One essay, 3000 words.

·         To examine critically the dancing body and the institutional frameworks that both shape and are shaped by it.

·         To develop a complex understanding of theoretical models that investigate the construction of the body and to use this as a strategy to analyse movement practice.

Knowledge and Understanding:

·         A critical understanding of the way that the dancing body both affects and is affected by its cultural context.

·         An in-depth knowledge of theories of the body that are informed by a social constructionist perspective.

·         A critical engagement with the ways that theories of the body and its construction can be utilised to inform understanding of movement practice. 

Cognitive/Intellectual Skills:

·         Ability to analyse contradictory and complex examples of theories of the body

·         Ability to relate concepts of the body to a range of movement practices.

Practical/Key/Research Skills:

·         Ability to debate using developed written and verbal academic language

·         Ability to independently engage with a range of resources, using them to stimulate and support argument.

·         Ability to identify contradictions and problems when applying theoretical frameworks to movement practice.

·         The module examines different constructions of the body taken from cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history and biology.  It will use these disciplinary frameworks as a springboard to interrogate the idea of embodiment in dance.  The module will assess, through examining movement practices, how body constructs can be critiqued and how theoretical models relate to movement practices.

·         Content is chosen from a wide range of body constructs, such as the social body, the commodified body, the technological/cyber body, the medical body and the body of science, the biological body, the biological body, the disciplined body and the body and identity formation.

·         All students are required to make at least one 10-minute class presentation and to defend their chosen topic and/or presentation. 

Lecture, video analysis, seminar discussion, self-directed research.

Foster, Susan. (1996) (ed) Corporealities: Dancing Knowledge, Culture and Power. London: Routledge.

Shilling, Chris. (2003) The Body and Social Theory. London : Sage.

Thomas, Helen. (2003) The Body, Dance and Cultural Theory. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan.