Arts Program (Bryn Mawr)
Department Website:
https://www.brynmawr.edu/arts
Courses in the arts are designed to prepare students who might wish to pursue advanced training in their fields and are also for those who want to broaden their academic studies with work in the arts that is conducted at a serious and disciplined level. Courses are offered at introductory as well as advanced levels.
Students may complete a minor in Creative Writing, Dance or Theater and may submit an application to major in Creative Writing, Dance or Theater through the independent major program. Students may complete a major in Fine Arts or a major or minor in Music at Haverford College. English majors may complete a concentration in Creative Writing.
Arts in Education
The Arts Program offers a Praxis II course for students who have substantial experience in an art form and are interested in extending that experience into teaching and learning at educational and community sites.
Courses in Arts in Education
Creative Writing
Courses in Creative Writing within the Arts Program are designed for students who wish to develop their skills and appreciation of creative writing in a variety of genres (poetry, prose fiction and nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, etc.) and for those intending to pursue studies in creative writing at the graduate level. Any English major may include one Creative Writing course in the major plan. Students may pursue a minor as described below. While there is no existing major in Creative Writing, exceptionally well-qualified students with a GPA of 3.7 or higher in Creative Writing courses completed in the Tri-College curriculum may consider submitting an application to major in Creative Writing through the Independent Major Program after meeting with the Creative Writing Program director. When approved, the independent major in Creative Writing may also be pursued as a double major with another academic major subject.
Creative Writing Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor in Creative Writing are six units of course work, generally including three beginning/intermediate courses in at least three different genres of creative writing (chosen from ARTW B159, ARTW B231, ARTW B236, ARTW B240, ARTW B251, ARTW B260, ARTW B261, ARTW B262, ARTW B263, ARTW B264, ARTW B265, ARTW B266, ARTW B268, ARTW B269) and three electives, including at least one course at the 300 level (ARTW B360, ARTW B361, ARTW B362, ARTW B364, ARTW B366, ARTW B367, ARTW B371, ARTW B373, ARTW B382), allowing for advanced work in one or more genres of creative writing which are of particular interest to the student. The objective of the minor in Creative Writing is to provide both depth and range, through exposure to several genres of creative writing. Students should consult with the Creative Writing Program director by the end of their sophomore year to submit a plan for the minor in order to ensure admission to the appropriate range of courses.
Concentration in Creative Writing
English majors may elect a three-course concentration in Creative Writing as part of the English major program. Students interested in the concentration must meet with the Creative Writing Program director by the end of their sophomore year to submit a plan for the concentration and must also confirm the concentration with the chair of the English Department.
Courses in Creative Writing
Dance
Dance is an art and an area of creative work as well as a significant and enduring human behavior that can serve as a core of creative and scholarly inquiry within the liberal arts. The Dance Program offers courses in progressive levels of ballet, modern and jazz, as well as a full range of technique courses in diverse genres and various traditions. Students may also investigate the creative process in three levels of composition and choreography courses. Performance opportunities available to students include our Spring Dance Concert, in which students work with professional choreographers or reconstructors and perform in our main stage theater, and our School Performance Project, which travels to schools throughout the Philadelphia region. The program's lecture/seminar courses are designed to introduce students to dance as a vital area of academic inquiry, and include examinations of dance criticism and theory, dance historiography, dance and embodied activism, and practical anatomy for dance.
Students can take single courses in dance, minor in dance, or complete a major through the independent major program. The core academic curriculum for the dance minor or independent major in dance includes intermediate or advanced technique courses, performance ensembles, dance composition, independent work, and courses in dance studies.
Dance Minor Requirements
Requirements for the dance minor are six units of coursework: three required (ARTD B140, ARTD B142, or ARTD B144 and two .5 credit studio courses: one must be selected from among the following technique courses: B136-B139 or any 200 or 300 level technique course; the second .5 credit course must be a technique course at the 200 or 300 level or selected from among the following performance ensembles: 345-350); three approved electives; and attendance at a prescribed number of performances/events. With the advisor’s approval, one elective in the minor may be selected from allied Tri-College departments.
Independent Major in Dance Requirements
The independent major requires eleven courses, drawn primarily from our core academic curriculum and including: ARTD B140 and one additional dance lecture/seminar course; ARTD B142 and ARTD B144; one 0.5 technique course at the intermediate or advanced level each semester after declaring the major. Participation in performance ensembles is highly recommended. The major also requires attendance at a prescribed number of performances/events, demonstration of basic writing competency in dance by taking two writing attentive or one writing intensive course in Dance or an approved allied program or department, and a senior capstone experience. With the advisor's approval, two electives in the major may be selected from allied Tri-College departments.
In both the minor and the major, students may choose to emphasize one aspect of the field, in consultation with the dance faculty regarding their course of study.
Technique Courses and Performance Ensemble Courses
The Dance Program offers a full range of dance instruction including courses in ballet, modern, jazz, and West African as well as techniques developed from other cultural art and social forms such as flamenco, Classical Indian, hip hop, Latin social dance, and tap dance, among others. A ballet placement class is required for upper level ballet courses. Performance ensembles, choreographed or re-staged by professional artists, are by audition and are given full concert support. The School Performance Project tours regional K-12 schools. Technique courses ARTD 136-137, 230-232, 330-331, and all dance ensembles are offered for academic credit; all technique courses and ensemble courses may be taken for Physical Education credit instead (see both listings below).
Technique/Ensemble Courses for PE Credit
(Check course guide for courses available each semester)
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| PE B101 | Ballet: Beginning Technique |
| PE B102 | Ballet: Intermediate Technique |
| PE B103 | Ballet: Advanced Technique |
| PE B104 | Ballet Workshop |
| PE B105 | Modern: Beginning Technique |
| PE B106 | Modern: Intermediate Technique |
| PE B107 | Modern: Advanced Technique |
| PE B108 | Jazz: Beginning Technique |
| PE B110 | Jazz: Intermediate Technique |
| PE B111 | Hip-hop Technique |
| PE B112 | African Dance |
| PE B118 | Movement Improvisation |
| PE B121 | Tap I |
| PE B123 | Tap II |
| PE B126 | Rhythm & Style: Flamenco and Tap |
| PE B127 | Social Dance Forms: Topics: Intro to Social Dance, Swing, Salsa, Latin |
| PE B129 | The Gesture of Dance: Classical Indian and Polynesian Dance |
| PE B131 | Tap: Learning and Performing |
| PE B145 | Dance Ensemble: Modern |
| PE B146 | Dance Ensemble: Ballet |
| PE B147 | Dance Ensemble: Jazz |
| PE B148 | Dance Ensemble: African |
| PE B149 | Dance Ensemble: Outreach |
| PE B150 | Dance Ensemble: Special Topics (2017- 18: Hip Hop) |
| PE B195 | Movement for Theater |
| PE B196 | Dance Composition Lab |
| PE B197 | Directed Work in Dance |
Courses for Academic Credit
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ARTD B136 | Modern: Beginning Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B137 | Ballet: Beginning Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B138 | Hip Hop Lineages | 0.5 |
| ARTD B139 | 0.5 | |
| ARTD B140 | Approaches to Dance: Themes and Perspectives | 1.0 |
| ARTD B142 | Dance Composition: Process and Presence | 1.0 |
| ARTD B144 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD B145 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD/ANTH B223 | Anthropology of Dance | 1.0 |
| ARTD B230 | Modern: Intermediate Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B231 | Ballet: Intermediate Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B232 | Jazz: Intermediate Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B240 | Dance History I: Roots of Western Theater Dance | 1.0 |
| ARTD B241 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD B250 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD B265 | Dance, Migration and Exile | 1.0 |
| ARTD B267 | 1.0 | |
| ARTD/ANTH B310 | Performing the City: Theorizing Bodies in Space | 1.0 |
| ARTD B330 | Modern: Advanced Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B331 | Ballet: Advanced Technique | 0.5 |
| ARTD B342 | Advanced Choreography | 0.5 |
| ARTD B345 | Dance Ensemble: Modern | 0.5 |
| ARTD B346 | Dance Ensemble: Ballet | 0.5 |
| ARTD B347 | Dance Ensemble: Jazz | 0.5 |
| ARTD B348 | Ensemble: African Diaspora Dance | 0.5 |
| ARTD B349 | 0.5 | |
| ARTD B350 | Dance Ensemble: Hip Hop | 0.5 |
| ARTD B390 | 0.5 | |
| ARTD B403 | Supervised Work (Practical Anatomy: Bones, Muscle, Movement) | 0.5 |
| ARTA/EDUC B251 | 1.0 |
Faculty at Bryn Mawr
Megan BridgeDance Instructor
Madeline Cantor
Interim Co-Director and Term Professor Emeritus of Dance
Tammy Carrasco
Visiting Assistant Professor and Interim Director of Dance
Denise D'Angelo
Dance Instructor
Brittany Fishel
Lecturer
Clarricia Golden
Dance Instructor
Joan Huckstep
Dance Instructor
Patricia Jones
Instructor
Lela Aisha Jones
Assistant Professor and Director of Dance
Rebecca Malcolm-Naib
Dance Instructor
Linda Mintzer
Dance Instructor
Saleana Pettaway
Dance Instructor
Courses in Dance
ARTD B136 MODERN: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Brittany Fishel
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTD B137 BALLET: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Denise D'Angelo
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B138 HIP HOP LINEAGES (0.5 Credit)
Patricia Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Hip Hop Lineages is a team-taught practice-based course, exploring the embodied foundations of Hip Hop and its expression as a global phenomenon. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
ARTD B140 APPROACHES TO DANCE: THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This course introduces students to dance as a multi-layered, significant and enduring human behavior that ranges from art to play, from ritual to politics, and beyond. It engages students in the creative, critical, and conceptual processes that emerge in response to the study of dance. It also explores the research potential that arises when other areas of academic inquiry, including criticism, ethnology, history and philosophy, interact with dance and dance scholarship. Lectures, discussion, film, video, and guest speakers are included.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTD B141 AFRICAN DIASPORA: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Patricia Jones
The African Diaspora course cultivates a community that centers global blackness, dance, live music, and movement culture. Embody living traditions from a selection of peoples and countries including Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Brazil, and Cuba. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTD B142 DANCE COMPOSITION: PROCESS AND PRESENCE (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This dance and movement composition course is open to movers of any kind, from any background, who want to explore embodied creation as a part of their educational and/or life practice. It engages students in developing and structuring movement ideas to build community with one another and the natural environment. This course will offer tools for developing creative problem-solving skills; exploring embodied approaches to observation, analysis, and communication; and investigating possibilities for collaboration. Students will be introduced to freestyle, cultural narratives, memoir, and other relevant resources as tools for researching and sketching choreographic ideas. Movement exercises, viewing of live and filmed work, and discussions will help to sharpen visual analysis and kinesthetic responses. The course includes journaling and required readings and viewings but focuses primarily on weekly movement assignments. Concurrent participation in any Dance Program technique course, either for academic or PE credit, is recommended.
ARTD B143 JAZZ: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Clarricia Golden
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
ARTD B146 ASIAN DIASPORA: BEGINNING TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Beginning level dance technique courses focus on introducing movement vocabulary, developing skills, and gaining an understanding of the form. Students must meet the attendance requirement, and complete three short writing assignments. Offered on a pass/fail basis only. This course is focused specifically in the dance form Bharatanatyam.
ARTD B210 SACRED ACTIVISM: DANCING ALTARS, RADICAL MOVES (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
How do practices of embodiment, choreography, artistry, performance, testifying, and witnessing guide us to transformative and liberation action in our lives? This course excavates the adornment of beings/bodies and the making of sacred spaces for embodied performance, introspection, and ceremonial dance. We will take up the notion of the being/body as an altar and the importance of costume and garb in setting the scene for activism, ritual, and staged offerings. The cognitive has gotten us here, what might continuums of believing in the being/body unveil? Expect to dance, move, write, discuss, create projects, and engage in a variety of textual and media resources. We will work individually and collectively for communal learning. The content for this course will be steeped in the lives, cultures, and practices of black and brown folks. This is a writing and dance attentive course. No dance experience necessary, just courage to move.
ARTD B220 SCREENDANCE: MOVEMENT AND THE CAMERA (1.0 Credit)
Brittany Fishel
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This course is a practical introduction to Screendance for students interested in extending their experience or interest in dance and movement into a new realm. Also known as dancefilm, cinedance, videodance and/or dance for the camera, Screendance connects film (and filmmaking) with dance (and dancemaking) in an evolving hybrid performative practice. For both the maker and audience, the inquiry is the adventure of discovering what the coming together of dance and screen can be. Screendance can be described as diverse, global, emergent, alive, active, trans-media, continually evolving. Through class screenings, exercises, readings and discussion, students will learn approaches to combining dance and the moving image. Students will work alone and in small collaborative groups to create their own works integrating dance and video. Through creative projects, students will develop their own cinematic style and an increased proficiency with both filming and editing movement.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTD B225 DANCING HISTORIES/WRITING DANCE (1.0 Credit)
Joan Huckstep
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Black and African American dance is often best analyzed, critiqued, and understood in its sociopolitical context. In this course, there are two questions that will be primary modes of engagement: What are the major American and African American political and social agendas and events in the late twentieth century? What are the major choreographic works in the late twentieth century African American concert milieu? The socio-political and the field of dance merge seamlessly as the centerpieces of this course. As researchers, there are three overlapping aims: to learn about concert dance histories through historical sources, scholarship, and embodiment; to understand the processes of historiography; and to prepare students to undertake their own historical research and scholarship. The course is designed to illustrate how our understanding of the past is dynamic and evolving rather than fixed and static. Through critical engagement with the art of concert dance, Dancing Histories/Writing Dance emphasizes how history is written, questioned, and rewritten through vernacular and sacred dance performance. Assigned readings and viewings of work will enable recognition of how dance scholars have written, and revised, dance histories. Students will develop a strong methodological framework that will allow them to grasp the effects of cultural competence and critical bias, and the ways in which the writing of history is a creative, political, and ideological process. This is a writing attentive course and was originally created by Elizabeth J Bergman.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTD B230 MODERN: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of modern dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying modern dance technique; to investigate elements of choreography with an emphasis on modern dance characteristics; to incorporate elements of improvisation and to communicate movement ideas, both individually and collaboratively.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTD B231 BALLET: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Linda Mintzer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Intermediate level dance technique courses focus on expanding the movement vocabulary, on introducing movement phrases that are increasingly complex and rigorous, and on directing attention to dynamics and spatial ideas. Students will be evaluated on their openness and commitment to the learning process, increased understanding of the technique, and demonstration in class of their technical and stylistic progress and accomplishment. Preparation: three semesters of beginning level ballet, or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor. First-semester first year students must take a placement class during customs week.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B232 JAZZ: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Clarricia Golden
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of modern dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying modern dance technique.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTD B233 HIP HOP: INTERMEDIATE TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Course Objectives: to experience a progression of movement phrases designed to develop an understanding of Hip Hop dance principles; to gain confidence in increasingly complex movement sequences, and explore movement creatively; to improve body placement, strength, stamina, and flexibility while embodying Hip Hop dance technique; to investigate elements of choreography with an emphasis on modern dance characteristics; to incorporate elements of improvisation and to communicate movement ideas, both individually and collaboratively.
ARTD B242 DANCE COMPOSITION: ELEMENTS AND CRAFT (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Division: Humanities
This dance composition course develops knowledge and skill in the theory and craft of choreography. Basic elements of dancemaking such as space, timing, shaping, and relationship are explored and refined through structured and open movement experiences. Attention is given to developing movement invention skills and compositional strategies; considering form and structure; investigating music, language, images, and objects as sources; experimenting with group design; and broadening critical understanding of their own work and the work of others. Students will work on weekly solo and group projects. Related viewing and reading will be assigned. Concurrent participation in any Dance Program technique course, either for credit or as an auditor, is recommended. Additional costs: In lieu of books, students may incur $10-30 in performance ticket fees but may take advantage of free Tri-co performances. Course was previously taught at ARTD B144.
ARTD B243 DANCE COMP: MAKING IN THE MOMENT (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
What movement emerges from your body/being in the absence of memorized choreography? How do you make an improvised dance in collaboration with others? This course is primarily a movement experience course sourced from western practices of dance improvisation. It will include guided movement practices, some readings, viewings, and journaling, as well as partner and group work-- all in service of exploring your improvisation movement practice. We will consider dance as a playful act that belongs to everyone, develop an eye for how composition emerges out of improvisation, and delve into collaboration as a rich creative resource, all of which become platforms to address discourses on body politics, the multicultural foundations of western dance improvisation, and the interdisciplinarity of the form. This course works to build a space in which the vulnerability of your curiosity leads to the discovery of dance compositions and movement that can only transpire through making dance in the moment. Some previous dance experience is good but not necessary; the courage to move is critical and will most support this work.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTD B260 DANCE EDUCATION: PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE (1.0 Credit)
Tammy Carrasco
Dance education is a world where teaching and performance coalesce to center being-with-our-bodies as a platform for learning. This course involves collaboratively creating an educational program for young audiences, communities, and participants in various educational sites. The seminar portion of the course engages students in reading, writing, and discussion on various perspectives of dance pedagogy, theory, and teaching strategies. The embodied component of the course brings students into a fluid relationship between theory and practice through teaching, peer-observation, and reflection on arts in education. There will be field visits during the course that include teaching and performance opportunities. This course is intended for students with experience in any dance form or theatrical performance at any level and we welcome students who are courageously beginning their journey with dance. It is embodied and writing attentive.
ARTD B280 PRACTICAL ANATOMY: MUSCLES, BONES, MOVEMENT (1.0 Credit)
Rebecca Malcolm-Naib
KNOW THYSELF! This course is designed as a human anatomy class for students interested in the application of anatomy to physical activities including dance, sport, and movement in general. Students will learn musculoskeletal anatomy, basic kinesiology, strengthening and stretching practices, and injury identification and management. Students will support theoretical knowledge with experiential movement analysis in class. The goal of the course is to present a scientific basis that will aid in a greater understanding of how individual's bodies are shaped and move, and how to achieve greater efficiency of movement and desired performance outcomes.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTD B330 MODERN: ADVANCED TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
dvanced level technique courses continue to expand movement vocabulary and to introduce increasingly challenging movement phrases and repertory. The advanced modern course focuses on both intellectual and kinesthetic understanding of movement and command of technical challenges and performance. Students will be evaluated on their openness and commitment to the learning process, increased understanding of the technique, and demonstration in class of their technical and stylistic progress and accomplishment. Preparation: three semesters of Modern: Intermediate Technique, or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor. First-year students should contact Mady Cantor, Director of Dance, to discuss placement at mcantor@brynmaw.r.edu.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B331 BALLET: ADVANCED TECHNIQUE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Advanced level technique courses continue to expand movement vocabulary and to introduce increasingly challenging movement phrases and repertory. The advanced ballet course focuses on both intellectual and kinesthetic understanding and command of technical challenges and performance. The last half hour of the class is used for optional pointe or variations with the permission of the instructor. Students will be evaluated on their openness and commitment to the learning process, increased understanding of the technique, and demonstration in class of progress and accomplishment. Preparation: minimum of 3 semesters of intermediate ballet, or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor. First year students should contact Lela Aisha Jones at ljones2@brynmawr.edu regarding placement procedures.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B342 ADVANCED CHOREOGRAPHY (1.0 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Independent study in choreography under the guidance of the instructor. Students are expected to produce one major choreographic work and are responsible for all production considerations. Concurrent attendance in any level technique course is recommended. Pre-requisite: ARTD B142: Dance Composition: Process and Presence and ARTD B242: Dance Composition: Elements and Craft.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B345 DANCE ENSEMBLE: MODERN (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers or works reconstructed / restaged from classic or contemporary repertories are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B346 DANCE ENSEMBLE: BALLET (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B347 DANCE ENSEMBLE: JAZZ (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B348 ENSEMBLE: AFRICAN DIASPORA DANCE (0.5 Credit)
Patricia Jones
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTD B350 DANCE ENSEMBLE: HIP HOP (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works are choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTD B351 DANCE ENSEMBLE: TAP (0.5 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Dance ensembles are designed to offer students significant opportunities to develop dance technique and performance skills. Students audition for entrance into individual ensembles. Original works choreographed by faculty or guest choreographers or works reconstructed / restaged from classic or contemporary repertories are rehearsed and performed in concert. Students are evaluated on their participation in rehearsals, demonstration of commitment and openness to the choreographic process, and achievement in performance. Preparation: This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced level dancers. Concurrent attendance in at least one technique class per week is highly recommended. Students must commit to the full semester and be available for rehearsal week and performances in the Spring Dance Concert.
ARTD B400 SENIOR PROJECT/THESIS (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones, Madeline Cantor
Division: Humanities
Majors develop, in consultation with a faculty advisor, a senior capstone experience that will expand and deepen their work and interests within the field of dance. This can range from a significant research or expository paper to a substantial choreographic work that will be supported in a full studio performance. Students who elect to do choreographic or performance work must also submit a reflection paper. Work begins in the fall semester and should be completed by the middle of the spring semester.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTD B403 SUPERVISED WORK (0.5 Credit)
Lela Aisha Jones, Madeline Cantor
Division: Humanities
Research in a particular topic of dance under the guidance of an instructor, resulting in a final paper or project. Permission of the instructor is required.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
Theater
The curricular portion of the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges' Theater Program focuses on the point of contact between creative and analytic work. Courses combine theory (reading and discussion of dramatic literature, history and criticism) and practical work (creative exercises, scene study and performance) to provide viable theater training within a liberal-arts context.
Theater Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor in Theater are six units of course work, three required (ARTT B150, ARTT B251 and ARTT B252) and three electives. Students must consult with the Theater faculty to ensure that the necessary areas in the field are covered. Students may submit an application to major in Theater through the independent major program.
Theater Performance
Numerous opportunities exist to act, direct, design and work in technical theater. In addition to the Theater Program's mainstage productions, many student theater groups exist that are committed to musical theater, improvisation, community outreach, Shakespeare, film and video work, etc. All Theater Program productions are open and casting is routinely blind with respect to race and gender.
Faculty at Bryn Mawr
Mark LordTheresa Helburn Chair of Drama, Director and Professor of Theater
Maiko Matsushima
Visiting Assistant Professor
Molly Ward
Lecturer
Courses
ARTT B150 INTRODUCTION TO THEATER (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
An exploration of a wide range of dramatic works and history of theater through research, analysis and discussion to develop understanding and foundations for a theatrical production.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTT B153 HISTORY OF FORMAL AESTHETICS FOR CONTE (1.0 Credit)
Once upon a time, a playwright said in a rehearsal room, “I just think that this is the most Cubist moment of this play.” That room became very quiet. Everyone’s face went blank – director, actors, costume designer, stage manager – all became uncomfortable, and the subject was hastily changed. Because what is Cubism exactly? And how could a play be Cubist? In this course, students participate in hands-on explorative research to first identify and compare works across disciplines. The ideas behind each movement (Romanticism, etc.) will be teased out and examined in relation to the moment of their occurrence, but also within their manifestations in art-making across visual, musical, architectural, and performative disciplines. All to address that menacing and elusive other 4-letter F-word: FORM. What are the works of art I respond to most strongly and what is it about the way they are made that elicits this response from me? What was going on in the world at the time of these works? How do the ideas in the aesthetic movement/s of that time translate into formal expressions? And how do they resonate with the events and artwork of our own current moment? In what ways can my own work contribute to this larger conversation? These terms are meant to communicate a way of seeing the world, and thereby a set of ideas. Realism and Naturalism have certainly found a full blossoming of recognition in the Western Theater - with Absurdism and Existentialism coming in a distant third and fourth - but without knowledge of all of them and the ideas and responses at work within them, by what other means is the theater-making artist to critique our current situation? And does it not need a broad and round critiquing? And how exactly is that the artist’s job? Structure, including dramatic structure, will be examined as a component of form. We will read plays together! In the Fall, we covered periods and movements of aesthetics ranging from cave art to Realism. In Spring we will review our findings and forge ahead through Modernism, Post-Modernism, to Cyber Punk and beyond. New students are most welcome. No prerequisites are necessary.
ARTT B234 LIGHTING DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
This class is an introduction to the process of lighting design for the theatre. We will explore the steps and skills necessary to navigate the designer’s path from text to production. This course will focus on how to think about light, how light can function as a dramaturgical tool, and how we can communicate lighting ideas to our collaborators.
ARTT B251 FUNDAMENTALS OF ACTING (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
This studio course provides an introduction to the basic processes of acting to students of various experience levels. We develop tools and a shared vocabulary using performance exercises, games, improvisation and scene work.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTT B252 FUNDAMENTALS OF TECHNICAL THEATER (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
A practical, hands-on workshop in the creative process of turning a concept into a tangible, workable end through the physical execution of a design. Exploring new and traditional methods of achieving a coherent synthesis of all areas of technical production.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTT B253 PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE (0.5 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An intensive workshop in the methodologies and aesthetics of theater performance, this course is open to students with significant experience in performance. In collaboration with the director of theater, students will explore a range of performance techniques and styles in the context of rehearsing a performance project. Admission to the class is by audition or permission of the instructor. The class is offered for a half-unit of credit.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTT B254 FUNDAMENTALS OF THEATER DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
Maiko Matsushima
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An introduction to the creative process of visual design for theater, exploring dramatic context and influence of cultural, social, and ideological forces on theater and examining practical applications of various technical elements such as scenery, costume, and lighting while emphasizing their aesthetic integration.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTT B255 FUNDAMENTALS OF COSTUME DESIGN (1.0 Credit)
Maiko Matsushima
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Hands-on practical workshop on costume design for performing arts; analysis of text, characters, movement, situations; historical and stylistic research; cultivation of initial concept through materialization and plotting to execution of design.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTT B262 PLAYWRITING I (1.0 Credit)
Mark Lord
Division: Humanities
An introduction to playwriting through a combination of reading assignments, writing exercises, discussions about craft and ultimately the creation of a complete one-act play. Students will work to discover and develop their own unique voices as they learn the technical aspects of the craft of playwriting. Short writing assignments will complement each reading assignment. The final assignment will be to write an original one-act play.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTT B265 SPACES OF POSSIBILITY: SHAKESPEARE AND THE CLASSROOM (1.0 Credit)
Focused on creating and collaborating, this course examines how we access Shakespeare and make Shakespeare accessible while working with 8th graders in Philadelphia. We will work as performers, creators, directors, designers, mentors and audience members. This course will be collaborative, sharing ideas and working as an ensemble comprised of college students and 8th graders. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 Fundamentals of Acting or permission of the instructor.
ARTT B270 ECOLOGIES OF THEATER: PERFORMANCE, PLAY, AND LANDSCAPE (1.0 Credit)
Mark Lord
Division: Humanities
Students in this course will investigate the notion of theatrical landscape and its relation to plays and to the worlds that those landscapes refer to. Through readings in contemporary drama and performance and through the construction and evaluation of performances, the class will explore the relationship between human beings and the environments they imagine, and will study the ways in which those relationships impact how we think about our relationship to the world in which we live. The course will culminate in a series of public performances.Suggested Preparation: Any course in theater, design, film, dram, or permission of the instructor.
ARTT B332 THE ACTOR CREATES: PERFORMANCE STUDIO IN GENERATING ORIGINAL WORK (1.0 Credit)
Staff
This course explores the actor as creator, inviting the performer to become a generative artist with agency to invent their own work. Building on skills introduced in Fundamentals of Acting, we will introduce new methodologies of training to construct a framework in which students can approach making original solo and group work. Students will use processes employing visual art, found dialogue, music, autobiography, and more. Emphasizing guided, individual, and group collaboration, we will examine the role of the actor/creator through exercises and readings that relate the actor’s creative process to an understanding of self and the artist’s role in communities. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 (Fundamentals of Acting)
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTT B351 ACTING II (1.0 Credit)
Mark Lord
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
A continuation of the methods of inquiry in Fundamentals of Acting, this course is structured as a series of project-based learning explorations in acting. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 (Fundamentals of Acting) or permission of instructor.
(Offered: Spring 2024)
ARTT B353 ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
An advanced, intensive workshop in theater performance. Students explore a range of performance techniques in the context of rehearsing a performance project, and participate in weekly seminars in which the aesthetic and theatrical principles of the play and production will be developed and challenged. The course may be repeated. Prerequisite: ARTT B253 or permission of the instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTT B354 SHAKESPEARE ON THE STAGE (1.0 Credit)
Mark Lord
Division: Humanities
An exploration of Shakespeare’s texts from the point of view of the performer. A historical survey of the various approaches to producing Shakespeare from Elizabethan to contemporary times, with intensive scene work culminating in on-campus performances. Prerequisite: ARTT B251 Fundamentals of Acting or permission of the instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2023)
ARTT B359 DIRECTING FOR THE STAGE (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
A semiotic approach to the basic concepts and methods of stage direction. Topics explored through readings, discussion and creative exercises include directorial concept, script analysis and research, stage composition and movement, and casting and actor coaching. Students rehearse and present three major scenes. Prerequisite: ARTT B252: or permission of instructor.
ARTT B362 PLAYWRITING ADAPTING MYTHIC CYCLES TO THE STAGE (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
In this course we are learning to write performance texts that transcend the mere personal/psychological, move through the cultural/aesthetic realms, and reach into the epic - to the mythic order. We begin by examining the origins of theater within the functional technology of ritual practice, and look at universal myth and ritual structures across cultures. At the same time, we are locating the vectors of our own creative impulses, and allowing them to hold sway over the process of writing for the stage, and we write ourselves into unknown territory. Students are encouraged to set aside received and preconceived notions of what it means to write plays, or be a writer, along with ideas of what a play is “supposed to” or “should” look like, in order to locate their own authentic ways of seeing and making. Students will be encouraged to connect more deeply their own subconscious and, in so doing, to tap into the collective unconscious as a source material. In other words, disarming the rational, the judgmental thinking that is rooted in a concept of a final product and empowering the chaotic, spatial, associative processes that put us in immediate formal contact with our direct experience, impressions and perceptions of reality. Emphasis on detail, texture and contiguity will be favored over the more widely accepted, reliable, yet sometimes limiting Aristotelian virtues of structure and continuity in the making of meaningful live performance. Readings will be tailored to fit the thinking and inquiry of the class. We will likely look at theoretical and creative writings of Gertrude Stein, Walter Benjamin, Toni Morrison, Marlon James, Leslie Marmon Silko, George Steiner, Mac Wellman, Maria Irene Fornes, Adrienne Kennedy, Graham Harvey, Mircea Eliade, Roland Barthes, as well as work that crosses into visual art realms and radical scientific thought from physicists David Bohm and F. David Peat. The course will be conducted in workshop fashion with strong emphasis on the tracking and documenting of process.
ARTT B403 SUPERVISED WORK (1.0 Credit)
Mark Lord, Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression
Research and work in a particular topic of theater under the guidance of an instructor.
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
ARTT B430 PRACTICUM IN STAGE MANAGEMENT (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Over the semester, the student will attend all auditions, rehearsals, and performances of the Bi-College Theater Program production, and will be responsible for managing all the details of same. With the guidance of a mentor and through reading and research, the student will learn to perform the many organizational and communications tasks involved in stage management. Students will be required to read a number of texts with the goal of understanding the vast scope of the job, the artistry and authority expected of a stage manager, the variations in styles of stage management, and the standard procedures a student stage manager can incorporate into a college setting. Each student will be expected to keep a daily journal of their experience—intellectual, artistic, and practical. The journal is their own and is meant to stimulate and deepen their thinking about the process. This practicum requires that a student be willing to engage in the production process both as an artist with an intellectual stake in the work and as an adult with a position of real authority in the group. The student will be expected to use that authority while always remaining calm, polite, kind, and generous to the artists with whom they are working. Prerequisites: Prior academic work in theater and the permission of the instructor
(Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2024)