73142 - Dance Theories and Poetics (LM)

Academic Year 2020/2021

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student: - will acquire articulated knowledge - through the analysis of texts, the listening of testimonies and the vision of shows - around the theoretical reflections and criticisms on the theatrical dance developed by artists and researchers; - will acquire articulated knowledge around the poetics coming from the choreographic and coreutic work or expressly elaborated and declared by choreographers and dancers. Particularly, the student: - will be able to autonomously practice his/her own ability of analysis on critical, theoretical and poetic texts about dance; - will be able to understand, with suitable tools, documentation in images and video.

Course contents

After the first experiments between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, from the eighties of the last century the relations between dance and screen saw definitely grew. Taking as a starting point a reflection on the terminological question, which, in deploying a plurality of terms to define dance in video (film dance, choreocinema, camera re-working, dance for camera, screendance, videodance), also highlights its wealth, during the course of "Theories and poetics of dance" we will focus on some of the possible relationships between live dance and screendance, between body and screen. Through a varied range of examples, which will be analyzed in the classroom, and through a personal survey of students, carried out individually or in small work groups, the focus will be on screendance products as multi-authorial creations which can flourish independently of the scene and the co-presence of dancer and spectator, but also as a document, as a track, as memory of a living action, today indispensable for any historical-theoretical study of twentieth-century dance and beyond. The intent is therefore to explore an approach of historical and aesthetic investigation on the creations of screendance, but also to deepen the analysis of a precious investigation tool such as the dance video, in its relationships with the dancing body.

 

Lessons will start on Monday 28 September 2020 and will end, barring unforeseen events, on Friday 30 October (6 cfu course) or Tusday 15 December (12 cfu course).

 

During the first week of the course (28 September-3 October) the lessons will take place exclusively online, through the Teams platform. Starting from Monday 5 October, the lessons will take place in blended mode: the teacher will lecture in the presence, in the classroom designated for teaching, and the students will be able to be in presence, i.e. in the classroom, or live streaming, by connecting remotely, via the Teams platform.

Readings/Bibliography

12 cfu course BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

1) The book

Elena Randi, Il corpo pensato. Teorie della danza nel Novecento, Roma, Dino Audino, 2020.

 

2) One book choosen from the list below

  • Elena Cervellati (a cura di), La danza nello schermo. Antologia di letture per il corso di Teorie e poetiche della danza, a.a. (2020/2021). Essays will be free on "Virtuale" platform;
  • Judy Mitoma (ed.), Envisioning Dance on Film and Video, Routledge, New York and London, 2002;
  • Stéphane Bouquet (ed.), Danse Cinéma, Paris, Capricci / Centre National de la Danse, 2012.

 

3) Three essays from the n. 1 (2010) issue of «The International Journal of Screendance», special issue Screendance has not yet been invented, online at https://screendancejournal.org/issue/view/198.

 

4) The exam will be completed by a written paper about the screendance, focused on a theme arranged together with the professor.

 

Bibliographical variations will be possible, in accord with the professor.

 

 

6 cfu course BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

1) The book

Elena Randi, Il corpo pensato. Teorie della danza nel Novecento, Roma, Dino Audino, 2020.

 

2) One book choosen from the list below

  • Elena Cervellati (a cura di), La danza nello schermo. Antologia di letture per il corso di Teorie e poetiche della danza, a.a. (2020/2021). Essays will be free on "Virtuale" platform;
  • Judy Mitoma (ed.), Envisioning Dance on Film and Video, Routledge, New York and London, 2002;
  • Stéphane Bouquet (ed.), Danse Cinéma, Paris, Capricci / Centre National de la Danse, 2012.

 

Bibliographical variations should be possible, in accord with the professor.

 

 

VIDEOGRAPHY (6 cfu or 12 cfu course)

Attending students will know the videography shared during the lessons.

For non attending students, a helpful videography is published on the "Virtuale" platform.

Teaching methods

The lectures will be supported by commented view of the videos and pictures, as well as by meetings with artists and, possibly, attending at live performances. The active participation of the attending students will be solicited suggesting readings and discussions.

Assessment methods

The students’ learning outcomes on the course’s themes will be verified through an interview concerning the recommended bibliography and through a conversation about the written paper.

It will be assessed as excellent the performance of those students achieving an organic vision of the course contents, the use of a proper specific language, the originality of the reflection as well as the familiarity with the tolls for analyzing the course’s themes.

It will be assessed as discrete the performance of those students showing mostly mechanical or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, not articulated synthesis and analysis capabilities, a correct but not always appropriate language, as well as a scholastic study of the course’s themes. It will be assessed as barely sufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, lack of knowledge of the discipline. It will be assessed as insufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, no orientation within the recommended bibliography and inability to analyze the course’s themes.

Teaching tools

Visual documentation through projections of fixed and moving images.

Office hours

See the website of Elena Cervellati

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.