Dance History 2: Body Concepts and Choreographic Currents introduces students to the main tendencies that have structured and continue to steer Western dance practices in the twentieth and twenty-first century.

Obtained credits for Dance History 1.
If the credit is not obtained, Dance History 1 must be obtained together with Dance History 2.

Dance History 2: Body Concepts and Choreographic Currents introduces students to the main tendencies that have structured and continue to steer Western dance practices in the twentieth and twenty-first century. The course uses specific body concepts (such as the minimalist body, the ephemeral body, the documentary body, etc.) as analytical lenses that not only allow for cross-temporal comparisons between the past and present of dance, but which also serve as bridges between theory and practice. Through this transhistorical and interdisciplinary approach, students learn to work critically with the standard periodization of dance history into a linear progression that runs from modern, to postmodern, conceptual, and contemporary dance. Preparatory readings and in-class discussions of several key texts related to both dance history and theory of history will provide students with the necessary background and terminology to develop a self-reflective perspective on either canonized or marginalized trends in dance. By juxtaposing historical and recent case studies from artistic dance, the course will challenge students to connect theoretical debates and conceptual vocabularies to specific choreographic practices.