34 courses with the subject DANC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
This class offers pathways to imagine the body’s expressive potential and encourages naturalness and spontaneity of movement through dance. No experience necessary. May be repeated for credit. Offered Term 1. (CRE)
This studio course will expose students to various dance styles often found in musical theatre choreography, including jazz, ballet, and tap. Students will learn basic techniques, while acquiring a vocabulary and awareness of the styles frequently used in musical theatre. Also listed and described as MUS 165 and THEA 165. Open to first-year students.
Also listed and described as ART/FILM/MUS/THEA 175. No prerequisite. (r)
This class is designed to challenge and expand the performer’s understanding of movement possibilities. Both Western and non-Western dance techniques will be examined. Studio training will be supported by readings and/or viewings about dance artists from around the world. Students also build awareness through written responses to the work. May be repeated for credit. Open to first-year students. Prerequisite: DANC 125 for one term or permission. Offered Term 2. (CRE)
A survey of the development of dance from its beginnings to the rise of ballet and to the revolutionary beginning of the 20th century. Open to first-year students. No prerequisite. Offered Term 1 in rotation with DANC 239: Dance History II. (f, w, x, r, AES, DIV) Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 200
Intensive study of new dance/performance works and choreographers/directors who articulate and embody the 20th-century dance movement, which includes the development of modern dance and the evolving ballet forms and traditions as we know them today. Open to first-year students. No prerequisite. Offered Term 1 in rotation with DANC 237: Dance History I. Offered Term 1. (f, w, x, r, AES)
Designed for students with or without previous movement training. Assignments encourage individual expression. Students begin to build a conceptual and kinesthetic awareness of creating and organizing from both traditional and nontraditional sources for expressive purposes. May be repeated for credit. Open to first-year students with strong interest in performance studies. Offered Term 2. (CRE)
This course directs the focus of dance history and theory towards (con)temporary society; researching and rethinking: dance histories, liveness and the temporary, protest art and performances/practices from a variety of artistic, cultural, and political vantage points. Topics for Dance History III will vary and change by semester according to the interest and expertise of faculty and/or guest artists. Open to first-year students. No prerequisite. Offered Term 1 in rotation with DANC 237: Dance History I and DANC 239: Dance History II.
Also listed and described as ART/FILM/MUS/THEA 276. Offered Term 2.
This course introduces foundational theories and practices for creating dance compositions. Through composition exercises and locating a variety of sources for movement invention, students will consider choreographic forms and conceptual frames informing choreographic studies. Compositional experiences will be shaped and guided by identifying and articulating aesthetic preferences, while developing viewing skills for giving and receiving critical feedback. Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 201
Independent study conducted below the advanced level. Application must be made with faculty prior to registration. Offered any term.
This class is for advanced students. It is designed to integrate the ideas of phrasing, rhythmic clarity, and stylistic interpretation as a means of developing expressive range while moving through space. There will be strong emphasis on technical execution of movement, as well as integrating ideas of functional anatomy, kinesthetic awareness, and visualization. May be repeated for credit. Open to first-year students with permission. Prerequisite: DANC 225 or audition. Offered both terms. (CRE)
Extended exploration of theories, improvisations, and compositions of movement. May be repeated for credit. Open to first-year students. Prerequisite: DANC 240 or permission. (AES)
This course is a continuation of theories and practices introduced in Dance Composition I. Compositional study will deepen to consider expansive and complex approaches to dance making. Dance Composition II will focus on locating and nurturing individual choreographic voices, while expanding movement vocabulary, choreographic form, and expressive arrangement. Experiences will be shaped and guided by identifying and articulating aesthetic preferences, while developing skills for giving and receiving critical feedback.
Focusing on the creative process with a strong emphasis on the relationship between research, performance, and practice, this course will integrate students into a creative process culminating in the manifestation of a new dance/performance work. This course extends ways of considering and illuminating creative processes that evidence the choreographic. Directed and facilitated by department faculty, the final project will be shared in an informal/formal showing. permission. Offered Term 1. Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 202
Independent study conducted at the advanced level. Application must be made with faculty prior to registration. Offered any term.
May be proposed in any term. Application must be made with faculty prior to registration.
Seminar meets weekly as a group to discuss topics that relate directly to student projects. Original creative projects must be approved by the faculty. Creative work culminates in both written and performance work. During terms of enrollment in DANC 470, students must be enrolled in a movement studio practice course: DANC 225 (4 credits) or DANC 325 (4 credits). Offered Term 1.
This seminar, continuing processes from DANC 470, works to support and mentor the student through a capstone thesis project. Time will be spent making connections between independent student/creative work and larger Issues in the field: new research in dance studies, concerns of professional practice, alternative venues vs. accepted larger performance spaces, and the role(s) of dance in the US and abroad. This class is designed to meet the needs of each student on these projects. During terms of enrollment in DANC 470, students must be enrolled in a movement studio practice course: DANC 225 (4 credits) or DANC 325 (4 credits). Offered Term 2.
Seminar as above. During terms of enrollment in DANC 470, students must be enrolled in a movement studio practice course: DANC 225 (4 credits) or DANC 325 (4 credits). Requires year-long project by invitation of the faculty.
This studio based two-week intensive class is designed to promote a self-directed studio practice as students explore a wide range of media and artistic disciplines like time-based digital media, performance, site work, installation, and the creation of objects. Through a series of readings, the course also explores ideas about art making, medium specificity and interdisciplinary creation. The hands-on nature of the class encourages students to expand artistic practice by increasing their knowledge of available practical and technical skills, new ideas about art making, and by experimenting with different media and artistic disciplines. The course will balance discussion and studio time as students develop collaborative and individual assignments throughout the residency. Each class period will spend some time learning and incorporating simple software to aid your explorations (iMovie, Photoshop, Garage Band, After Effects) and watching relevant media works of artists in the field.
This course offers students the opportunity to work in a multitude of ways with regard to movement and studio practice and to develop an individual approach to their endeavors. Through self-directed and group study, students will be encouraged to focus their discipline and hone their skills as dance artists. Engagement will include eight to ten studio hours per week. Must be repeated for credit. artists in the field.
Contemporary Body Practices is designed as a space to investigate and explore issues around the use of the body-mind within dance. The approach in DANC 531 (Contemporary Body Practices I) draws from somatic movement studies and the brain sciences in helping students generate and answer questions around the interplay between thought and skilled movement within dance.
Reading the Seen/Scene develops around the ideas and concepts related to performance and reading the “(in)/visible.” We will read essays, view and discuss the performance work of specific artists, with a focus on the relationship between body and mind…art and culture…body and culture…the real and the representational. The class will explore ideas of conceptual frameworks, appropriation, radical presence, radical performance, composition, cultural reflection and legible meanings in performance texts such as dance, film, and theatre. Time will be spent analyzing performance work viewed in the class; developing critical viewing and response skills (reading performance).
This two-part course examines 20th-century dance history, emphasizing the relations between dance, critical writing, and culture. Weekly lectures provide overviews while expansive professional performances are viewed, and community showings present the context for classroom discussions. Must be repeated for credit.
In this course, we look at works from a variety of art forms (architecture, dance, literature, music, and visual arts) to explore space as something that can be perceived with the senses and experienced through our bodies, but that also functions as a symbolic home for our imagination. We will look at examples of how art creates and constructs space formally and how space functions in those same works of art metaphorically and thematically. We will examine a variety of ways in which humans create—or fail to create—space for individualization and expanding identity in the context of personal and social relationships and constellations.
ONLINE HU This course is a practicum in writing about dance. Students will look at and rehearse the ways written English partners with issues in dance to communicate before, during and after live performance and film; in the teaching process; and in the professional careers of choreographers and dancers. Students will also discuss “aesthetic perspectives”: how to evaluate dance works that live at the intersection of artistic creation and civic engagement, community development, and justice. Students will explore the question of how to communicate about dance in a post-mass media era, when paid work for dance writers has almost completely disappeared.
These topics will change by semester according to the expertise of the faculty and guest artists. May be repeated for credit. Examples from previous academic terms: CURATORIAL PRACTICES AND DANCE (2 or 4) From showings, to gatherings, to concerts and performances, lofts and galleries, to screens and iPods ... dance and its very groovy counterpart "performance" has struggled and thrived in the most fabulous and the most unexpected places and spaces. In this contemporary moment, where and how can dance not only happen but come alive? How can we make room and open our ways of thinking about where dance happens? PEDAGOGY: OK, NOW; SHIFTING GROUNDS OF DISCOURSE (2) This seminar focuses on contemporary as well as historical topics, positions, and attitudes relating to the training of dancers in academia. Guest speakers will meet with the group to discuss related issues and to share experiences. Different readings will be assigned to provide a framework for the course. POETRY AS PERFORMANCE (2) The emphasis on poetry as an art-making practice that is informed by both body and mind is the keystone of this class. Examining the aesthetics of textual performance as it has been applied to performative (written and oral) aspects of poetry. This class focuses on ways to intensify the experience of poetry, of the poetic, through consideration of how the different styles, structures, and forms of contemporary poetry can affect the way we see and understand the 79
This course is designed to focus and engage students in dialogue with respect to current trends and issues that surround dance today through readings and discussions (both in class and on Moodle). This seminar is designed to carve out an intimate space for each track to connect and deepen as a community. Dialogue and reading around race, sexuality, age, ability, location, class and religion will expand the framing of dance and dance making, 80
This course examines the process of artistic critique with a focus on dance and performance. In a workshop studio format, we will aim to refine this process through readings, discussions, and viewings of work. Through the collision of experience (as practitioners of the creative form), aesthetic theory and awareness of histories, we will attempt to articulate relevant and productive ways of discussing work.
Independent study conducted at the graduate level. Application must be matched with faculty prior to registration.
For low residency track – two summer students only. Extensive body of professional work evaluated by a panel of faculty and artists from the field of dance. Body of work to include: (1) dance works presented to date; (2) grants and fellowships acquired; (3) educational, teaching, and residency experiences; (4) curriculum vitae; and (5) professional references.
A collection of original work in choreography and/or performance, which culminates in a public viewing (6) along with a portfolio, which includes a written examination of the creative work (2).
Source: Hollins University's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
