DANC 3810 - Embodying Pop Culture: Dance and Identity in U.S. Popular Culture

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): ENG 1020 OR ENG 1021

Description: Students in this lecture course explore and contextualize dance in popular culture through a sociocultural and historical lens. Surveying two broad topics, social dance and dance on screens, students investigate how hegemonic cultural ideologies are propagated and/or subverted through dancing bodies. Students explore how positionality affects the perceived value and influence of various dance practices and how movement shifts as it migrates to different locations and spaces. Critical analysis reveals the ability of dance to impact and be impacted by culture, as students explore the context of dance they encounter in everyday life. Through viewing, reading, and discussion, students interrogate the ways in which dance teaches consumers about the world around them, even as it entertains.

General Studies: Arts and Humanities