HAAVC 3000 seminars continue developing students' visual analysis and research skills while providing students the opportunity for in-depth study of the visual/structural artifacts associated with a particular topic, region, or movement. Students will also engage with the relevant primary/secondary literature for the specific topic/theme. Courses will pay particular attention to the larger cultural, historical, and theoretical/ideological contexts in which the visual artifacts and structures under consideration were created. This course cannot fulfill the HAAVC 2000 requirement.Course DescriptionThe class looks at West African Dance from Guinea, Mali, and Senegal and its formal, historical and political significances. The interplays among West African dance, aesthetics of art and life, and “Griot time,” will be important to the course. Badenya is a Mande term for “coming together in ‘familial’ harmony,” and this idea will be explored as a philosophical and formal concept in dance and in artistic production in other media. Students are expected to delve into these issue via asynchronous lectures, readings, and small assignments. Weekly synchronous meetings will have a short discussion segment related to the dance practice and experiment of the day. Most weeks, students will learn West African dance movements and gestures. Repeating choreography asynchronously for the purposes of memorization may be required. This course is more of a lab, rather than a traditional West African Dance class. No prior experience with West African or any other “formal dance” is required, but a willingness to learn and to be an active and positive contributor to a supportive environment is. Online course sections will be delivered with both asynchronous and synchronous components that will be outlined in the course syllabus. All synchronous activities will occur during the times listed on the course schedule.

Visit Workday to view this information.