Dance 420 – Dance Aesthetics

Philosophical frameworks will support our consideration of a number of conceptual issues central to performing arts in general, and dance in particular, such as: What makes an action an artistic performance? How should we identify two performances of the same artwork, for example Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring? What makes a performance authentic? Do dance and other performing arts have a more constitutive connection to the body than do other art forms? How should we characterize improvisation in artistic performances? What are the relations between the various collaborators in artistic performances, for example, choreographers, dancers, playwrights, actors, directors, composers, conductors, musicians, and set designers? What difference does it make, if any, that a performance is “live”? Is something lost when we sit home with a cd, or stroll with an iPod? More generally, what role does the audience play in artistic performance? Examples from contemporary dance, music, theater, and performance art will be used throughout the course.
Course Goals:
To critically examine recent scholarship concerning aesthetic issues in the performing arts.
To gain greater appreciation of distinct artistic roles in the production of performing artworks.
To grapple with the general nature of art and performance and their roles in contemporary culture.
To practice articulating abstract and complex ideas and arguments in writing and in speech.
To develop and hone skills for philosophical analysis, including the clarification of concepts, and the critique and construction of arguments.
Taught jointly with Philosophy 401B “Philosophy of the Performing Arts”.