Dance Studies at Yale

Dance Studies

Building on the foundation of occasional dance courses offered at Yale since the early 1980s, Theater Studies currently supports a wide-ranging program in dance studies. The curriculum consists of studio and seminar courses that cover the history, theory, and practice of dance forms spanning time and geography, from contemporary West African dance to The Twist.

The dance studies curriculum emphasizes the study of movement as a window into larger cultural processes and historical frameworks. In keeping with the mission of Theater Studies, the courses combine practical and theoretical approaches to deepening students' understanding. In the studio courses, practical execution in the form of mastering diverse dance techniques, canonical repertory and choreographic methods is treated as an invaluable component of research and writing. The curriculum further investigates the fluid and fraught relationship between movement and language. Students develop a shared critical vocabulary for reading, interpreting and writing about dance, even as many of them learn to communicate their ideas through the creation of original dance compositions.

Courses vary in format and prerequisites, from sit-down seminars open to all interested students to studio courses designed to challenge those with prior dance training. Students who have enrolled in one or more dance courses may undertake independent research projects in dance studies. A small number of Theater Studies majors each year propose senior projects in dance.

The curriculum complements the activities of the Alliance for Dance at Yale and the extra-curricular dance groups it represents.

Cross-listed with a number of other departments, the dance studies curriculum promotes the interdisciplinary study of dance as an integral and vital element of human societies.

2012 - 2013 Courses:

Fall 2012

THST 099 / FILM 045 Dance on Film (Emily Coates) MW 4 - 5:15

THST 335 / AFST 445 West African Dance: Traditional to Contemporary (Lacina Coulibaly)     TTH 1:30 - 3:20

THST 386 / AMST 223 Advanced Dance Repertory (Emily Coates) MW 1:30 - 3:20

Spring 2013

THST 235 Dance Theater (Iréne Hultman) TTH 3:30 - 5:20

 THST 277 Moving Texts (Emily Coates & Deb Margolin) MW 1:30 - 3:20

 THST 380 / AMST 370 History of Dance (Emily Coates) MW 4 - 5:15

 THST 444 Theories of Embodiment (Jessica Berson) T 1:30 - 3:20

View full course descriptions and faculty bios. 

Yale Dance Theater 

Yale Dance Theater is a faculty-sponsored, extracurricular initiative that enables Yale students to work with professional artists on the reconstruction of existing choreography and/or development of new work. YDT is conceived of as a practice-based research initiative that allows students to investigate choreographic ideas and their historical context through a rigorous rehearsal process, resulting in a final public showing.

Sponsored by the Arts Discretionary Fund in Yale College in cooperation with Theater Studies and Alliance for Dance at Yale.

For more information visit the Yale Dance Theater Blog.