Shakespeare and Performance

DRAMA 5309

This course, which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students, connects performance and critical studies. No acting experience or training is required, as long as one is willing to try. Preexisting knowledge of the historical, political, and social dynamics of Shakespeare's world is not necessary, as long as one is willing to learn. Scenes and monologues read aloud and performed in class can be informed by critical "takes" on the world. And the physical, embodied, and tactile knowledge that one acquired by doing Shakespeare, makes us understand his plays in entirely new ways. Iambic pentameter is both an idea and a beating heart. Topics of study will include the performance of Shakespeare's plays in his own day, speaking Shakespeare's prose and verse, metaphor and other figures of speech, class relationships, gender difference and power, race, the queering of gender binaries, Shakespeare's creative use of his sources, and global Shakespeare. Assignments will address both dimensions of the course, including critical writing, as well as performance work on sonnets, monologues, and scenes. This course satisfies the prerequisite for the Shakespeare's Globe Study Abroad Program in London.
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM

Performing Gender and Sexuality in America

DRAMA 433A

This course examines how the performance of gender and sexuality has shaped the social, cultural, and political history of the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present. While performance happens in everyday life, we will primarily focus on how the stage has been a potent space to debate issues about gender and sexuality. This course will put forth the argument that the stage has historically not only reflected broader social concerns, but also actively helped to shape those social dynamics. After an introduction to foundational ideas, we will start the semester with minstrelsy, signaling that the performance of gender and sexuality in America is deeply intertwined with race, class, and national belonging. Reading and viewing assignments bring together feminist theory, queer theory, American social history, and performance texts to build robust seminar discussions.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; BU BA; AS HUM; AS SD I; FA HUM; AR HUM; AS SC; FA CPSC

Theory and Technique of Modern Dance VI

DANCE 5101

Continuation of Dance 401 with emphasis on more complex and intensive technical work. Variable content; may be repeated for credit in a subsequent semester. Prerequisite: Dance 401 and permission of the instructor. Students with class conflicts may, with the permission of the instructor, enroll for 2 rather than 3 units.
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM

Experiential Anatomy and Kinesiology

DANCE 3270

This combined lecture and movement laboratory course explores anatomical, physiological, and kinesiological aspects of human movement. We will cover skeletal and muscular anatomy, muscle physiology, skeletal alignment, and biomechanical force production. Principles of postural control, body conditioning, and injury prevention will be learned through interactive exercises and will be applied to dance and other forms of exercise. Students will leave with an enhanced understanding of movement efficiency and the ability to adjust movement patterns for better health and performance throughout their lives.
Course Attributes: AS NSM

Topics in American Drama: Tennessee Williams

DRAMA 5307

Tennessee Williams (1911-83), arguably America's greatest playwright, was also our most prolific and controversial one. Williams' career spanned six decades, including two (1918-38) growing up in St. Louis, and one important year (1936-37), enrolled at Washington University. While he wrote a number of masterpieces (The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), he also wrote many plays which remain virtually unknown, but which are worthy of renewed exploration. The playwright's tortured and self-destructive life and mysterious death (including his addiction to drugs and alcohol) hold a mirror up to American culture, especially with regard to the writer's first closeted, then flamboyantly gay life-style. This seminar offers an opportunity to examine this brilliant, flawed, and obsessive writer in depth. Included will be discussion of some of the films made from his plays, and visits to some of the St. Louis landmarks which are featured in his plays.
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM

Embodied Communication: Listening

DRAMA 5140

This course is about listening. We will begin by mediated and unmediated listening with the human auditory system and continue into an exploration of multi-modal listening, focusing on vibration and on somatic attention. We will work in the "studio," which will include a music studio, a dance studio, and the environment. Our investigation will include the study of sensing in more-than-human organisms as well as theoretical perspectives from sound studies, critical improvisation and history of science. The course will encourage the perspective that the practice of listening is a political act of tending to the invisible, the non-normative, and the incomplete.
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM

Acting for the Camera

DRAMA 3205

This course offers an introduction to the world of on-camera acting, performance skills for media-based work, and industry-related career opportunities. Students will learn the techniques, skills and vocabulary required for actors when performing for the camera and pursuing a profession in front of the camera. The course is designed for students to practice and examine the craft of on-camera performance and, will examine the business of being a film, television, commercial or video actor. Exercises will be designed to gain relaxation and comfortability in front of the camera and will then extend to performance opportunities using commercial, industrial/corporate, television and feature film scripts. Students will also be given insight into the casting process and current industry standards for performers. Actors with live stage experience and training will focus on adapting their craft to the lens, building on the textual analysis, movement, voice and character work education provided by the Performing Arts Department's acting curriculum. Those students with no acting experience will be introduced to the fundamentals of acting in tandem with the pursuit of disciplined, truthful, believable work while in front of a live audience or a camera. All classes will take place in the Harvey Media Center to utilize a professional setting and equipment.
Course Attributes: AS HUM; EN H

Performance Theory

DRAMA 5303

This course introduces students to contemporary theories of performance, with "performance" understood as both metaphor and event. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, students will consider how cultures produce meanings-and, indeed, perform those meanings-to create and/or disrupt their own social coherence. Theories likely to be studied include: J. L. Austin's speech-act theory and its engagement by John Searle and Jacques Derrida; Victor Turner's analysis of ritual as social process and Richard Schechner's use of it to transform "theater studies" into "performance studies;" Erving Goffman's sociology of the self and its relation to a post-structuralist model of subjectivity; Michael Fried's screed against minimalist art and its relation to Happenings, Body Art, Fluxus, and other mid- to late-20th century examples of "performance art;" and Judith Butler's influential revision of Austin's performative in her theory of queer "performativity."
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM

Yoga and Relaxation Techniques

DANCE AND SOMATIC MOVEMENT STUDIES 120

Systematic introduction to the methods and theory of Hatha Yoga as a means of stretching, strengthening, energizing, and relaxing the body. This class focuses on breath work and poses as the foundation of a Hatha Yoga practice supplemented by relaxation and visualization exercises. Students should wear comfortable clothing and bring a towel or mat. Participation requires steady commitment and physical dexterity. Readings assigned. Pass/Fail only, but students pursuing the Certificate in Somatic Studies must enroll for a letter grade. This course meets twice weekly in two different locations. Student may enroll no more than two times.
Course Attributes:

Performing Gender and Sexuality in America

DANCE 5140

This course examines how the performance of gender and sexuality has shaped the social, cultural, and political history of the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present. While performance happens in everyday life, we will primarily focus on how the stage has been a potent space to debate issues about gender and sexuality. This course will put forth the argument that the stage has historically not only reflected broader social concerns, but also actively helped to shape those social dynamics. After an introduction to foundational ideas, we will start the semester with minstrelsy, signaling that the performance of gender and sexuality in America is deeply intertwined with race, class, and national belonging. Reading and viewing assignments bring together feminist theory, queer theory, American social history, and performance texts to build robust seminar discussions.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; BU BA; AS HUM; AS SD I; FA HUM; AR HUM; AS SC; FA CPSC