Ballet (Western Classical Dance) is the foundational technique of the LINES BFA. We teach ballet technique as a science of movement, with progressive emphasis on individual responsibility, exploration, investigation and artistry.
Freshmen and Sophomore years will be devoted to the study of Horton or Limon techniques. Junior and Senior years offer different modalities each semester, reflecting the current field. Past semesters have focused on Gaga, improvisation, and Contemporary, amongst others.
Workshop is a flexible platform allowing the program to respond to each cohort’s unique makeup, as well as to innovations in the field. Each semester of Workshop includes the creation of an original work, to be performed for the community. Other components include Alonzo King LINES Ballet repertory, additional repertory, composition, improvisation, Critical Perspectives in Dance, career counseling and nutrition, amongst others.
The GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM® is an exercise system utilizing specially designed equipment created to develop freedom of movement, strength and flexibility, and coordination. The GES is a core component of the curriculum employed to cultivate physical knowledge and awareness and to foster a healthy approach to all movement based work. Students interested in certifying as trainers in the GES are easily able to do so with the addition of one course outside the curriculum.
Performance is a zero unit, graded course that represents participation in Senior Projects as performers (required of all freshmen, sophomores and junior dance majors) and Senior Solo performance (required of all seniors).
Building on the knowledge and skills developed throughout the course of the program, seniors, with support of faculty, will conceive and complete a work of choreography to be presented to the community. Emphasis is placed on the creation of a highly personal, layered work, with all theatrical elements such as music/sound score, lighting and costuming considered. Included in the Senior Project is a written thesis and a Question & Answer session with the audience.
DH1 discusses the theory and development of dance from its evolution in anthropological sources to 20th century contemporary dance. It is a survey history course and will touch on the anthropological basis of dance and will emphasize the history of classical ballet, American/European modern dance, African-Haitian dance, and the idioms of tap and jazz.
DH2 examines the historical, sociological, and cultural development of dance as a performing art in Western Europe and the United States, including the cultural, aesthetic, structural, and functional contributions from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and Latin America. The course covers dance as a performing art from 1450 to the present, with emphasis on 20th century concert dance in the United States.
Includes the study of the fundamentals of music, beginning sight singing, and beginning harmony.
In case studies drawn from around the world, we see dancing bodies as instruments of devotion, and as vehicles for traveling through different realms of reality. We see moving bodies as catalysts for spiritual change, and as vessels for religious meaning. We see women and men finding in dance a medium for expressing and becoming their highest ideals.
Students will be introduced to anatomy and kinesiology as applied to their own bodies. The course materials approach the understanding of the body primarily through skeletal, muscular and neurological systems, but also through considerations of other systems (i.e. digestive, respiratory), body image and concepts.
See a full breakdown of our degree plan for BFA at Dominican students, outlining classes and curriculum from freshmen to senior year.
“Classical ballet is the mainstay and technical foundation of Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican. The integration of balance and harmony; the cultivation of intuition and practical thinking, and the development of artistry and character, are the goals.
The human being is seen as a condensed microcosm of the vast macrocosm, containing all of its attributes and potentialities. The human body is understood as a triumvirate in a hierarchy of mind, body and soul, where mind is above body and soul above mind. Ballet technique is viewed not as a style, but as a science of movement based on natural laws, which govern the mechanics, shape, and movement directions of everything that exists.”
—Alonzo King