Spring 2026 Course Search

The F-Word: Confronting Fascism in a World on Fire — POL4259.01

Instructor: John Hultgren
Days & Time: MO,TH 10:00am-11:50am
Credits: 4

In the United States, recent years have witnessed an upsurge in right-wing organizing and violence, culminating in the 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol that sought to overturn the legitimate results of a democratic election. This is not a uniquely American problem. Across much of the globe, political parties organized around hyper-nationalism have gained steam, in some cases mobilized through charismatic leaders wrapping their hateful politics in faux-populist rhetoric.

Intermediate Painting: Ground to Surface — PAI4219.01

Instructor: Beverly Acha
Days & Time: TU 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

When you first learn how to paint, the focus is typically on gaining facility with the application and manipulation of paint to articulate the subject. In this intermediate course, we shift our attention to the often overlooked step that precedes painting: preparing the surface. 

Actions in Process: Junior Choreography Workshop — DAN4818B.01

Instructor: Jesse Zaritt
Days & Time: TH 1:40pm-3:30pm
Credits: 2

Actions In Process: Junior Choreography Workshop positions creative research as a multifaceted practice that includes dancing, reading, writing, drawing, sound-making and theatrical design. The course weaves choreographic practice and group study in a variety of collaborative, experimental and performative configurations. Time in class will be devoted to combinations of lectures, workshops, exercises, readings, discussions, viewings, listening sessions and individual/group choreographic experiments.

(Placeholder): Performance Pedagogies of Dance — DAN4816B.01, section 1

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: Tu/F 7:00PM-8:50PM
Credits: 3

PODs offer students the opportunity to make connections through multiple access points, especially in areas of performance. PODs are designed to help students recognize the tools and methodologies used in their own creative work both as performers and as choreographers. Structurally each POD is identified by a unique topic. PODs have required rehearsal times and culminate in a public showing.

The artist will create an original work with BFA students through an intensive research and rehearsal process.

(Placeholder): Performance Pedagogies of Dance — DAN4816B.02, section 2

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: Tu/F 7:00PM-8:50PM
Credits: 2

PODs offer students the opportunity to make connections through multiple access points, especially in areas of performance. PODs are designed to help students recognize the tools and methodologies used in their own creative work both as performers and as choreographers. Structurally each POD is identified by a unique topic. PODs have required rehearsal times and culminate in a public showing.

The artist will create an original work with BFA students through an intensive research and rehearsal process.

CDP: Senior Thesis Workshop — DAN4803B.01, section 1

Instructor: Jesse Zaritt
Days & Time: W 10:00AM-2:00PM
Credits: 4

This course is designed to be the culmination of the BFA program for all dance majors. Each student will propose a thesis project, develop goals and objectives for the semester, and present their work. Modes of practicing, situating and expressing thesis project research will be mobilized and extended through ongoing critical dialogue. We will attend to, in practice, the urgent questions facing our lives and the field of dance and performance. 

TMD: Practice + Process — DAN4831B.01, section 1

Instructor: Katie Swords Thurman
Days & Time: MO,TH 3:40pm-5:30pm
Credits: 2

Each Practice + Process course is designed around the research/pedagogic interests of the faculty member leading the class. The overall curricular structure positions studio practice, creative process and critical reading, thinking and languaging as integrated elements within one course, enabling students to move between modes of learning, reflection and making.

TMD: Practice + Process — DAN4831B.02, section 2

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: TU,FR 4:10pm-6:00pm
Credits: 2

Each Practice + Process course is designed around the research/pedagogic interests of the faculty member leading the class. The overall curricular structure positions studio practice, creative process and critical reading, thinking and languaging as integrated elements within one course, enabling students to move between modes of learning, reflection and making.

TMD: Practice + Process — DAN4831B.03, section 3

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: MO,TH 3:40pm-5:30pm
Credits: 2

Each Practice + Process course is designed around the research/pedagogic interests of the faculty member leading the class. The overall curricular structure positions studio practice, creative process and critical reading, thinking and languaging as integrated elements within one course, enabling students to move between modes of learning, reflection and making.

TMD: Practice + Process — DAN4831B.04, section 4

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: TU,FR 4:10pm-6:00pm
Credits: 2

Each Practice + Process course is designed around the research/pedagogic interests of the faculty member leading the class. The overall curricular structure positions studio practice, creative process and critical reading, thinking and languaging as integrated elements within one course, enabling students to move between modes of learning, reflection and making.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.01, section 1

Instructor: Katie Swords Thurman
Days & Time: M 10:00AM-11:50AM, Th 10:00AM-11:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.02, section 2

Instructor: Katie Swords Thurman
Days & Time: M/Th 10:00AM-11:50AM, Tu/F 10:30AM-12:20PM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.01, section 1

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: M/Th 8:30AM-9:50AM, W 8:30AM-9:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.02, section 2

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: M/W/Th 8:30AM-9:50AM, T/F 8:30AM-10:20AM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.03, section 3

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: Tu 8:30AM-10:20AM, F 8:30AM-10:20AM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.04, section 4

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: Tu/F 8:30AM-10:20AM, M/W/Th 8:30AM-9:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.03, section 3

Instructor: Katie Swords Thurman
Days & Time: Tu 10:30AM-12:20PM, F 10:30AM-12:20PM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.05, section 5

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: M 10:00AM-11:50AM, Th 10:00AM-11:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.06, section 6

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: M/Th 10:00AM-11:50AM, Tu/F 10:30AM-12:20PM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.04, section 4

Instructor: Katie Swords Thurman
Days & Time: Tu/F 10:30AM-12:20PM, M/Th 10:00AM-11:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Reading as a Collective Act: Thinking Through Dance and Performance — DAN4819B.01

Instructor: Donna Faye Burchfield
Days & Time: M 1:40PM-3:30PM, W 10:00AM-11:50AM
Credits: 4

This course aims to experiment with generative and alternative forms of reading that can be thought of as not only a methodology, but as a practice that supports us as we engage in research with, alongside and through study in dance and performance. We will ask ourselves what it means to read and “make sense” of texts and events today…together. 
*For BFA students this course satisfies Critical Studies credit.
 

The Politics of Immigration — POL2259.01

Instructor: John Hultgren
Days & Time: WE 10:00am-11:50am
Credits: 2

The U.N. estimates that there are 281 international migrants in the world, a number that has grown precipitously over the past half century and shows little sign of dissipating. Over the same time period, anti-immigrant parties and leaders have sprung up across much of the world, with visions of national revitalization contingent upon militarized borders and mass deportations. How might we understand the complex and contradictory forces that give rise to such a reality?

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.05, section 5

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: M/Th 8:30-9:50AM, W 8:30-9:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.06, section 6

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: M/W/Th 8:30AM-9:50AM, Tu/F 8:30AM-10:20AM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.07, section 7

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: Tu 8:30AM-10:20AM, F 8:30-10:20AM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Ballet (with Lab) — DAN4815B.08, section 8

Instructor: Michael Sheridan
Days & Time: Tu/F 8:30AM-10:20AM, M/W/Th 8:30AM-9:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Advanced Workshop for Painting and Drawing: The Contemporary Idiom — PAI4216.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: MO 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 4

This course is for experienced student artists with a firm commitment to serious work in the studio. Students will work primarily on self-directed projects in an effort to refine individual concerns and subject matter. Students will present work regularly for critique in class as well as for individual studio meetings with the instructor. Development of a strong work ethic will be crucial.

Deep Fakes: An Introduction to Oil Painting — PAI2109.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: TU 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

Fake news, reality television, “IRL” – asserting the veracity of our perceptions is a constant preoccupation in contemporary culture. What is real? Realism is a widely used term with multiple connotations: verisimilitude, authenticity, objectivity, truth, fact.

The Panorama Project: Reconstruction of Martha Graham’s 1935 Bennington Premiere — DAN2426.02

Instructor: Cameron Childs
Days & Time: See course description for days/times
Credits: 1

In 1935, at Bennington College, Martha Graham created the iconic work Panorama. This piece “was Graham’s political call to action and her attempt to awaken social consciousness and is a stunning example of 1930s modernism.” The Martha Graham Dance Company returns to Bennington to celebrate its 100th year by teaching and performing this piece.

Actions in Practice — DAN4833B.01

Instructor: Sidra Bell
Days & Time:
Credits: 3

Actions in Practice employs Sidra Bell's CONTEMPORARY SYSTEMS, an interior and material approach to movement that encourages provocative thought and an immersive approach to the subject matter of the body. The work demands a high degree of physicality and input from the dancers, encouraging them to execute movement with intention, curiosity, and empathy.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.07, section 7

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: Tu 10:30AM-12:20PM, F 10:30AM-12:20PM (Lab)
Credits: 1

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice: Combined Forms (with Lab) — DAN4832B.08, section 8

Instructor: Faculty TBA
Days & Time: Tu/F 10:30AM-12:20PM, M/Th 10:00AM-11:50AM (Lab)
Credits: 2

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

CDP: Senior Thesis Workshop — DAN4803B.02, section 2

Instructor: Jesse Zaritt
Days & Time: W, 10:00AM-2:00PM
Credits: 4

This course is designed to be the culmination of the BFA program for all dance majors. Each student will propose a thesis project, develop goals and objectives for the semester, and present their work. Modes of practicing, situating and expressing thesis project research will be mobilized and extended through ongoing critical dialogue. We will attend to, in practice, the urgent questions facing our lives and the field of dance and performance.