Traditions in American Concert Dance:

Gender and Autobiography

21M.670 SP.472

Spring 2004 HASS-D

TR 1-2:30pm 1-150

Thomas DeFrantz (10-272; 3-6957; defrantz@mit.edu)

www.mit.edu/21m.670/www

Written Responses

Attend at least two professional dance or dance theater performances in the Boston area. You may confer with the instructor to be sure that the performance is appropriate for the assignment. Write a 1-2 page response to the performance that places it in the context of at least two units of the course. For example, if you attend a performance of the Boston Ballet, you might write about how the performance reflected issues of classical dance (Dance as a Classical Art) as well as the performance of the high European court (Dance as a an Expression of Social Order and Power). In addition, your response should include some detailed description of the performance, as well as your assessment of the successes of the performance as a whole. What questions or concerns did the performance raise? Could the performance have been more effective in some way? How?

While this is a response to an experience that you will engage, it is also a writing assignment. Your response must be typewritten, double-spaced, and thoroughly edited for spelling and grammar. Composition counts! Try to make your writing lively and informative. Be sure each paragraph has a central idea, and that each sentence has a subject and verb.

The written responses may be turned in any time during the semester before May 11.