Intermediate Technique: Dance a Week

DAN2431.01
Course System Home Terms Spring 2027 Intermediate Technique: Dance a Week

Course Description

Summary

This intermediate movement class progresses from foundational skeletal mobility sequences toward more expansive and complex movement forms. The warm-up focuses on joint articulation and range of motion, examining how these relate to alignment, readiness, and efficiency in movement. These principles then extend into traveling sequences and longer compositional phrases.  The aim is to cultivate a rigorous technical practice that remains adaptable—supporting, rather than constraining, each student’s individual approach to dancing and making work.

A central focus of the course is developing students’ ability to select clearer, more efficient, and more effective movement strategies through close observation of how they currently organize solutions to physical tasks. This process encourages students to witness their own in-class transformation, expanding both range and articulation.

Drawing on principles from Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, and Body-Mind Centering, the course engages joints, muscles, and organ systems to explore relational coordination within the body. By cultivating clear and conscious structural connections, students deepen sensory awareness and develop nuanced, idiosyncratic, and potentially virtuosic modes of movement.


 

Learning Outcomes

  • Develop foundational mobility and articulation through an understanding of skeletal organization, joint function, and range of motion.

    Enhance alignment and movement efficiency by examining the relationship between structure, readiness, and dynamic coordination.

    Cultivate awareness of habitual movement patterns and refine the ability to select more effective, economical, and responsive movement solutions.
    Expand movement range and expressive capacity through sustained observation, repetition, and in-class transformation.

    Support the development of individual movement language, encouraging idiosyncratic and potentially virtuosic approaches to dancing.
    Foster a consistent technical practice that is rigorous yet flexible, allowing technique to inform rather than limit creative process.

Instructor

  • Elena Demyanenko

Day and Time

MO,TH 1:40pm-3:30pm

Delivery Method

Fully in-person

Length of Course

Full Term

Academic Term

Spring 2027

Area of Study

Credits

4

Course Level

2000

Maximum Enrollment

16

Course Frequency

Every 2-3 years