DANCE AND PERFORMANCE ART HISTORY

This course is part of two Programs: the first is the Master Degree Program in History of Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage, aiming at providing a well- rounded education with in-depth knowledge of artistic phenomena. The second is the Master Degree Program in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities (EGArt) that provides an understanding of the dynamics and complexities of the creative industries.
The course provides depth knowledge of contemporary dance and performance art, as much as of the workings of the various models of their production and reception.

Students will be able to situate contemporary dance pieces and performances in the wider context of arts and cultural heritage. They will also be able to apply some key concepts of the arts management to these fields. During the course, they will learn how to critically approach a dance piece and a performance, how to take notes both from the lessons and from the referral texts to fix the main concepts and develop their analysis and synthesis skills. Finally, students will be able to consciously use specialist vocabulary. The written exam will give students the opportunity to verify the knowledge they have acquired and their ability to contextualize it by relating it to what they have learned throughout the entire curriculum.

An advanced knowledge of written English is required to understand some of the required texts and excerpts from the dance shows examined in class.

The course presents a selection of 20th- and 21st-century choreographic works and performances that are directly or indirectly linked to the construction, representation, and reception of the body, and gender, ethnic, national, and religious identities. Students will be confronted with a wide range of theatrical theories and performance practices starting from a selection of video-recordings of theatre shows to analyze different genres, production processes and the mechanisms that regulate the reception of the audience. The specific terminology needed to understand the texts under scrutiny will be introduced and examined in class. Some lessons will be dedicated to the programming of contemporary dance and performance art in museums and art galleries with particular reference to the project supported by Creative Europe "Dancing Museums. The Democracy of Beings" (2018-2021) coordinated at Ca' Foscari by Susanne Franco. For students unable to attend, the program is the same but a meeting with the professor is strongly recommended to discuss the referral texts and to understand how to prepare for the final paper.

A. Pontremoli, La danza 2.0. Paesaggi coreografici del nuovo millennio, Roma, Laterza, 2018 (chapters 3, 4, 7).

R. Goldberg (ed. by) Performance. Live Art Since the 60s, London, Thames and Hudson, 2004 (1998) (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4).

C. Wood, Performance in Contemporary Art, London, Tate Publishing, 2018.

L. Vergine, L'arte in trincea. Lessico delle tendenze artistiche 1960-1990, Milano, Skira, 1996.

A selection of essays and videos is suggested on moodle (the password will be provided via email by Prof. Franco).

The final exam consists of a paper of 15 pages (30.000 signs, spaces included) that will be discussed during the orals. The topic of the paper must be previously agreed with the professor. The paper must involve substantial coverage of the texts in the reading list and of a couple of additional volumes or four articles specifically related to the chosen topic. Cross-disciplinary observations will be particularly appreciated. The paper should be submitted as a Word file in its draft version (containing the bibliography and the potential structure) about 15 days before the exam in order to be revised and approved by the professor. The final version should be submitted a week before the exam. To edit the paper the student should use the file “Norme per la stesura della tesina” (available in the section of moodle.unive.it dedicated to this class). The oral exam consists of an interview of about 15 minutes in which the student presents and discusses the results of his/her research and relates them to the rest of the referring texts and of the videos.

Lectures including the screening of videos and commented powerpoints. The course is linked to an e-learning platform (moodle.unive.it) where students can find information about texts and videos discussed in class (the password will be provided via email by Prof. Franco).

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development