Seminar on Dance Writing 1

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Code	Completion	Credits	Range	Language Instruction	Semester
107SDW1	credit	2	1 seminar hours (45 min) of instruction per week, 41 to 51 hours of self-study	English	winter

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Learning objective:

The aim of the course is to deepen the students' ability to apply the acquired historical and theoretical knowledge to independent work on specific tasks related to dance journalism and criticism. It develops the ability of independent professional reflection on dance issues, contributes to the formation of own opinions, skills in their formulation and argumentation. Provides an overview of the development of dance journalism and criticism, its theoretical foundations, explanatory potential, personalities, current status and issues. Prepares students for employment in the professional dance world in the realm of dance popularization, in linking professional perspectives on dance with public perceptions of dance, and in forming opinions about dance, its meanings and values. It deepens the skills of theoretical reflection on live dance. Emphasis is placed on working with texts.

Thematic areas:

The content of the seminar consists of the study and analysis of journalistic texts of various nature in the historical and contemporary press, the elaboration of own texts of various genres and on assigned topics, their analysis and discussion. In the first semester, the following thematic areas are covered, mostly in parallel:

Dance journalism, theoretical background and contemporary conceptualization of dance/art criticism
The development of dance journalism in the 17th - 19th centuries in the European and Czech context (The Spectator, Théophile Gautier; the beginnings of dance criticism in Bohemia, Anton Müller, Jan Neruda); dance in the daily press and cultural journals
Basic journalistic genres and their characteristics
Study of historical periodicals - texts related to dance
Independent production of texts - report and annotated report, interview; conference report, review of a professional publication, their analysis in terms of content and stylistic and linguistic

Learning outcomes

Development of critical thinking and argumentation skills, linking factual knowledge and methodological assumptions in independent reflection on dance; acquisition of literary skills, development of expressive abilities; new knowledge concerning specific issues of dance journalism and criticism from different perspectives.

Prerequisites and other requirements

none

Literature

Required reading:

BING-HEIDECKER, Liora. Unearthing the Spirit: The Archaeological Metaphor and the Uncanny Pathology of Romantic Ballet. Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research [online], vol. 35, no. 2, 2017, pp. 165–186 [cit. 2021-03-28]. ISSN 1750-0095. Online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/90020125?seq=1.

GAUTIER, Théophile. Gautier on dance. London: Dance books, 1986. ISBN 978-0903102940.

MACAULAY, Alastair. Matthew Bourne and his adventures in dance. London: Faber & Faber, 2011. ISBN 978-0571235889.

MEGLIN, Joellen A. Behind the Veil of Translucence: An Intertextual Reading of the ‘Ballet Fantastique’ in France, 1831-1841. Part Three: Resurrection, Sensuality, and the Palpable Presence of the Past in Théophile Gautier's Fantastic. Dance Chronicle [online], vol. 28, no. 1, 2005, pp. 67–142 [cit. 2021-03-28]. ISSN 1532-4257. online: www.jstor.org/stable/1568191.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Credit is awarded for continuously completed seminar assignments, for the creation of own journalistic and critical texts on the assigned topics, for reflection on literature, and for active participation in discussions. Attendance in class at least 75%.

Includes attendance at selected dance performances and events.

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans

Choreology (MA) - from 2023/24 (required subject with the possibility of repeat registration)