Dance

Subject abbreviation: DNCE College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Joel Mejia Smith, M.F.A., Chair Department Office, 104 Arts

• (951) 827-3944; dance.ucr.edu

Professors Emeriti Wendy L. Rogers, M.A. Susan Rose, M.F.A. Marta Savigliano, Ph.D. Christena Lindborg Schlundt, Ph.D. Fred Strickler, B.S. Linda J. Tomko, Ph.D.

Professors Anthea Kraut, Ph.D.

Associate Professors Anusha Kedhar, Ph.D. Luis Lara Malvacías, M.F.A. Jacqueline Shea Murphy, Ph.D. Joel Mejia Smith, M.F.A. taisha paggett, M.F.A. Ni’Ja Whitson M.F.A

Assistant Professors María Regina Firmino-Castillo, Ph.D. Imani Kai Johnson, Ph.D. Jose Reynoso, Ph.D.

**

Lecturers Brandon J. Aiken Kelli King, M.F.A. Clydean (Makeda Kumasi) Parker, M.F.A. M.Ed.

The Dance major is distinctive for its outstand- ing faculty of nationally and internationally recognized artists and scholars who draw from a variety of creative and academic back- grounds, including choreography, visual art, creative writing, literature, African diasporic ritual cultures, Hip Hop and streetdance, Indian diasporic dance, Indigenous studies, performance studies, queer studies and cul- tural studies.

The B.A. degree in Dance focuses on dance making and the cultivation of cultural and historical perspectives on dance. Movement practice, dance composition, performance, and critical dance studies courses are required. Elective courses are also required. Movement practice courses are offered in a variety of dance/movement forms. Dance majors choose an emphasis in Dance Making or Dance Stud- ies. Majors have the option to participate in “UCR is Dancing,” the department’s annual an- nual concert series featuring original choreog- raphy and performance projects by students.

In addition, visiting professional dancers, choreographers, and scholars come to UCR frequently to give special workshops, master classes, and lectures.

Opportunities to perform include “UCR is Dancing,” MFA students’ final projects, and the Gluck Fellows Arts Outreach Touring programs. Dance majors are eligible for the Chancellor’s Performance Award, a scholarship of up to $2,000. Student assistantships and other forms of finan- cial aid are also available. Undergraduate majors may apply for research grants and stipends for summer dance studies. Selected students receive $1,000 Maxwell H. Gluck Fellowships.

See Undergraduate Studies section.

See College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Colleges and Programs section.

The Dance major focuses on two broad areas of study: Dance Making and Dance Studies. After completing a number of shared required courses, Dance majors will choose an empha- sis in either Dance Making or Dance Studies and complete a Capstone Research Seminar.

• 1. Lower-division requirements (8 units):

DNCE 014, DNCE 019

• 2. Dance Making (12 units): Three courses

from DNCE 115E, DNCE 115F, DNCE 115G, DNCE 115J, DNCE 115K, DNCE 115M

• 3. Dance Studies: (8 units), 2 courses

from the following: DNCE 131/GSST 127, DNCE 132, DNCE 133, DNCE 134, DNCE 135, DNCE 136

• 4. Movement Practice (up to 24 units)

Dance majors must enroll in at least one movement practice course per quarter, and must pursue a concentration in two different dance genres of at least 6 units each. Up to 24 units may be counted towards the major from:

• a) DNCE 066A, DNCE 066B (West African

Dance)

• b) DNCE 067A, DNCE 067B, DNCE 067C

(Modern Technique)

• c) DNCE 068 (Somatics)

• d) DNCE 069A, DNCE 069B (18th Century

Dance)

• e) DNCE 070A, DNCE 070B, DNCE 070C (Hip

Hop Dance)

• f) DNCE 071A, DNCE 071B (Ballet)

• g) DNCE 073A, DNCE 073B (Jazz Dance)

• h) DNCE 074A, DNCE 074B (Yoga for Danc-

ers)

• i) DNCE 075A, DNCE 075B (Dance

Techniques and Practices)

• j) DNCE 081, DNCE 181 (Dance Cultures,

Culture in Dance)

Dance Making Emphasis:

• 1. Eight units from Dance Making/Practice

Electives:

DNCE 167, DNCE 168, DNCE 180(E-Z), DNCE 181*, or any DNCE 115(E-Z) not used to fulfill requirement #2 above.

No more than 4 units may be drawn from the following movement practice courses to fulfill this eight unit elective requirement:

DNCE 066A, DNCE 066B, DNCE 067A, DNCE 067B, DNCE 067C, DNCE 068, DNCE 069A, DNCE 069B, DNCE 070A, DNCE 070B, DNCE 070C, DNCE 071A, DNCE 071B, DNCE 073A, DNCE 073B, DNCE 074A, DNCE 074B, DNCE 075A, DNCE 075B, DNCE 081*

• 2. Four units from Dance Studies Electives:

DNCE 155(E-Z), DNCE 161/MCS 161, DNCE 162/MCS 162, DNCE 171(E-Z)/MCS 151(E-Z), DNCE 172(E-Z), DNCE 173(E-Z), DNCE 181* or any of DNCE 131/GSST 127, DNCE 132, DNCE 133, DNCE 134, DNCE 135, DNCE 136 not used to fulfill requirement #3 above,

*DNCE 081 and 181 may be used to fulfill either the Dance Making or the Dance Studies requirement, but not both.

• 3. Production: DNCE 140

• 4. Dance Making Capstone:

• a) DNCE 188

• b) DNCE 189E

Dance Studies Emphasis:

• 1. Eight units from Dance Studies Electives:

DNCE 155(E-Z), DNCE 161/MCS 161, DNCE 162/MCS 162, DNCE 171(E- Z)/MCS 151(E-Z), DNCE 172(E-Z), DNCE 173(E-Z), DNCE 181* or any of DNCE 131/GSST 127, DNCE 132, DNCE 133, DNCE 134, DNCE 135, DNCE 136 not used to fulfill requirement #3 above,

• 2. Four units from Dance Making/Practice

Electives:

DNCE 066A, DNCE 066B, DNCE 067A, DNCE 067B, DNCE 067C, DNCE 068, DNCE 069A, DNCE 069B, DNCE 070A, DNCE 070B, DNCE 070C, DNCE 071A, DNCE 071B, DNCE 073A, DNCE 073B, DNCE 074A, DNCE 074B, DNCE 075A, DNCE 075B, DNCE 081*, or any DNCE 115(E-Z) not used to fulfill #2 above.

*DNCE 081 and 181 may be used to fulfill either the Dance Making or the Dance Studies requirement, but not both.

• 3. Dance Studies Capstone: DNCE 189F

Students who minor in Dance receive introduc- tions to choreography, movement practices, and critical dance studies that enable them to pursue upper-division courses germane to a particular focus in dance.

• 1. Lower-division preparation (14 units)

• a) DNCE 014, DNCE 019

• b) Six (6) units from movement practice

courses: DNCE 066A, DNCE 066B, DNCE 067A, DNCE 067B, DNCE 067C, DNCE 068, DNCE 069A, DNCE 069B, DNCE 070A, DNCE 070B, DNCE 070C, DNCE 071A, DNCE 071B, DNCE 073A, DNCE 073B, DNCE 074A, DNCE 074B, DNCE 075A, DNCE 075B, DNCE 081

• 2. Upper-division requirements (16 units): 4

courses from DNCE 114A, DNCE 114B, DNCE 114C, DNCE 115E-Z, DNCE 131/GSST 127, DNCE 132, DNCE 133, DNCE 134, DNCE 135, DNCE 136, DNCE 140, DNCE 155 (E-Z)/MUS 155 (E-Z), DNCE 161/MCS 161, DNCE 162/ MCS 162, DNCE 171 (E-Z), DNCE 172 (E-Z), DNCE 173 (E-Z), DNCE 180 (E-Z), DNCE 181

See Minors under the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in the Colleges and Programs section of this catalog for additional information on minors.

The Department of Dance offers a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Critical Dance Studies, a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Experimental Choreography, and a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies.

M.A. in Critical Dance Studies Admission Students gaining admission to the Ph.D. program in Critical Dance Studies may, after advisement and with the approval of the facul- ty committee, elect to pursue an M.A. degree in Critical Dance Studies.

Plan I (Thesis) Students must complete a minimum of 36 quarter units of undergraduate (100 series) and graduate (200 series) courses. At least 24 of these units must be in graduate courses and must include the following UCR courses:

DNCE 239 (Introduction to Graduate Study of Dance)

DNCE 254 (Political Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 255 (Historical Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 257 (Rhetorical Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 258 (Cultural Approaches to Dance Studies)

A maximum of 12 units of DNCE 299 (thesis research) can be counted towards the 36-unit minimum. Other courses (to fulfill the 36-unit requirement) should be selected, with the consent of the program graduate advisor, from relevant upper-division and graduate courses. The units must be taken for a letter grade and can include, but are not limited to: DNCE 200-level seminar courses (DNCE 239-244; 254- 255; 257-258; 260 (E-Z); 264-265 (E-Z); 267); DNCE 280; an upper-division undergraduate-level course paired with 2 units of 292 (Concurrent Analysis).

Candidates for the degree must prepare and present an acceptable thesis to the Depart- ment of Dance.

M.F.A. in Experimental Choreography offers emerging and established artists a site for intense investigation in dance making, performance, and interdisciplinary embod- ied practice. Over the course of six quarters, students engage in a series of core composi- tion courses and select critical dance studies courses that focus on and address current and urgent questions in the field, and that center experimentation and interdisciplinarity in their approaches. Each quarter students pair with a faculty mentor, four quarters of which are for the Graduate Critique Panels (GCP), to engage intimately with their independent creative practices and show their work for critical feedback and progress evaluation. During the second year of the program students are required to share their work publicly as part of the MFA Fourth Quarter Showings (4QS), from which they begin to develop their final projects and form their committees. The final project demonstrates a thorough investigation and committed execution of a specific set of critical questions unique to their cumulative research, and includes a public artist talk and a written reflective/theoretical document.

UCR’s M.F.A. program is unique for the close relationship it maintains with the Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies, one of the preeminent programs for intellectual inquiry in the field of cultural, political, and historical studies of dance. Cooperation between these two programs, both conceptually and through intersecting curricula, contributes to the department’s embrace of dance making and scholarship as complementary modes of investigation. M.F.A. students are equally en- riched by the professional relationships they develop with our undergraduate population through teaching, directing, producing, and community engagement. Several venues on and off campus, including our Performance Lab, Studio Labs, and the Culver Center of the Arts downtown, are available for students to share their research.

Financial assistance includes teaching assistant- ships and fellowships for community projects through the Gluck Fellows Program of the Arts. Students are also eligible to apply for fellowship support from Graduate Division to help fund a portion of their second year of study.

Admission The program is especially designed for estab- lished practicing artists who desire to return to university as a site for deeper engagement and reflection, individuals who demonstrate an invested creative practice and readiness to ex- pand and challenge their established research.

Applicants to the program should demon- strate significant professional experience as an active dance, visual or performance artist making and producing work, and who desire to contextualize their aesthetic inquiry through the study of historical, cultural, and political perspectives.

Three digital samples of original creative work that exemplify the applicant’s research and point of view of their embodied praxis, are required.

Applicants must have a B.A. or B.F.A. degree from an accredited institution.

Contact the department for specific details.

Course Work Requirements consist of 40 units of course work (as set out below) and 12-14 units of indepen- dent research for a final project. Students’ total number of units of graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses must equal at least 54. The core curriculum, normally to be completed in the first two years of residency, shall comprise the following 16 units:

DNCE 240 (Improvising Choreography: Scores, Structures, and Strategies)

DNCE 241 (Creating the Experiment: Identify- ing the New)

DNCE 242 (Dancing Representation: Figures, Forms, and Frames)

DNCE 243 (Collaborating in Dance Making: Materials, Methods, and Interactions)

Students must also take 4 units in each of the following: DNCE 180R (Dance Practicum: Pedagogy)

DNCE 239 (Introduction to Graduate Study of Dance)

DNCE 244 (Special Topics in Dance Making)

In addition, students must complete 8 units from the following Critical Dance Studies courses:

DNCE 254 (Political Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 255 (Historical Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 257 (Rhetorical Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 258 (Cultural Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 260 (Special Topics in Critical Dance Studies)

DNCE 264 (Oral History and Ethnographic Methods)

DNCE 267 (Choreographies of Writing)

Students must also take Dance 301, (which does not count toward the total 54 units required for the degree) plus 4-6 graduate- level units of electives either within or outside the Dance Department. These units must be taken for a letter grade and can include, but are not limited to: any of the core PhD courses (DNCE 254, 255, 257 & 258) not previously taken; a Dance 200-level seminar course in critical dance studies (DNCE 260, 264 & 267); DNCE 280 (Colloquium); the bundling of an upper-divi- sion undergraduate-level course with 2 units of 292 (Concurrent Analysis).

An additional 12-14 units are taken through DNCE 297 or DNCE 299 for independent creative research work with faculty mentors on their Graduate Critique Panels, and on phases of the final project. During the second year, students form a committee consisting of three–four faculty members, one of whom may be outside the department. The committee approves the project proposal and supervises the final project.

Foreign Language Requirement None

Written and/or Oral Qualifying Examination During the second year, the student writes a 10–15-page proposal for the final project to be approved by the committee.

Final Project The final project may take shape in many forms in which the student’s research is made evident. For example, students may 1) undertake to create site-specific performances occurring in different locales over several months, 2) organize opportunities for interactive choreography with distinct groups of performers, 3) develop a digital media or film project, or 4) create a portfolio of many distinct but connected projects. Whatever its final form, the project must demonstrate a thorough investigation and committed execution of a defined aesthetic concern. Students are also required to give a 30 -minute public artist talk followed by Q&A, and produce a 20-40 page written document to be completed within one quarter of the performance/project event, which outlines the aesthetic focus of the student’s research, reflects on the creative process, and provides a historical and philosophical contextualization for the project.

Normative Time to Degree 7 quarters

Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies The Ph.D. program in Critical Dance Studies provides an advanced interdisciplinary base for innovative research in the field of cultural, political, and historical studies of dance. The program of study embraces a theoretical consideration of all dimensions of the practice of dance. These dimensions include, but are not limited to, body politics; media and digital cultures; globalization and cultural translation; race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender; mobili- zation and class; and corporeal knowledges and choreography. In addition to theoretical and historical concerns, the program promotes the articulation of a variety of methodological approaches to the analysis of bodily perfor- mance.

UCR faculty put into motion various modes of production: performance studies, history, eth- nography, critical race theory, feminist studies/ masculinities & queer studies, Marxism or post-Marxism, and other specific area studies related to, for example, South Asian, Asian Diaspora and Asian American studies, African Diaspora studies, Indigenous studies, Latina/ Latin American studies, and Global South studies. The program provides a provocative environment for investigating cutting-edge strategies for original scholarly work in dance.

Admission Students must meet the general requirements for admission to the Graduate Division as shown in the Graduate Studies section of this catalog. Students may submit a statement of background about experience in dance history and theory, a previously prepared research paper, or the equivalent, demonstrating ana- lytical and interpretive skills, and GRE scores.

Prerequisites include the following:

• 1. A working knowledge of movement

• 2. An acquaintance with some system of

movement observation and analysis

• 3. Preparation in general historical and

cultural studies

Deficiencies may be corrected with appropriate course work.

Course Work Core curriculum normally to be completed in the first two years of residency includes the following:

DNCE 239 (Introduction to Graduate Study of Dance)

DNCE 254 (Political Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 255 (Historical Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 257 (Rhetorical Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 258 (Cultural Approaches to Dance Studies)

DNCE 301 (Seminar in Dance Studies Pedagogy and Professional Development) Two additional graduate-level courses (minimum 8 units) are required from other disciplines (not DNCE) related to the student’s research interest. Courses must be taken for a letter grade and can include an upper-division undergraduate-level course paired with 2 units of 292 (Concurrent Analysis).

Four additional graduate-level courses (min- imum 16 units) from Dance must be taken for a letter grade and can include, but are not limited to: DNCE 200-level seminar courses (DNCE 260 (E-Z), 264 & 267) in critical dance studies; DNCE 280; an upper-division under- graduate-level course paired with 2 units of 292 (Concurrent Analysis).

A maximum of one Dance MFA core course (DNCE 240 to 243) may be included as one of the four additional graduatelevel dance cours- es required.

Language Requirement All students must show competence in at least one language other than English. Further re- quirements in specific forms of dance or music notation or ancient or contemporary lan- guages may be determined for each student in consultation with relevant faculty and the graduate advisor of the program.

Written Qualifying Examination Students must prepare one field for examina- tion with each of four members of the commit- tee in whose courses the student has com- pleted degree requirements. The committee is composed of two Dance faculty members, one of whom is chair, and two other members who may be Dance faculty or “outside members” (not a UCR Dance faculty member or cooperat- ing faculty member). The written qualifying ex- amination may be completed as a “take-home” format (seven-day, open-book) or a “sit-in” format (two-hour exam periods for each field, conducted on site in the department, and completed in one five-day work week).

Qualifying Essay One quarter after successfully completing the written examination, students complete a rough draft of the qualifying essay, under the direction of the same group of faculty members who monitored the written examina- tion. Students finalize the qualifying essay and sit for the oral examination before the end of the following quarter. The qualifying essay is generally 25 pages in length and demonstrates the student’s ability to articulate a viable dissertation research project. It must consist of written work but may include other forms of video or film productions with the approval of the relevant committee and the graduate advisor.

Oral Qualifying Examination Students must prepare qualifying essay and be examined by a five-person oral qualify- ing examination committee. The committee, nominated by the department and appointed by the dean of the Graduate Division, consists of all four written examination committee members, plus a fifth member chosen so that the five-person committee would be com- prised of no more than two “outside faculty members,” and no fewer than one “outside faculty member.” All members of the commit- tee must be physically present for the exam. The committee examines the adequacy of the student’s preparation to conduct the research proposed in the qualifying essay. Advancement to candidacy for the doctoral degree depends on completing required course work, fulfill- ing language requirements, and passing the written examination, qualifying essay, and the oral examination.

The Dance department expects students to complete the entire examination process by the end of their tenth quarter in the program (end of the first quarter of their fourth year) to make satisfactory progress toward completing the degree.

Dissertation and Final Oral Examination A dissertation committee is composed of three members: a chair from Dance, a Dance faculty member, and either a Dance faculty member, or an outside faculty member. The committee directs and approves the research and writing of the dissertation. The dissertation must consist of written work but may include other forms of video or film productions with the ap- proval of the relevant committee and the grad- uate advisor. It must present original scholarly work and be approved by the dissertation committee before the student takes the final oral examination. Students must have satisfac- tory performance on a final oral examination, conducted by the dissertation committee and open to all members of the faculty. The examination emphasizes the dissertation and related topics.

Normative Time to Degree 18 quarters