Dancing Culture Religion

Syllabus for “Dancing Culture Religion” Spring 2012    WORD PDF

 

“Dancing Culture Religion” is an online course version of the course I regularly teach at the University of Colorado.  There are some important differences.  When I teach the course “live” I include one hour of dancing for every two in the classroom.  I realize that this replicates the classic brain/body split, but it actually functions in important ways to actually overcome it.  Here’s how.  The dance the class (usually 50 students) does is rueda de casino, a form of salsa done with partners but in a group with called moves and frequent exchange of partners, results in every student in the class dancing (however briefly) with every other student in the class.  Thus everyone gets to know everyone else in this personal physical way.  Further, since the students are undergoing a learning of something new and something physical together it creates wonderful camaraderie.  Okay, so dancing together in the ether of the Internet is not possible … yet.  To adjust for this I have presented all the lectures as video podcasts with ample images and videos that will provide some sensory and sensuous aspects to the course.  So, hope you enjoy this.  To complement the video podcasts are PDFs of the lectures presented.  There are often differences between these two forms of presentation so that hopefully they will complement one another, if you happen to be interested enough to take in both.  Course Syllabus PDF (contains clickable links to all lectures and readings).

Dancing Culture Religion Lectures

VPC = Video Podcast           PDF = Text

Section One:  Introduction

  1. Intro to Sam & Lecture/Course Overview (26:10)  VPC
  2. Intro to your GA Gabrielle (10:01)  YouTube

Section 2:  Placing Dancing in the Context of Popular Western Cultures

  1. Contemporary American Folk Theories of Dancing—Part 1 (19:04) VPC PDF
  2. Contemporary American Folk Theories of Dancing—Part 2 (36:23)  VPC PDF
  3. Contemporary American Folk Theories of Dancing—Part 3 (32:53)  VPC PDF
  4. Contemporary American Folk Theories of Dancing—Part 4 (37:07)  VPC PDF
  5. Christian and Western “High Culture” Perspectives on Dancing (35:19)  VPC PDF
  6. Dancing in Public Education (39:08)  VPC PDF
  7. Dancing in University Education (22:36)  VPC PDF
  8. Dancing in America … or Not (22:23)  VPC PDF
  9. The Importance of Dancing to World Religions and Cultures (21:25)  VPC PDF
  10. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Folk Theories of Dancing (36:09)  VCP

Section 3: Moving

  1. Dancing is Moving, but not all Moving is Dancing (25:26)  VPC PDF
  2. Primacy of Movement (15:43) VPC PDF
  3. Kinesthetic Sense—The Dancer’s Sense (19:49)  VPC PDF
  4. Movement and Perception (10:28)  VPC PDF
  5. Demanding Self-movement: the Key to Acuity (29:01)  VPC PDF
  6. Movement “In Itself” (9:54)  VPC PDF
  7. Movement & Meaning (18:12)  VPC PDF
  8. Breakin’ and Ballet (45:00)  VPC PDF
  9. I’d rather Throw like a Girl than Dance like a Guy (25:47)  VPC PDF
  10. Movement, Plasticity, and Life Cycle (8:54)  VPC PDF
  11. Moving and Dancing, Dancing and Gesturing (10:30)  VPC PDF
  12. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Moving (41:16)  VPC

Section 4: Gesturing

  1. Gesture, Visible Action as Utterance (10:06)  VPC PDF
  2. Gesture and Agency, Dancing as Gesturing (19:11)  VPC PDF
  3. Dancing as Techniques of Body:  Marcel Mauss (9:36)  VPC PDF
  4. Dancing the Other: Body as Instrument—André Leroi-Gourhan 1 (18:39)  VPC PDF
  5. Dancing the Other—André Leroi-Gourhan 2 (18:39)  VPC PDF
  6. “They Jump Up of Themselves” Gesture & Identity in Central Australia 1 (29:01)  VPC PDF
  7. “They Jump Up of Themselves” Gesture & Identity in Central Australia 2 (31:01)  VPC PDF
  8. Gesturing and Touching (24:21)  VPC PDF
  9. The Neuroscience of Touching and Gesturing (11:42)  VPC PDF
  10. Dancing and the Survival of Men (37:39)   VPC PDF
  11. Touching & Gesturing:  Dance Contributions to Teen Development (4:42)  VPC PDF
  12. Touch and SalsAmigos Dancing (29:05)  VPC PDF
  13. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Gesturing (33:15)  VPC

Section 5: Self-Othering

  1. Dancing as Self-Othering – 1:  Javanese Wayang Kulit  (32:10)  VPC PDF
  2. Dancing as Self-Othering  – 2:  Javanese Classical Dancing  (13:57)  VPC PDF
  3. Dancing as Self-Othering  – 3:  Merleau-Ponty’s “Flesh Ontology”  (23:24)  VPC PDF
  4. Dancing as Self-Othering  – 4:  Understanding Dancing  (36:46)  VPC PDF
  5. Dancing as Self-Othering  – 5:  Reflections on Java  (13:37)  VPC PDF
  6. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Self-Othering (20:07)  VPC

Section 6: Playing

  1. Play – 1: Nataraja Hindu Lord of Dancing (12:09)  VPC PDF
  2. Play – 2: Friedrich Schiller (19:17)  VPC PDF
  3. Play – 3: Hans-Georg Gadamer (12:04)  VPC PDF
  4. Play – 4: Jacques Derrida (20:45) VPC PDF
  5. Play – 5: Lila, Nataraja, and Dancing as Play (22:04)  VPC PDF
  6. Go Up Into the Gaps: Play and Native American Religions – 1  (11:21)  VPC PDF
  7. Go Up Into the Gaps: Play and Native American Religions – 2  (24:18)  VPC PDF
  8. Go Up Into the Gaps: Play and Native American Religions – 3  (24:46)  VPC PDF
  9. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Playing (20:07)  VPC

Section 7: Seducing

  1. Dancing as Seduction – 1:  Bolero (28:55)  VPC PDF
  2. Dancing as Seduction – 2: Baudrillard (32:23) VPC PDF
  3. Dancing as Seduction – 3: Aura (26:03) VPC PDF
  4. Dancing as Seduction – 4: Feminine (26:55)  VPC PDF
  5. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Seducing (29:32)  VPC

Section 8: Making

  1. Dancing as Making – 1: Proprioception (32:46)  VPC PDF
  2. Dancing as Making – 2: Seduction (9:22)  VPC PDF
  3. Dancing as Making – 3: Pure Depth (37:34) VPC PDF
  4. Dancing as Making – 4 (23:14) VPC PDF
  5. Conversations with Gabi and Sam on Making (41:16) VPC

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