability to apply concepts and knowledge of dance history to the

practice of concert dance composition. (Creativity and Discovery)

a. Measurable Benchmarks: Students will demonstrate the ability to make

connections between dance history and composition and to understand and

apply/transfer concepts and theories from readings to choreography and

movement by taking risks, problem solving, synthesis, and innovative

thinking.

b. Evaluation Instruments: Choreographic reading responses completed

throughout the semester and a final group choreography created in response to

a prompt that asks them to synthesize ideas from class, integrate them with

theories of dance composition, and create a small group choreography based

on social identity in America.

c. Strategies for Skill Development: The instructor will provide lecture and

discussion on the role and nature of social identity in concert dance and

strategies for translating theoretical concepts from readings and lived social

identities into dance composition. The instructor will provide feedback on

choreographic reading responses and facilitate peer discussion reading

response choreographic studies.

V. Outline of Subject Matter:

This is a broad outline of topics to be covered. Subject matter and sequence of topics may

vary by instructor. At this time, no consensus exists regarding dance practices and cultural

influences to be discussed, or the required course texts; however, the current instructors (2)

for the course would probably construct an outline much like the one shown here, though

specific content discussed might vary.

Week One

1/22 Introduction: Review syllabus, course assignments, and textbooks

Online Quiz: Read through the syllabus and complete the quiz posted in Beachboard

In-Class: Identity as Artist and Individual

Online Survey: Complete the writing survey available via the link in Beachboard

1/24 Reading: A Manual for Writers Chapter 3 and Chapters 15-17

Online: Review Powerpoint - “Creating a bibliography”

Assignment: Group reading response: Assembling your Reader (Groups of 5 or 6)

Assignment: Individual reading response: Creating a Course Bibliography (Due 2/5)

Week Two

1/29 Reading: “Academic Integrity” – Blum (Beachboard); “The Shadow Scholar” –

Dante (Beachboard); “Uncreative Writing” – Goldsmith (Beachboard)

In-class: Plagiarism Reading Response: What writing practices and issues do the

authors raise and how do their arguments relate to your experiences as a

student?

1/31 Reading: “The Copyright Implications of Beyoncé’s” – Yeoh and “Coda” – Kraut

“Introduction” Choreographic Copyright – Kraut (recommended)

Discussion: Summarizing an argument (paraphrasing); Beyoncé (U.S.) vs. de

Keersmaeker (EU)

In-class: Copyright Reading Response: 1st Draft Paper I: Argument Summary

and Analysis

Assignment: 2nd Draft Paper I - Chapter Summary and Analysis (Due 2/7)

Week Three

2/5 Reading: People Have Never Stopped Dancing - Part I, Chapter 2 – Shea Murphy

and “Indigenous Dances on Stage” – Farnell

Discussion: Dance and Authenticity: Delsarte and indigenous forms in the U.S.

In-class: Choreographic study

2/7 Reading: “Manifestos” – Foulkes and “White Womanhood” - Kraut

Discussion: Early modern dance practitioners, Gender, and the appropriation of

Eastern culture

Week Four

2/12 Reading: Manual for Writers Chapters 9-11

Discussion: Continuation of “Manifestos” and “White Womanhood”

Revising papers/editing writing and Paper I feedback on writing with in-

class revision practice

Assignment: Final draft Paper I - Chapter Summary and Analysis (Due 2/14)

2/14 Reading: “Pioneer Women” – Foulkes

Discussion: Humphrey, Graham, Modernism – Defining Modern Dance

In-class: Choreographic study

Week Five

2/19 Reading: “The Black Body as Object” – Kraut

Discussion: Slavery, Copyright, Minstrelsy and the Influence of West African Cultures

Assignment: 1st Draft Paper II: Applying concepts (Due 2/28)

2/21 Reading: A Manual for Writers Chapters 2, 4, 6-7 and 25 and “Martha Graham’s

American Document” – Costonis

Assignment: Reading Response – Working with Sources

Week Six

2/26 Reading: “Stealing Steps” – Kraut

Discussion: Tap, Early Jazz, and the Blending of Europeanist and Africanist Aesthetics

Review Uncreative Choreography Practice I assignment

2/28 Assignment: Group Uncreative Choreography Practice I (graded response assignment)

& reflection. Each group will need access to Beachboard/Internet to

complete the assignment

Week Seven

3/5 Reading: “Men Must Dance” - Foulkes

Discussion: Shawn, Weidman, Horton, Nijinsky, and DV8 – Sexuality, Gender, and

the Appropriation of Indigenous Cultures and the East

Feedback on 1st Draft Paper II - Applying concepts

Assignment: Final Draft Paper II – Applying Concepts (Due 3/21)

3/7 Reading: “Primitive Moderns” and “Coda” – Foulkes

Discussion: African Americans in Modern Dance (1920-1960) – Winfield, Guy,

Dunham, Dafora, Primus, and Ailey – Post-Colonial Connections to West

African and the Caribbean

In-class: Choreographic study

Week Eight

3/12 Reading: “High-Brow meets Low-Down” – Kraut and “Dancing America” –

Foulkes

Discussion: Broadway, Ballet, Modern, Cultural Appropriation, Nationalism, and

Copyright

3/14 Reading: “Death/Life of the Choreographer” – Kraut

Discussion: Balanchine, Graham, Cultural appropriation and Copyright

Week Nine

3/19 Reading: “From Bharata Natyam to Bop” - Hill

Discussion: Cultural Appropriation, Gender, and the Development of Concert Jazz

3/21 Reading: “Dance in War” - Foulkes

Discussion: Dance, Politics, Nationalism, Gender, and Merce Cunningham

Spring Break: MARCH 26 – April 1 – NO CLASSES

Week Ten

4/2 Reading: “Originality in Postmodern Appropriation Art” – Van Camp and “Bodies

of History” – Houston and Tobey

Discussion: Postmodernism, Dance, and the Judson Church Choreographers

Assignment: 1st Draft Paper III - Appropriation & Identity (Due 4/16)

4/4 Reading: “Staging the Ethnographic of Dance History” – Hardt and “Repeatability,

Reconstruction, and Beyond” – Franko

Discussion: Issues of Multiculturalism, Restaging, and Appropriation: the place of

dance in culture

Week Eleven

4/9 Reading: “Mark Morris’s” Dido and Aeneas” – Duerden & Rowell

Discussion: Postmodernism, Interdisciplinarity, and Identity in Contemporary Dance

4/11 Reading: “Shen Wei Dance Arts” – Gerdes

Discussion: Interculturalism (Chinese-American), Interdisciplinarity, and

Contemporary Dance

Workshop: Paper III – Appropriation & Identity

Week Twelve

4/16 Reading: “Organizing Dance” – Foulkes and “Hasidic Drag” – Rossen

Discussion: Dance, Labor Politics, Jewish Culture, and German Influences

In-class: Choreographic study

4/18 Discussion: Feedback on 1st Draft of Paper III – Appropriation & Identity

Writing composition – thesis, paragraphing, and structure

Assignment: 2nd Draft Paper III – Appropriation & Identity (Due 4/30)

Week Thirteen

4/23 Peer Review: Paper III – Appropriation & Identity

Discussion: Uncreative Choreography

In-class: Uncreative Choreography – Parody, Plagiarism & Allusion

4/25 Preparation for Final Exam – Putting theory in action: Choreographing History

Discussion: Uncreative Choreography

Assignment: Forming groups for Final Project (Uncreative Choreography and

Choreographic Appropriations paper) - 1st draft in class.

Week Fourteen

4/30 In-class: Work time on Uncreative Choreographies and Choreographic

Appropriations paper

Assignment: 2nd Draft of Choreographic Appropriations paper (Due 5/7)

5/2 In-class: Peer Review Session and group work time

Discussion: Feedback on 2nd Draft of Paper III – Appropriation & Identity

Assignment: 3rd Draft Paper III – Appropriation & Identity (Due 5/9)

Week Fifteen

5/7 In-class: Uncreative Choreographies – work time and discussion

Discussion: Final exam day

5/9 Discussion: Feedback on 2nd draft of Choreographic Appropriations paper

Discussion: Editing and final revisions – grammar, syntax, and structure

In-class: Uncreative Choreographies – work time and discussion

Assignment: Final Draft Choreographic Appropriations paper (Due 5/18)

Final Draft Paper III – Appropriation and Identity (Due 5/18)

Finals Week

FINAL EXAM - 8:00 to 10:00 AM on Friday, May 18, 2018 - meet in studio to perform

choreography.

DUE: Performance of Uncreative Choreography

DUE: Final Draft of Paper III – Appropriation & Identity (hard copy &

Beachboard)

DUE: Final draft of Choreographic Appropriations paper (hard copy &

Beachboard)

VI. Methods of Instruction:

Student-driven discussions in combination with instructor lectures and screenings of visual

materials will form the foundation of instruction for the course. Instructor lectures will

provide historical background and facilitate the understanding of discipline specific

methodologies and theoretical perspectives. Small group activities will be used to facilitate

skill development in reading across disciplines, mastery of concepts/theories, and movement

analysis. Reading responses will be completed both individually and in small groups and

will consist of a mixture of short written assignments, designed to facilitate mastery reading

comprehension skills and use of sources, and small choreographic prompts, designed to

facilitate mastery of concepts and integrative learning. These responses will be completed

both within and outside of class. A significant portion of class time will be devoted to

instruction in research and writing skills (reading, incorporating sources, drafting, and

revising).

VII. Extent and Nature of Technology Use:

Specific uses of technology will vary by instructor but may include the use of Beachboard

(Desire2Learn), library databases, the Internet, audiovisual materials (dance practices and

possibly film), and digital presentations. Students will be expected to engage with

Beachboard, the library database, the Internet, and possibly other forms of technology, such

as digital presentations audio/interviews, blogs, online publications, and/or video.

VIII. Information on Textbooks/Readings:

The textbooks selected will vary year to year depending on the instructor and the global

dance practices he/she decides to focus on in the course in a given semester. The following

are examples of appropriate texts:

Foulkes, Julia L. Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism from Martha Graham to

Alvin Ailey. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Kraut, Anthea. Choreographing Copyright: Race, Gender, and Intellectual Property Rights in

American Dance. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 8th ed.

Revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Additional Readings: posted in Beachboard and collected by students as part of a class

assignment

IX. Instructional Policies Requirements:

Instructors may specify their own policies with regard to plagiarism, withdrawal, absences,

etc., as long as the policies are consistent with the University policies published in the

CSULB Catalog. It is expected that every course will follow University policies on

Attendance (PS 01-01), Course Syllabi (PS 04-05), Final Course Grades, Grading

Procedures, and Final Assessments (PS 05-07), and Withdrawals (PS 02-02 rev).

All sections of the course will have a syllabus that includes the information required by the

syllabus policy adopted by the Academic Senate. Instructors will include information on

how students may make up work for excused absences. When class participation is a

required part of the course, syllabi will include information on how participation is assessed.

When improvement in oral communication is an objective of the course, syllabi will include

a rubric for how oral communication is to be evaluated.

X. Distance Learning/ Hybrid Courses:

This course is not being designated as a distance learning and/or hybrid course at this time.

XI. Bibliography: This list is by no means exhaustive, rather it is a sampling of

resources.

Banes, Sally. Dancing Women: Female Bodies on Stage. New York: Routledge, 1998.

Benston, Kimberly. Performing Blackness: Enactments of African American Modernism.

New York: Routledge, 2000.

Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994.

Brown, Charlotte. Babylon Girls: black women performers and the shaping of the modern.

Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2008.

Chasteen, John Charles. National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin

American Popular Dance. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004.

Desmond, Jane, ed. Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexuality on and off the Stage.

Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.

Dils, Ann and Ann Cooper Albright, eds. Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance

History Reader. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

Fisher, Jennifer and Anthony Shay, eds. When Men Dance: Choreographing Masculinities

Across Borders. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Gottschild, Brenda Dixon. Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance

and other Contexts. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 1996, 1998.

Heth, Charlotte, ed. Native American Dance: ceremonies and social traditions. Washington,

D.C.: National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution with

Starwood Press, 1992.

Hutchinson, Sydney. From Quebradita to Duranguense: Dance in Mexican American Youth

Culture. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007.

Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press, 1952.

Fisher, Jennifer and Anthony Shay, eds. When Men Dance: Choreographing Masculinities

Across Borders. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Kant, Marion, ed. Cambridge Companion to Ballet. New York: Cambridge University Press,

2007.

Malnig, Julie, ed. Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance

Reader. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009.

Morris, Gay. A Game for Dancers: performing modernism in the postwar years, 1945-1960.

Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 2006.

Murphy, Jacqueline Shea. The People Have Never Stopped Dancing: Native American

Modern Dance Histories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2007.

Needham, Maureen, ed. I See America Dancing: selected readings 1685-2000. Urbana:

University of Illinois Press, 2002.

Ovalle, Priscilla Pena. Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom.

Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2011.

Shay, Anthony. Dancing Across Borders: the American Fascination with Exotic Dance

Forms. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2008.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. Nationalism and the Imagination. New York: Seagull Books,

2010.

Tucker, Linda G. Lockstep and Dance: images of black men in popular culture. Jackson:

University of Mississippi, 2007.

Wagner, Ann Louise. Adversaries of Dance: From Puritans to the Present. Urbana:

University of Illinois Press, 1997.

Texts/Resources to Augment Writing Intensive Component of Course

California State University Long Beach: Composition at the Beach.

<http://compositionatthebeah.com/>

Turabian, Kate. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 7th

edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003.

White, Edward M. Assigning, Responding, and Evaluating: A Writing Teacher’s Guide. 4th

edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: the Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical

Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Publishers, 1996.

XII. Student-level Assessment:

The exact set of course assignments will vary depending on the instructor. University policy

requires that no single evaluation of student achievement may count for more than one-third

of final grade. Appropriate assignments and percentages may include the following:

Grading:

1. Reading Responses (choreographic and written) 10%

2. Applying Concepts Paper w/revisions (6-8 pages) 20%

3. Article(s) Summary & Analysis (2-3 pages) 10%

4. Choreography and Identity Paper w/revisions (6-8 pages) 20%

5. Choreographic Appropriations paper w/revisions (4-6 pages) 20%

6. “Uncreative” Choreography and Prospectus (3 pages) 20%

XIII. Course-level Assessment Plan:

Assessment work for this GE course will be conducted throughout the (usually five-year)

cycle prior to its recertification due date. The Department of Dance has chosen the Single-

course Track option for recertification (see S.A.G.E. Track Selection Form, attached).

The Essential GE Skills to be assessed for this course:

• Written Communication

• Critical Thinking

• Intercultural Competence and Knowledge (Human Diversity)

• Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery

Student Performance Benchmarks

• Written Communication and Critical Thinking: Students will demonstrate the ability to

write in clear prose and employ the conventions of standard written English, and the

appropriate rhetorical strategies and compositional form to support a comparative

analysis; to locate relevant information in both scholarly and popular print and digital

sources using the University library and other online databases; to explain issues, offer

evidence in support of a thesis, and to appropriately cite sources and construct a

bibliography. (Assessments #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5)

• Intercultural Competence and Knowledge (Human Diversity), Critical Thinking, and

Creativity and Discovery: Students will practice empathy and non/verbal communication

as they develop knowledge of cultural frameworks; they will synthesize information and

demonstrate innovative thinking through identifying and assessing choreographic

structures and movement vocabularies employed in varied dance practices in relation to

social identity. (Assessments #1, #2, #4, and #5)

• Critical Thinking: Students will explain issues, identify evidence, articulate a

perspective/thesis, and accurately apply theoretical models and methodological

approaches of two or more disciplines in their discussion of ethnicity and dance.

(Assessments # 2 and #4)

• Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery: Students will demonstrate the ability to make

connections between dance history and composition and to understand and apply/transfer

concepts and theories from readings to choreography and movement by taking risks,

problem solving, synthesis, and innovative thinking. (Assessments #1 and #6)

Student performance of these benchmarks will be assessed through a random gathering of

student work in specific course assignments. The Department of Dance will create and

utilize rubrics to be developed in conjunction with GEGC rubrics to appropriately assess the

learning of the Essential GE Skills, in relation to the instructor’s specific assignments for

skill development in these areas.

XIV. Consistency of SCO Standards Across Sections:

This course is not currently offered as a multi-section course. If the Department were to

offer multiple sections, consistency would be monitored through the Department Curriculum

Committee and the course coordinator will review the SCO and offer advice and/or materials

to each faculty member new to teaching the course. All future syllabi will conform to the

SCO. The course coordinator may offer or require regular review of instructors’ course

materials as well as anonymous samples of student work.

XV. Additional Resources for Development of Syllabus:

All syllabi will conform to University policy on required content for syllabi and will conform

to the SCO.