Seminar in Music and Dance Collaborations Timeline

TIMELINE FOR SEMINAR IN MUSIC AND DANCE COLLABORATIONS

Bold indicates we are meeting in the Gittings Conference Room

Date	Class	Assignment Due
January 11	Syllabus	Electronic Journals
January 16	Introduction
January 18	Class Showings	Class Showings #1
January 23	Introduction to Body Percussion
January 25	Work on Body Percussion Project
January 30	Show Body Percussion Project	Body Percussion
February 1	Music Improvisation
February 6	Music Improvisation
February 8	Movement Improvisation
February 13	Movement Improvisation
February 15	Liz Lehrman Article/Final Project Options
February 20	Music and Movement Improvisation
February 22	Music and Movement Improvisation	Final Project Proposals
February 27	Music and Movement Improvisation
March 1	Art as inspiration for colalboration
March 6	Evaluating collaborations
March 8	Tchaikowsky and Petipa	Reaction Paper
March 20	Cage and Cunningham	Reaction Paper
March 22	Lewitsky and Attaway	Reaction Paper
March 27	Graham and Horst	Reaction Paper
March 29	In-class Showings	Class Showings #2
April 3	Work on projects
April 5	Work on projects
April 10	Class Showings #3	Class Showings #3
April 12	Work on projects
April 17	Work on projects
April 191	Work on projects
April 24	Work on projects
April 26	In-class Showings	Class Showings #4
May 1	In-class Showings	Class Showings #5
May 8	Final Exam 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.	Self-evaluation paper

Assignments

Electronic Journals - Each week the students should write a brief summary of their thoughts about how class assignments, activities and readings have (or have not) affected their perceptions regarding the relationships between music and dance and the collaborative process. These submissions are due no later than midnight on each Sunday. Late submissions will result in a lowered grade.

Class Showings #1 - Students have 5 minutes to introduce themselves and present a sample of their work. It can be live, a video tape or an audio tape. If it is a video tape, please give the instructors 24 hours notice so they can reserve the video machine.

Class Showings #2-6 - Class showings are designed for students to present their works-in-progress. This is a master class situation in which students can receive feedback and assistance from the faculty and their peers. Everyone is expected to attend the class showings.

Body Percussion - Students will work in groups. Each group is to create a body percussion piece with the following parameters:

Include at least two changes in tempo
Include at least two changes in meter
Include at least two changes of location in space
The subject matter should explore some aspect of daily life

Reaction Paper - Over the course of the next four classes, students will view four different performances of a music and dance collaboration. Following the viewing, the student will write a reaction paper. As the student views these works, they should consider the following questions:

What was the piece about?
What were the metaphors?
How did the movement vocabulary support the structure and content of the work?
How did the music support the structure and content of the work?
Did this piece change any of your perceptions of the collaborative process? If so, how? If not, why not?

Final Projects - The Final Project may be a a new work or a work from the dance repertoire. Possible collaborations may include, but are not limited to:

composer and choreographer - each person creating new works in collaboration
composer, choreographer and dancer(s) - each person creating new works in collaboration with a dancer
musician and choreographer - a choregorapher setting a new work on a set piece of music
musician and dancer - a musician and dancer performing a work from the dance repertoire

The collaborators should present a jointly written project proposal which includes the following:

Description of the project

If this is a new work: What are the goals and intent of the project? What is the movement or musical vocabulary and how will it develop? What are the metaphors for the work and how are they supported by the music and the movement? How does this project relate to each persons artistic growth?
If this is a work from the repertoire: Why do you want to reconstruct this work? What are your artistic goals and how will you achieve them? How does this project relate to each persons artistic growth?

If this is a new work choreographed to a set piece of music? What are the goals and intent of the project? What is the movement vocabulary and how will it develop? What are the metaphors for the work and how are they supported by this music? Has this music been used previously for choreography? If so, by whom? Why should another piece of choreography be created with this music? How does this project relate to each persons artistic growth?

Role of each collaborator

Timeline

NOTE: The Final Project will be performed at Last Chance to Dance, April 30 and May 1 at 7:30 p.m. Be prepared to attend a tech session on Sunday, April 29. Usually only 15 minutes is allowed for lighting and run through of the work.

Self-evaluation Paper - The Self-evaluation Paper should be a brief summary of the collaborative process. Students should address what they felt was successful about the project, and what, if any problems arose and how they were resolved.