Junior Year Preparations
During the spring term of the junior year, dance majors fill out the Senior Dance Capstone Project (SDCP) spreadsheet which details their ideas for their senior projects.
Details include:
- a declared Area of Specialty
- a proposed selection of their faculty committee
Dance majors must receive approval of their senior dance capstone project option from the dance department faculty. Approval will be based upon the degree to which the dance major has sufficiently prepared to successfully complete the proposed senior dance capstone project.
Strategies for Preparing a Successful Senior Dance Capstone Project
The following strategies suggest pathways for moving toward the senior dance capstone project and include required and highly suggested activities.
Strategies for four specific project options are detailed below, and there is always room for creative thinking and imagining in developing your individual project.
These strategies are designed to help you think proactively and intentionally about the courses you take and the actions you take as you progress toward your senior dance capstone project.
In preparation for the senior project, the dance faculty ask students to carefully plan their:
- coursework within the department
- coursework outside the department
- activities that extend beyond coursework
Following these strategies will help you create and develop a successful senior dance capstone project.
Each project contains course requirements and specific actions that must be completed before the fall of senior year, as well as other highly suggested activities.
Option #1: Choreography
Focusing on the translation of a content idea into a movement statement (piece), this project option is for students primarily interested in creating dance to be performed in any venue.
Due to the individualized nature of this type of project, you need to work in consultation with dance faculty.
Required:
Course work:
- Dance 231: Fundamentals of Choreography and Improvisation
- Dance 374: Advanced Choreography
Actions taken: The practice and performance of choreography
- Develop 1 dance work outside of a class context*
- Work with at least 2 different choreographers (student/faculty/guests) as a performer or rehearsal director
*Options include: Junior Project, auditioning a piece for the Spring Concert, re-work an in-class project
Other Highly Suggested Activities:
- Take a composition class in another discipline (music, visual art, drawing, photography, creative writing, etc.)
- Take additional classes supporting the Area of Specialty (project content or mode of presentation)
- Work as a rehearsal director for a dance piece
- Participate a in summer study or a workshop that is composition related (i.e. Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, Bearnstow, etc.)
- Take Theater 140: Introduction to Design for Performance
Option #2: Performance
This project option is for students primarily interested in exploring the art of performing.
The student will commission and perform a solo by a guest artist. They are strongly encouraged to consult with dance faculty early in the process and to explore connections to the Twin Cities dance scene through attending performances and classes.
Required:
Course work: Current and ongoing training in the dance genre of the performance project
- Consistent training in movement intensive classes or rehearsals in the dance genre of the performance project
- Dance 231: Fundamentals of Choreography and Improvisation
- Dance 374: Advanced Choreography
Actions taken:
- Perform in a range of faculty/guest works (minimum of 2)*
- Performing annually in other students’ choreography (minimum of 1 per year)
- Perform a solo before senior year outside of a class context (can include a rework of classwork)
- Individual research in dance performance theory
- Contact and commission a guest artist
*2 of these experiences must include a reflective annotation of the performance process.
Link to how to prepare this annotation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f72DzYXkWNf9pQQUUeneeIZWwdt9jY2jb41baCWQDIM/edit?usp=sharing
Students must submit these annotations to the Dance Faculty by the time they fill out the SDCP Spreadsheet
Other Highly Suggested Activities:
- Take an Independent study focused on performance
- Take Theater 115 Acting for Non-majors
- Take a non-dance class with a performance focus
- Perform in other arts disciplines (theater, music, performance art, etc.)
- Attend performances, especially solo work
- Participate in a summer study or a workshop with performance focus (i.e. American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, etc.)
- Take Theater 140: Introduction to Design for Performance
- Start learning the work the summer before senior year
Option #3: Written Thesis Project
This project option is for students primarily interested in research and the substantive writing of a thesis relevant to dance in its specific content and/or its relationship to other content areas or fields of exploration. Due to the individualized nature of this type of project, students need to work in consultation with dance faculty
Required:
Course work:
- Take Dance 124 World Dance Traditions
- Take Dance 246 Dance in the United States
- Demonstrate significant background and experience in the area in which you are writing (course work, independent study, internship, off-campus study)
Actions Taken:
- Present a writing portfolio (a broad array of your writing) to the Dance Department faculty. Included in this writing portfolio should be a paper of at least 12 pages in length (class, independent study, or junior project). Submit these to the Dance Faculty by the time that you fill out the Senior Dance Capstone Project Spreadsheet.
Other Highly Suggested Activities
- Take a writing/research class outside the dance major
- Take an independent study in research methods and/or content area
- Attend a conference in the content area (i.e. NDEO, Dance History Scholars, etc.)
- Take Dance 298: Independent Study or Dance 398: Independent Research
Option #4: Interdisciplinary Project
Focusing on the intentional integration of various disciplines, this project option is for students primarily interested in exploring particular content through the integration of various disciplines. Due to the individualized nature of this type of project, you need to work in consultation with dance faculty.
Required:
Course Work:
- Dance 150: Movement, the Camera, and the Creative Process
- Take an additional course with specific focus on the integration of disciplines*
*Options include: Art 104: Foundation New Media; Music 225: Music in the Electronic Medium; Media 160: The Media Landscape, Dance 243: Southeast Asian Performing Arts, Theater 140: Introduction to Design for Performance
Actions taken:
- View interdisciplinary forms in events and/or performances
- Develop a dance event focused on interdisciplinary collaboration prior to the senior project
Other Highly Suggested:
- Definite and substantial experience (course work and/or documented experiences) in the
areas you are integrating (courses must be selected in consultation with a faculty advisor)
- Take Art 240 Topics (if the topic relates to your project)
- Participate in a Theater Department Interim Production (Theater 133 Producing Theater: Introductory or Theater 234 Producing Theater: Advanced)
- view examples of past successful Interdisciplinary projects*
- attend conferences or workshops with experimentation/innovation as the focus
- participate in interdisciplinary events
*Kate Roy’s 2015 Senior Dance Capstone Project: Becoming; Jake Schlichting’s 2009 art class project: Equate: Part 1, Equate: Part 2; Charity Hall’s 2006 Senior Dance Capstone Project: 29 Minutes