Type of Credit: Partially Required
Credit(s)
Number of Students
This course focuses on dancing and choreographies in American Broadway musical theatres and the outgrowths. Through selected lens of gender, race and class, we will explore how the dancing in a popular culture of entertainment is intertwined with its broader contexts. The topics are arranged in a chronical order from the late 19th century to the 21st century, covering the origins, the changes, and the flourishing. Also, selected works will be introduced through reading, video viewing, and physical experiencing.
能力項目說明
Goals:
Objectives:
At the successful completion of the course the student will be able to:
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
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Week |
Topic |
Session Content and Suggested Reading(s) |
In-Class Activity and Assignment | |
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1 |
Class Introduction |
Grading, Assignments, and Rules. Reading: Course Syllabus |
In-Class Viewing: La La Land (2016) |
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2 |
What is the American Musical? |
Intro to American musicals Reading: Sempel, Larry, “Introduction” in Showtime, 1-15. |
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3 |
Blackface Minstrelsy, Bert Williams and Vaudeville |
Reading: George-Graves, Nadine. “Just Like Being in A Zoo” Dyer, Richard. “Straight Acting,” in The Matter of Image, 133-136.
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In-Class Viewing: The Cake Walk Broadway Ep 1 part 2 Dames (1934) Shadow Waltz “You Never Looked So Beautiful” from The Great Ziegfield (1936) La Revue Des Revues (1927), featuring Josephine Baker |
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4 |
Africanist Steps and Cultural Appropriation |
Reading: Trenka, Susie. “Appreciation, Appropriation, Assimilation: Stormy Weather and the Hollywood history of Black Dance.” In Melissa Blanco Borelli (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Dance and the Popular Screen (pp. 98-112). Oxford University Press, 2013.
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In-Class Viewing: “The Charleston (1920s)” Broadway: The American Musical (2004) Lindy Hop in Hellzapoppin (1941) Stormy Weather (1943) (selected dancing scenes) |
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5 |
Gene Kelly |
Reading: Fogarty, Mary. “Gene Kelly:The Original, Updated.” In Melissa Blanco Borelli (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Dance and the Popular Screen (pp. 83-97). Oxford University Press, 2013. Supplement: Lindberg, Julianne. “The Time of Your Life: Gene Kelly, working-class masculinity, and music” Studies in Musical Theatre 10, no. 2 (June, 2016): 177-193. |
In Class Viewing: Singing In The Rain (selected dancing scenes)
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6 |
Jerome Robbins and Jack Cole |
Reading: Sempel, Larry, “Opera, in Our Own Way” in Showtime, 367-408. |
In-Class Viewing: West Side Story (selected dancing scenes) The King and I (selected dancing scenes) Kismet (1953) |
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7 |
Spring Break |
No Class
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8 |
Bob Fosse |
Reading: Stacy Wolf, “’Something Better than This’: Sweet Charity and the Feminist Utopia of Broadway Musicals” Modern Drama 47, no. 2 (Summer, 2004): 309-332.
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In-Class Viewing: Bob Fosse Sweet Charity (1969)(selected dancing scenes) Chicago (2002) (selected dancing scenes)
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9 |
Dancing Selected Phrases |
We will dance classic Broadway Jazz moves and steps in Studio 621 in the Art and Culture Center
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Mid-term Essay: Selecting one section of what we have been watching until Week 9, analyzing it through the perspective of gender, race, movements, and/or class. A thesis statement must be included and articulated in this paper in the length of 2 full pages (double space, 12 font size, Times New Romans, 1-inch margins). Due by the end of this week. No delayed submission accepted. |
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10 |
Agnes de Mille and American Folkdance |
Reading: Boche, Kathaleen, “Hatchets and Hairbrushes: Dance, Gender and Improvisational Ingenuity in Cold War Western Musicals.” In Melissa Blanco Borelli (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Dance and the Popular Screen (pp. 337-350). Oxford University Press, 2014. |
In-Class Viewing: OKLAHOMA! (selected dancing scenes)
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11 |
The Sex and the Self |
Reading:
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In-Class Viewing: "I Hope I Get It"-A Chorus Line (1975) Chorus Line - The Music and the Mirror “One”-A Chorus Line (1975) Hair (selected dancing scenes) |
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12 |
Rent |
Reading: Ellis, Sarah taylor. ‘No day but today’: Queer temporality in Rent. Studies in Musical Theatre 5, no. 2 (August 2011):195-207.
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In-Class Viewing: Rent (selected dancing scenes)
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13 |
Bill T. Jones |
Reading: Nereson, Ariel. “Allergies, allegiances and authenticity: Bill T. Jones’s choreography for Broadway.” Studies in Musical Theatre 13, no. 1 (March 2019):23-36
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In-Class Viewing: FELA! Musical (off Broadway) Spring Awakening |
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14 |
Hamilton |
Reading (Choose one): Severs, Jeffrey, ‘Is it like a beat without a melody?’: Rap and revolution in Hamilton.” Studies in Musical Theatre 12, no. 2 (June, 2018):141-152. Wolf, Stacy, “Hamilton’s women” Studies in Musical Theatre 12, no. 2 (June, 2018):167-180. Sekellick, Matthew Clinton, “Hamilton and class” Studies in Musical Theatre 12, no. 2 (June, 2018):257-263.
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In-Class Viewing: Hamilton (selected dancing scenes)
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15 |
Transnational Outgrowth |
Reading: Donovan, Ryan, “An American in Tokyo? Musical Theatre Dance's Transnational Movements” in The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre, 14 pages |
In Class viewing: An American in Paris |
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16 |
Final Group Project Presentation |
In class, student groups will give oral presentations to introduce the group project for 5 minutes AND demonstrating a part of the musical for the group project with dancing and/or singing for additional 5 minutes.
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17 |
X College 16+2 Event |
+2 Flexible Week |
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18 |
X College 16+2 Event
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+2 Flexible Week |
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Class Participation 40%
Mid-term Essay 20%
Final Group Project (Oral Presentation) 20%
Finals Group Project (Showing) 20%
Class Attendance and Participation
Students’ attendance and participation are integral to the class topics and to their success in the course. Students must be fully present, prepared for, and productively and appropriately engaged in every class, for the entire duration of each class. Absence, tardiness, leaving early, and insufficient participation will affect the assessment of students’ work in this course. Students may bring coffee, tea, juice, or water in closed containers and a non-disruptive snack to class. Tardiness caused by procurement of said drinks or snacks is inexcusable.
The student’s final grade will be negatively impacted if the student has four or more absences. Absences from required events count as absences from class. The student’s final grade will be reduced by the equivalent of one step of a grade per day for each absence beyond three. For example, if a student’s final average is an A but that student was absent five times, the final grade will be a B+. There is no distinction between “excused” or “unexcused” absences: if the student is not in class, that student earns an absence. If a student misses class, it is that student’s responsibility to make up the work and get notes from a classmate for the day. Three tardies equals one absence. It is the student’s responsibility to keep the professor informed about illness and absence. If a student’s grade drops below 75 out of 100. Communication is important. Please contact me as soon as possible with extenuating circumstances that will cause absence for one or more weeks. Please email me before class commences with anticipated absence due to illness or personal emergency. Please stay home if you are sick, but moreover, take care of yourself so that you stay healthy. Please do not schedule other meetings or appointments during class time. In addition to counting as absences, such behavior is simply inconsiderate.
Writing Assignments and Group Presentation:
Rubrics for grading assignments and group presentation will be introduced in the first meeting. Grading will be based on the following scale:
Grading Scale
90-100 A+ 73-76.99 B 60-62.99 C-
85-89.99 A 70-72.99 B- 50-59.99 D
80-84.99 A- 67-69.99 C+ Below 50 E
77-79.99 B+ 63-66.99 C 0 X
***You may use a generative AI service, including but not limited to ChatGPT, to polish your writing, but it is not allowed to use it to compose your writing assignment.
as listed in the topical outline.