Theatre and Dance

First-year students may select from the courses found under the Theatre section on the First-Year Student website. Students who have a particular interest in theatre are encouraged to enroll in THEA 101 Basic Acting, and in THEA 110 Theatre Practicum, as a co-requisite. 


THEA 101
Basic Acting
Common Area: Arts

This course offers an approach to understanding, appreciating, and practicing the art of acting through classroom exercises, improvisations, and performance of scenes from plays. Co-enrollment in theatre practicum (THEA 110) is required.

THEA 126
Asian Performance Traditions
Common Area: Arts
Common Area: Cross Cultural

Performance Traditions in Asia will examine Asian culture and its performance methods, theories, and traditions. Artistic forms of these regions include Gamelan, Topeng, Arja, Wayang, Kathakali, Kathak, Bharata Natyam, Thovil, Kabuki, Noh, Butoh, Chinese opera, etc. These forms are expressions of the belief systems of these areas of the world and contain both similarities and vast differences from their counterparts in the West. 


THEA 131
Balinese Dance 1–2
Common Area: Arts or Cross-Cultural Studies

Balinese Dance is a dance performance class which surveys the rich classical, contemporary, and folk traditions of music, mask, dance, and theatre from Bali, Indonesia. Hinduism plays a significant role in the performing arts of Bali and will be discussed in relationship to performance. Students rehearse and perform with Gamelan Gita Sari, the Holy Cross gamelan orchestra. This course can be taken for two semesters.

THEA 145
Gay Theatre and Film
Common Area: Arts

Queer Film and Theatre is designed to examine how art (specifically film and theatre) helps us define ourselves, both collectively and individually. Films and plays from different periods and cultures allow the students to examine the evolution of the human condition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered populations.

THEA 151
Ballet 1-2
Common Area: Arts

Beginning ballet technique is offered for beginners and those with less than six months of dance experience. The course will emphasize alignment, ballet positions and vocabulary, as well as the mastery of skills such as turning, jumping, and coordination. In addition to technique, the course will introduce dance history and dance appreciation through readings, videos, and class discussion. To offer a richer and more contemporary experience of ballet, students will depart from the ballet idiom and experiment with creating a personal movement vocabulary. This course can be taken for two semesters.

THEA 160
American Film
Common Area: Arts

This introductory course teaches the student how to read a movie. Films are presented by genre and conventional examples of each genre are paired with movies that play with, undercut, or expand the conventions. The syllabus includes American movies from 1930 to the present.

THEA 170
Modern Drama
Common Area:  Arts

Surveys the major aesthetic movements of the last century, employing dramatic texts and theoretical writings to illustrate successive ideas. Movements such as naturalism, symbolism, expressionism, surrealism, and the absurd are examined through a close reading of works by Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw, Wedekind, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, and others.

THEA 171
Hip-Hop / Breaking 1-2
Common Area:  Arts

An introductory breaking technique course for beginners who have no prior dance experience.  Students learn foundational exercises, improvisation and movement combinations.  The course will emphasize the cultural and historical roots of the form along with key artists who have contributed to its evolution.
 

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