October: choose one class that you are taking this year and let us know what you are learning, what type of tests, assignments, projects, you are having, etc.
This was hard to pick because almost all my classes could
be a good subject to talk about. Alas, I've decided to talk about my Dance
History I class.
The class is an introduction to world dance and its cultures and
I remember beginning of the semester we looked at dance being an expression of
cultural identity and how its definition of what dance means varied from
context to context, depending of its cultural origin and what is socially
acceptable from different cultural perspectives.
I used to think about how ballet was the foundation to all types
of dance, however this isn't true. I've learned about how one sided-journals
and articles describe the world of dance, saying that a certain dance is or
looks primitive and regarding ballet as "non-ethnic." And I've
realized that I've fallen into a big misconception in dance: I am only taking
the western cultural perception of how we see dance as opposed to admiring and
observing how all other types of dances, such as Kabuki, Barhata Natyam,
javanese dance, japanese dance, and so on, have a great importance in the
world. Ballet is an ethnic dance because it is a characteristic of a particular
cultural group, because it began in France under King Louis IV as a social
dance which is considered a culturally distinct region in europe.
Currently, we are working on our final projects, where we get
into groups of a certain category and we individually within those groups
create a research statement that is unique. For example, My group is
categorized as the "female Pop artists" group, meaning that we need
to find something or someone from this category and talk about it in relation
to dance. I have picked the artist Shakira to more specifically talk about how
her specific way of dancing in music videos, among other examples of Latina
identities are shaped by US culture, create a strong and bold persona that is mystifying
to watch and how she contributes to the latino/a community.
During the semester, we have had master classes such as Barhata
Natyam or more recently Latin Ballroom. Our wonderful professor Dr. Rossen
makes sure to give us actual physical experiences along with our readings and
videos to get a complete experience of the topic in dance we are learning that
week which has been such a profound experience to share with my colleagues and
classmates. Another assignment has to do with us going to a social dance event
(for example, salsa dancing at the Clay Pit restaurant) and writing about our
experience and environment from there. Who would have thought that a university
class would make it mandatory to attend dance events or even go to a bar for
social dance?? (this is for those in class that are over 21 of course).
Overall, I am still learning a great deal in this class, and not
just about the past but how over time stereotypes in gender or color have
shaped up to this day and how it continues to evolve as the years go by. We
have so many discussions about serious topics, like racism and how this affects
the way we see dance throughout which also make it interesting to hear
everyone's opinions about heavy subjects like this as well as being able to make
your voice heard in class.
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