AMST 226
Gender and the Dancing Body Spring 2025
Division II D Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed DANC 226 / WGSS 226 / THEA 226

Class Details

This course posits that the dancing body is a particularly rich site for examining the history of gender in America and beyond. The aim of the course is to explore ideas related to gender as prescribed by dominant cultural, social, and religious institutions, and how dance has been used to challenge those normative ideologies. We will examine a wide range of dance genres, from stage performances to popular forms to dance on television, with particular attention to the intersections of race and class with gender. This is primarily a discussion-based seminar course and may also include film screenings, movement workshops, discussions with guest artists and scholars. No previous dance experience required.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 10-15
Class#: 3236
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: participation in discussions and presentations, reading responses, in-class writing assignments, two 5-6 page essays, and a final cumulative essay.
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: first years and sophomores
Distributions: Divison II Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
DANC 226 Division I AMST 226 Division II WGSS 226 Division II THEA 226 Division I
DPE Notes: In the course, students will explore the concept of gender as a social construction and how the body's historical associations to markers of gender and sexuality lead to differences in socio-political power. The assigned texts and viewings provide examples of how bodies and their movements make meaning in a network of power relationships, and how artists use dance to address social inequalities such as sexism, racism, and transmisogyny, to imagine a more just world.

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