Saturdays 12:30pm-2:30pm EST

November 1st, 8th, 15th, & 22nd

This course is a 4 session journey through my dissertation that explores the African and Afro diasporic influences on classical ballet from its supposed beginnings in the courts of Europe to the present day. I use George Balanchine’s Agon as a portal into the past as it intentionally merges references to the early modern courts of Europe and the modern influences of serialist music, and Black American culture. I argue that Balanchine uses ritual dances from the Rada, Gede, and Petwo Rites of Haitian Vodou as stand ins for early modern French court dances, revealing the African and Afro Diasporic roots of ballet. Many scholars have argued that he simply places these influences side by side. As this course is a hybrid of a seminar and a lecture course, I will encourage each of you to contribute substantially to discussion as a way to further develop your own thinking practices. I expect our classroom to be a safe space for each of you to share skills and knowledge you developed to engage bravely with new ideas and approaches. Each of you is a human being to me first and foremost. Please do not be afraid to bring your humanity and individuality to this course.

Each class will consist of a lecture/presentation from me that will be about an hour at most. My teaching style is interactive so it won't just be me talking for an hour. The remaining time will be spent having open discussions about the material.

There won't be any required  readings to prepare for class. 

  I hope you feel welcome and that the material and time spent in the course is useful, empowering, and healing!