Dance

Faculty

Victoria Fortuna
Dance and performance studies, Latin America, community dance, contemporary technique.

Carla Mann
Contemporary techniques, choreography, improvisation, contemporary ballet studies.

Oluyinka Parsons-Akinjiola
Dances of the African diaspora, contemporary techniques, choreography, performance.

Curriculum

The Reed dance program explores how dance practices both reflect and shape the world. Through work inside and outside of the studio, Reed dancers find fluidity between embodied, written, creative, and scholarly work, and understand dance as a way of approaching salient social, cultural, and political questions. In addition to the dance major, the department also offers interdisciplinary majors in Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies with a Concentration in Dance and Dance/Theatre , as well as a Dance Minor . Beyond the standing interdisciplinary majors, the dance program highly values collaboration with other departments in the performing arts and beyond.

Dance students at Reed exercise the critical skills valued throughout liberal arts education: the ability to approach and solve problems of many kinds, the ability to deeply investigate a subject matter, the ability to make informed choices from a range of possibilities, and the ability to contextualize specific ideas and events among the modes of thought and cultural phenomena that shape our understanding of the world. Dance, as a field, is well suited to this endeavor because it develops one’s capacity for a multileveled understanding of a wide variety of phenomena-cultural, artistic, and formal.

All classes are open to majors and nonmajors. The department offers students at all levels of experience opportunities to choreograph, perform, undertake research, participate in residencies with visiting artists and scholars, and interact closely with faculty members. Our wide-ranging curriculum includes courses in contemporary dance, ballet, choreography, improvisation, critical dance studies, cultural studies, Latin American dance, and dances of the African diaspora.

All graded dance courses can be applied towards the Group I requirement. Credit/no credit courses (DANC 100 , DANC 101 ) will not meet this requirement. Some classes may be taken for either academic credit (listed in the course schedule under Dance) or physical education credit (listed in the course schedule under Physical Education). Students may not enroll in the same class for both academic and physical education credit. Students registering for physical education credit must enroll for both quarters (the full semester).

A number of courses may fulfill either the dance studies or the dance studio requirement, but not both.

First-Year Students

The dance department offers a number of courses open to first-year students: DANC 111 , DANC 112 , DANC 201 , DANC 202 , DANC 232 , DANC 241 , and DANC 270 are appropriate for first-year students with no prior dance experience. DANC 211 , DANC 212, DANC 252 , and DANC 253 are appropriate for incoming students who have a year or more of prior dance training. DANC 311 , DANC 312, DANC 313 , DANC 321 , and other upper-level dance courses may be appropriate for first-year students with significant prior dance training. Dance Technique (DANC 101 ) offers sections in a variety of dance forms at varying levels; students should consult the schedule of classes for specific techniques and levels offered in a given semester. All students should feel free to contact the dance faculty with questions about which course will be most appropriate to their experience and interests.

The Major

All Reed dance majors pursue both creative and critical work, but may choose an emphasis in dance studies (history, theory, critical and cultural studies), or dance studio (technique, choreography, improvisation, and performance). Seniors emphasizing dance studies undertake thesis projects that are focused in scholarly research but may also include a creative component. Seniors emphasizing dance studio undertake projects in which research supports an extensive creative endeavor, and have the opportunity to stage a fully produced performance of their work.

Interdisciplinary Majors

Interested students may also pursue the established Dance/Theatre or Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies with a Concentration in Dance programs, or an ad hoc interdisciplinary major that includes dance, such as dance/art, dance/music, dance/Spanish, dance/psychology, dance/sociology, dance/literature, or dance/history. Please refer to the Dance/Theatre and Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies with a Concentration in Dance programs for information on specific requirements for these programs.

Performing Opportunities

Performing opportunities are available to all Reed students through the department-sponsored Reed Dance Concert, the Performance Ensemble, the student-led Reed Dance Troupe, Reed Arts Week, senior thesis productions, and independent projects. Whether or not they are enrolled in dance classes, all students are invited to audition for these opportunities.

Visiting Artists and Scholars

Reed brings well-known performing artists and scholars to campus each year, and Reed dance students frequently attend off-campus performances, talks, and master classes in conjunction with their coursework. Recent visiting artists, companies, and scholars have included Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Ballet Hispánico, Michelle Gibson, Bárbara Lima, Eiko Otake, Michael Cusumano/Madame Olga, Meshi Chavez, Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance, Yoshito Sakuraba/Abarukas, and Gamelan Çudamani. Reed dancers have attended recent off-campus performances by Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Ballet Hispánico, the TL Collective, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Philadanco.

Exchange Programs

Reed dancers have the opportunity to participate in established dance-intensive exchange programs in New York, Paris, Jerusalem, and Havana. Reed students may also register for dance courses at nearby Lewis and Clark College.

Graduates

The department successfully prepares students-both majors and nonmajors-for specialized work in dance in graduate school and in the profession. Reed alumni pursue graduate degrees in dance, teach, choreograph, perform, write about dance professionally, work in dance outreach and arts administration, and establish their own dance companies and schools. Honors given to Reed dance students have included the Watson Fellowship, grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and awards from the Dance Studies Association

Programs

Majors

Minors

Dance Minor

Reed College Catalog