M.F.A. in Dance Courses

08:206:500 Graduate Technique (1-1.5) Graduate Technique is a required face-to-face studio course framing Western and non-Western world dance physical practices with leadership and pedagogy skills developed through opportunities for curricular development and implementation, under supervision.
Taught fall and spring semesters. Student course fee required. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Prerequisites: By audition and permission of graduate director, upon petition based on identification of individual graduate student learning goals. Corequisites: 08:206:505, 08:206:510. Repeatable for credit.

08:206:505 Graduate Rotation Workshop (.5) Graduate Rotation Workshop is a required face-to-face studio course focusing on reflective and critical writing, and oral/kinesthetic presentations synthesizing the pedagogical value of equity and inclusion represented by diverse movement training in higher education. Taught fall and spring semesters. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Corequisites: 08:206:500, 08:206:510. Repeatable for credit.

08:206:510 Faculty/Guest Artist Repertory (2) Faculty/Guest Artist Repertory is a required face-to-face studio course employing intensive rehearsals and performance opportunities. Practical experience is gained in physical skills, artistic expression, and professional management and regulation of the rehearsal and performance environment. Pedagogical and leaderships skills in aesthetic, historical, and cultural contextualization are developed through postperformance "Informances," providing a foundation for future community engagement and higher education instruction. Taught fall semester only. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: By audition. Corequisites: 08:206:500 or Ballet 4, 5, or 6; and 08:207:557.

08:206:512 Independent Graduate Repertory (2) Independent Graduate Repertory course is an elective face-to-face studio course that supports and frames on-site participation as a creative collaborative researcher and/or interpretive performer in Rutgers-sponsored performance events, including annual adjudicated Spring Student Dance Department concerts and other Mason Gross Department-sponsored events, such as choreography for the opera program, among other creative projects. Supervised by full-time dance faculty. Earned credit(s) possible only during matriculation in M.F.A. degree program period; no credit(s) for participation in works prior to matriculation. May be repeated once for additional credit(s). Prerequisite: By audition. Recommended: Coregistration in Graduate Technique (08:208:500) or Special Topics: Dance Practice/Movement Technique (08:206:529).

08:206:514 Thesis Repertory (2-4 variable credits) Thesis Repertory is an elective face-to-face studio course that supports and frames on-site participation as a creative collaborative researcher and/or interpretive performer in M.F.A. in dance thesis creative projects. Supervised by full-time dance faculty. Earned credit(s) possible only during matriculation in M.F.A. degree program period; no credit(s) for participation in works prior to matriculation. May be repeated once for additional credit(s). Prerequisite: By audition. Recommended: Coregistration in Graduate Technique (08:208:500) or Special Topics: Dance Practice/Movement Technique (08:206:529).

08:206:520 Oral History and Performance (2) Oral History and Performance is a required face-to-face integrated studio/academic seminar introducing students to the theory, method, and practice of documentary theater, focusing on oral history-based choreography. Theoretical texts on orality and kinesthetic performance culture frame this practice; additional methodological texts support the production of qualitative interviews. Studio-based practical projects apply oral history materials to support interdisciplinary creative inquiry. Taught fall semester only. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty.

08:206:521 Creative Process: Improvisation Strategies (2) Creative Process is a required face-to-face studio course, corequisite with dance studies course Dance Philosophy and Aesthetics (08:206:561) as a Praxis of Dance (POD) course required for completion of the M.F.A. creative course sequence. Creative Process focuses on the development and practice of improvisational movement scores and skills as research inquiry toward performance and as performance. The strategic use of improvisation within research and performance, toward interdisciplinary inquiry is also explored, including Commedia del'Arte, African improvisation styles, Contact Improvisation, and William Forsythe's Improvisation Technologies, among others. Taught fall semester only. Taught by graduate dance faculty only. Prerequisite: Letter grade of B or better in undergraduate Intermediate/Advanced Improvisation. Corequisite: 08:206:561.

08:206:522 History of Creative Engagement (1) Required face-to-face academic seminar corequisite with dance practice course Externship (08:206:523) as a Praxis of Dance (POD) course required for completion of the M.F.A. creative course sequence. History of Creative Engagement focuses on historically strategic uses of choreography for artistic sustainability through creative engagement with a variety of publics. Supplemental use of print text and media resources inform students of strategies and methods both reflective of and also an active inquiry into larger discourses such as gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity/culture, indigeneity/human rights, mixed ability/physically integrated dance/disability studies, and alternative sites/venues, among others. Corequisite: 08:206:523 Externship.

08:206:523 Externship (1-2) Required face-to-face studio course corequisite with dance studies course History of Creative Engagement (08:206:522) as a Praxis of Dance (POD) course required for completion of the M.F.A. creative course sequence. Externship allows M.F.A. students to apply theories and methods of creative engagement towards developing artistic projects in collaboration with specific regional community-based advocacy organizations. Practical skills will be developed and implemented for eliciting community-based value sets; methods for facilitating feedback on creative engagement in community settings will be implemented using Elizabeth Lerman's Critical Response Process. This course fulfills 2 credits of the 8-credit repertory requirement for M.F.A. degree. Corequisite: 08:206:622 Creative Research 2: Interdisciplinary Methods. Repeatable once for credit.

08:206:529 Special Topics: Dance Practice (1-2) Special Topics: Dance Practice is an elective, multiformat, face-to-face course engaging students in a variety of topics that explore both creative and training movement practices. Topics include A.) Movement Practice, B.) Immersive and Devised Performance, C.) Site-Specific/Alternative Space, and D.) Installation Design and Performance, among others. The course provides a range of opportunities to develop alternative movement and creative practices. Course supervision by dance and associated faculty. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: By petition to the graduate director. Repeatable for credit in additional topic areas.

08:206:531 Somatic Survey (2) This face-to-face required studio/academic seminar course surveys �somatic modalities, framed by theoretical discourses on embodiment in both Western and cross-cultural contexts. The course includes faculty and guest artists, scholars, and movement scientists presenting work in a variety of modalities such as Alexander Technique, the Feldenkrais Method, Body-Mind Centering, Laban Movement Analysis, and Iyengar Yoga, etc. Supplementary print text and media inform students on theories, methods, and practices, within both dance and other embodied discourses.

08:206:532 Graduate Production (2) Graduate Production is a required course focusing on theoretical and practical applications of computer, video, audio, and technical theater skills necessary to produce, promote, and direct an interdisciplinary graduate-level M.F.A. thesis dance concert. M.F.A. students develop skills for working in a variety of thesis formats, including the on-campus flexible Black Box-style theater, installations in a variety of on-campus and off-campus locations, and screen dance exhibitions, among others.

08:206:539 Special Topics: Somatics (1-2) Special Topics: Somatics is an elective multiformat face-to-face course engaging students in a variety of topics that explores theories, methods and practices of somatics. Topics include A.) Advanced Yoga, B.) Introduction to Pilates: Mat, and C.) Introduction to Bartenieff Fundamentals, among others. The course provides a range of opportunities to develop understanding of somatic theories, methods, and movement practices as they are historically embedded in contemporary movement practices. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: By petition to the graduate director. Repeatable for credit in additional topic areas.

08:206:549 Special Topics: Dance Technology (1-2) Special Topics: Dance Technology is an elective multiformat course engaging students in a variety of topics that explore art-based technology theories, methods, and practices. Topics include A.) Video for Dance, B.) Advanced Screendance, C.) Lighting Design for Dance, and D.) Stage Management for Dance, among others. The course provides a range of theoretical textual materials and/or hands-on practical projects. Course supervision by dance and associated faculty. Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: By petition to the graduate director. Corequisite for Advanced Screendance: Video for Dance (07:206:344g). Repeatable for credit in additional topic areas.

08:206:559 Special Topics: Dance Studies (1-2) Special Topics: Dance Studies is an elective multiformat course engaging students in a variety of topics that explore dance studies theories, methods, and practices. Topics include A.) Dance Dramaturgy and B.) Dance Documentation and Reconstruction, among others. The course provides a range of theoretical textual materials and/or hands-on practical projects. Course supervision by dance and associated faculty.� Taught by graduate dance, associated, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: By petition to the graduate director. Repeatable for credit in additional topic areas.

08:206:561 Dance Philosophy and Aesthetics (2) Dance Philosophy and Aesthetics is a required face-to-face academic seminar, corequisite with dance studio course Creative Process I: Improvisation Strategies (08:206:521) as a Praxis of Dance (POD) course required for completion of the M.F.A. creative course sequence. Dance Philosophy and Aesthetics traces schools of thought regarding embodied practices, including pre- and early modern writers such as Michel Foucault and Norbert Elias on premodern embodiment; comparative African philosophy from a variety of authors including V.Y. Mudimbe; early 19th- and 20th-century phenomenologists based on Maurice Merleau-Ponty; and more recent explorations in the areas of nonarboreal knowledge formation such as Gilles Deleuze. Taught fall semester only. Taught by graduate dance faculty. Prerequisite: Undergraduate course in dance history: 1900-present. Corequisite: 08:206:521.

08:206:571 Dance in Higher Education (2) Dance in Higher Education is a required hybrid face-to-face/online academic seminar investigating higher education dance teaching within a context of reflective practice and professional development. Philosophical perspectives, learning theories, historical trends, and significant influences on dance in higher education will be considered. Practical concepts of teaching will be introduced through readings, case studies, and discussions to develop a foundation for teaching college dance students. The course prepares students for adjunct teaching appointments within the Mason Gross School of the Arts Department of Dance and beyond.� Taught Summer Session only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty.

08:206:572 Pedagogy for Online Dance Education (2) Pedagogy for Online Dance Education is a required online academic seminar that provides instruction in theory, method, and practice in dance education pedagogy related to teaching online. Foundational theories, methods, and concepts; course design strategies; assessment and grading practices; and best practices in student communication, engagement, and support for online learning are covered. Students will be prepared to teach online coursework as adjunct appointed instructors. Taught Winter Session only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: 08:206:571.

08:206:573 Graduate Colloquium: Pedagogy (1) Graduate Colloquium: Pedagogy is a required face-to-face/online academic seminar course where first-year M.F.A. students explore pedagogy practice. Graduate dance faculty mentor first-year students through their first adjunct teaching positions and introduce requirements for thesis proposal and paperwork. Taught fall semester only. Taught by graduate dance faculty, with guest faculty lectures on a variety of topics.

08:206:574 Assessment and Measurement for Dance in Higher Education (2) Assessment and Measurement for Dance in Higher Education is a required hybrid face-to-face/online seminar course offering a guided exploration of assessment theories, practices, and issues in relation to curriculum and course development in higher education dance. Students will be introduced to and evaluate research and practices, consider ethical and political issues, and develop tools for assessment and evaluation across dance curricula. Summative, formative, direct, and indirect modes of assessment will be considered and practiced. Taught Summer Session only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty. Corequisite: 08:206:571.

08:206:621 Creative Research 1: Cross-/Interdisciplinary Methods (1) Required face-to-face studio course, corequisite with dance studies seminar History of Interdisciplinarity (08:206:661) as a Praxis of Dance (POD) course required for completion of the M.F.A. creative course sequence. Focuses on the development and practice of cross- and interdisciplinary methods as research inquiry, towards devising cross- and interdisciplinary performance works. Supplemental print texts and media resources inform students of strategic uses of the informed body/mind as an active agent working within artistic, humanities, and STEM discourses inside and outside of dance. Taught spring semester only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty. Prerequisite: Minimum grade of B in 08:206:521. Corequisite 08:206:661.

08:206:622 Creative Research 2: Interdisciplinary Methods (2) Required studio course supports students' continued creative investigations in artistic, somatic, humanistic, and/or STEM disciplinary areas, in collaboration with movement inquiry and choreographic research, to further refine proposed interdisciplinary thesis research. Taught Summer Session only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty.

08:206:661 History of Interdisciplinarity (1) Required face-to-face academic seminar course, corequisite with dance studio course Creative Research 1: Cross-/Interdisciplinary Methods (08:206:621) as a Praxis of Dance (POD) course required for completion of the M.F.A. creative course sequence. Traces disciplinarity as the practice of separating schools of thought into scholarly regimes with criteria for exclusion of authors, texts, and arguments. Developed within a particular historical and cultural moment, the course interrogates this moment for excluding movement and embodied experience. The reassertion of collaboration between and among disciplines is traced and critiqued for opportunities both lost and gained. The recent resurgence of a variety of collaborative types, including multi-, cross-, inter- and transdisciplinarity are defined, with examples provided, cross-culturally. Taught spring semester only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty. Corequisite: 08:206:522.

08:206:690 Professional Seminar 1: Portfolio Development (1) Face-to-face studio course that provides M.F.A. students with the technological capacity to develop a website as the digital home for developing their artistic and academic portfolios. Using a flexible website creation program, students build digital representations of their artistic and academic personae including curated gallery of dance photographs; curated video reels documenting both creative works and teaching samples; curriculum vitae; artistic, scholarly and teaching philosophy statements; and a web interview. Taught spring semester only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty.

08:206:721 Thesis 1: Research (3) The first part of a multipart culminating capstone project of thesis research, production, presentation, and portfolio that completes the M.F.A. degree creative course sequence. This studio course provides guidelines, tools, resources, and mentorship for generating all the elements of the multipart thesis requirements. Based on an approved Thesis Prospectus, M.F.A. candidates continue their investigation of movement-based performance and creative methods and practices, conceptual/theoretical frameworks, and pedagogical implications of their artistic research, achieving interdisciplinary synthesis with one or more nondance arts, humanities, and/or STEM study areas, based on the completion of their Elective Praxis Plan. The M.F.A. candidate's research may be conducted within a 50 mile radius of Rutgers-New Brunswick, including the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. An interim showing of work is required. With the support of thesis committee members, candidates will progress toward greater self-managing and self-regulating perspectives and practices as working artists in order to further their career aspirations. Leadership, advocacy, and strong oral and written communication skills are developed to fully implement and present the final thesis project, including production of performances, installations, screen dance, or other formats, as well the written professional paper, including a statement of teaching philosophy. Technological literacy is also required in the form of integrated design and technology elements, a technical rider, and the final digital portfolio. Taught fall semester only.

08:206:722 Thesis 2: Production (3) The second part of a multipart culminating capstone project of thesis research, production, presentation, and portfolio that completes the M.F.A. degree creative course sequence and launches M.F.A. candidates toward thesis defense and completion of the M.F.A. degree. The course provides guidelines, tools, resources, and mentorship for generating all the elements of the multipart thesis requirements, toward final production with movement-based performance in the forms of concert, installation, screening, defense presentation, and final digital portfolio. M.F.A. candidates finalize their investigation of movement-based performance and creative methods and practices, conceptual/theoretical frameworks, and pedagogical implications of their artistic research, achieving interdisciplinary synthesis with one or more nondance arts, humanities, and/or STEM study areas based on completion of their Elective Praxis Plan. With the support of their thesis committee members, candidates gain advanced self-managing and self-regulating perspectives as working artists in order to further their career aspirations. Leadership, advocacy, and strong oral and written communication skills are developed to fully implement and present the final thesis project and defense presentation.
Taught spring semester only. Repeatable for credit.

08:206:790 Professional Seminar 2: Leadership/Job Search (1) Provides an introduction to diverse perspectives on leadership, management, and advocacy through a body of theory, research, and practice in order to provide guidelines, tools, and resources for successful entry into and career navigation within academia. Through this course, students will gain understanding of the differences and synergies between leadership and management, the implications of advocacy, and gain skills and tools in order to progress toward self-managing and self-regulating perspectives as working artists, scholars, and educators. Students will also access a model for the job search experience for dance in higher education.
Taught fall semester only. Taught by graduate dance, education, and guest faculty.

08:206:890 Graduate-Colloquium: Thesis (BA)

Required face-to-face academic seminar course where M.F.A. students progress to candidacy by developing the thesis prospectus and committee toward final presentation and advancement to candidacy.�

Taught spring semester, with required repeat enrollment in Summer Session. Taught by graduate dance faculty, with guest faculty lectures on a variety of topics. Repeatable for credit.

08:206:990 Independent Study: Dance Studio (1-2)

08:206:991 Independent Study: Dance Studies (1-2)