The fat body operates at the conjuncture of political economy, beauty standards, and health. This seminar asks, How does this "f-word" discipline and regulate bodies in /as public? What is the "ideal" American public body and who gets to occupy that position? How are complex personhood, expressivity, health, and citizenship contested cultural and political economic projects? We will examine the changing history, aesthetics, politics, and meanings of fatness using dance, performance, memoirs, and media texts as case studies. Intersectional dimensions of the fat body are central to the course. No previous performance experience necessary.

Students in this course will work with Princeton Arts Fellow Michael J. Love and his collaborators, film-based artist Ariel René Jackson and rhythmanalyst DeForrest Brown, Jr., to develop a new multi-channel video and live performance installation - to feature video by Jackson, live performance by the students (choreographed and directed by Love), and an electronic music-based composition by Brown. Students will engage with curated readings and media, lectures by Love, Jackson, and Brown, and weekly technique classes and choreography rehearsals. The course will culminate in a live performance and exhibition

In this studio course open to all, we will dive into experiences in which body and language meet. We'll think about these from aesthetic, cultural, political, medical, personal, and philosophical perspectives. We'll explore language from, in, around, and about (our) bodies. We'll question hierarchies between body and language, use embodied approaches to examine pressing issues of our time. We'll play with the physicality of voice and the material qualities of words and sentences. We'll find literary structures in movement. We'll move and create together with tools from dance, theater, visual art, improvisation, writing, and somatic practices.

A studio course introducing students to African dance practices and aesthetics, with a focus on how its evolution has influenced American and African American culture, choreographers and dancers. An ongoing study of movement practices from traditional African dances and those of the African Diaspora, touching on American jazz dance, modern dance, and American ballet. Studio work will be complemented by readings, video viewings, guest speakers, and dance studies.

This course offers a broad, embodied introduction to the breadth of contemporary dance. We will be moving, reading, watching, and writing about dance. Contemporary issues, such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, immigration, and American exceptionalism will be viewed through the lens of contemporary dance. We will try on the styles of essential creators in the field in an effort to understand their POV. We will create work ourselves (no experience necessary) to learn about the expressive and communicative potential of dance. We will be moving and meditating to release tension, increase personal awareness, and boost authenticity.

This introductory survey course gives equal weight to scholarly study and embodied practice, using both approaches to explore a range of hip-hop dance techniques, as well as the cultural and historical contexts from which these dances emerged. Special attention will be given to breaking - the most prominent hip-hop form - as a foundation for exploring other forms of movement. By critically exploring these physical and historical connections, individuals will adapt and apply their own philosophies to dance in order to develop a personalized style.

This introductory course gives equal weight to scholarly study and embodied practice, using both approaches to explore the flow, power and cultural contexts of Breaking. This course will focus on developing a clear foundational Breaking technique in order to build a strong basis for exploring other Hip-Hop forms. By critically exploring this form physically and historically, individuals will adapt and apply their own philosophies to dance in order to eventually develop a personalized style.

Disability is front and center in a global social justice revolution. But who are the disabled artists and ideas behind this movement? How can we embrace Radical Accessibility and Care in our daily artistic practices? This course invites all artists, from choreographers to theater makers, film makers, visual artists, writers and composers to immerse in a highly collaborative, improvisational, experimental and inclusive community to explore Disability Justice as a framework for creative, dramaturgical and curatorial practices.

This course uses texts and methods from history, theatre, performance studies, and dance to examine artists and works of art as agents of change in New York (1960-present) and contemporary "Rust Belt" cities. Issues addressed include relationships between artists, changing urban economies, and the built environment; the role of the artist in gentrification and creative placemaking; the importance of local history in art interventions; and assessing impacts of arts initiatives. A Spring break trip, and visits to key local sites, are included. Students will use data and methods from the course to produce final projects.

Dance/Theater Pedagogy Seminar explores the connection between engaged dance and elementary school literacy, mathematics and social studies while allowing students the opportunity to be civically engaged and contribute to the community. The course combines teaching dance and movement classes to public school students from underserved communities in the Princeton region, while collectively engaging in an in-depth exploration of Dance in Education with an emphasis on recent developments in the field. Fieldwork takes place weekly at designated out-of-class times.

This seminar is designed for junior dance certificate students to investigate current dance practices and ideas. Part study and discussion of the processes, aesthetics and politics involved in dance making and viewing -- part independent creative practice and critique -- this course invites students to a deeper understanding of their own art making perspectives and to those of their classmates. Guest artists will visit classes and share some of the directorial, collaborative and interpersonal challenges involved in leading a significant creative enterprise. Serious creators (non-juniors/certificates) may apply to enroll.

This studio course culminates in student-created performances in the Roberts Theater at the end of the term. Students from across fields who are interested in slowing down the art-making process to explore the nature of devising, developing, revising, and performing are invited to join. We'll delve into the often-intermingled roles of creator, performer, designer, technician, and audience member. We'll use embodied tools to generate material and hone collaborative processes. We'll question why and how and in what contexts we make work. We'll look at forms like the lecture-performance, the happening, concert dance, and one-person shows.

We all need more care. That much is clear. As it pertains to artmaking, the imperative to incorporate systems of care and healing into the greater conversation within the frameworks of modern performance making has increased dynamically since 2020. It has become even more vital for contemporary artists to consider holistic care models as an utmost concern while creating work in the age of global crisis. But how do we practice care within performance? This seminar examines how contemporary artists and creative researchers consider dramaturgy as a radical act of care within contemporary performance practice.

In this advanced studio course, dancers will study experiential anatomy in conversation with a variety of approaches to contemporary dance. Students will train intensively with a rotating faculty and guest artists, building versatility while applying learned concepts to new challenges. Students will explore relationships between scientific information, aesthetic priorities, training goals, and creative practices. We'll optimize movement using somatic and conditioning techniques such as Pilates, neuromuscular patterning, PNF, and visualization. Drawing and journaling will clarify personal goals and understanding of movement capacities.

A studio course in Contemporary Ballet technique for advanced dancers, with explorations into neoclassical and contemporary choreography through readings, viewings, and the learning of and creation of repertory. Through visits with prominent guest artists, students will examine the shifts that "Ballet" is making to stay relevant and meaningful as a "21st" century art form.

Informed by recent German media theory on 'cultural techniques'--from the operation of doors to embodied acts of writing and image-making-- this seminar will explore the relations between performance and media, from interactions between performance practices and modern/new media to implications of performance for theorizing media in general. Topics will include shared concerns in media studies and performance studies (such as embodiment, (im)mediacy, practice, and the archive), relations/tensions between performance and text, movement and inscription, and thinking media through the lens of practice as well as practice as the basis of theory.

A creative performance lab that engages spoken word, storytelling, devised theatre and physical movement to explore domestic and international structures of liberation, expression, oppression, social movements, and political power. Research assignments, as well as observations and analysis of masterworks, including Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth, Ntozke Shange's For Colored Girls, and the documentary film series Plutocracy, will generate critical responses to theories of decolonization, power structures, as well as political and domestic forms of violence and peace.

We will explore the foundations of black performance theory, drawing from the fields of performance studies, theater, dance, and black studies. Using methods of ethnography, archival studies, and black theatrical and dance paradigms, we will learn how scholars and artists imagine, complicate, and manifest various forms of blackness across time and space. In particular, we will focus on blackness as both lived experience and as a mode of theoretical inquiry.

This studio class will explore a broad range of approaches to art-based performance: from instruction pieces and happenings, to the body as language and gesture, to performance as a form of archiving. We move through the history of performance to investigate techniques of narrative, site, the audience, duration, voice, movement, installation, with a particular emphasis on documentation and how performance has engaged virtual spaces. Readings and critiques expand vocabulary in assessing performance art. Exercises explore different forms of performance building a foundation of techniques and positions for developing art-based performance work.