Courses

The Four Core Courses: 

• Dance and New Media, a philosophical introduction to current directions and technologies in the field of Dance and New Media, with experimental workshops in coding for interactive and isadora for video art.
• Filming the Moving Body, an introduction to video production with the concept of camera as an alternate stage space, student's will use HD camcorders, dslrs, go pros and adobe premiere software to explore through creative projects the moving body. This course prepares students for the Dance for the Camera course that follows.
• Dance for the Camera, an advanced projects-based course, where students develop one dance film or new media work, through a semester long workshop based lab with an industry standard workflow that includes the creation of a treatment, timeline, budget, storyboard, shot list, set up list, with faculty showings, feedback and a fininished project to support the student's thesis. 
• Digital Dance Portfolio, a course to engage and develop the student’s awareness, and knowledge of social media and online presence by creating their own authentic brand, website, and media content portfolio that best represents their artwork.  

Also a student can take:

• Digital Performance, a collaborative course that rotates annually between Interactive Telecommunications Program offering a choreographic coding class for interactive dance media and Grad Film offering a dance film class pairing grad film and grad choreographers. This course seeks to expand collaborations to other departments in the next 5 years. 

Concentration in Dance and Technology for Graduate Students

The Concentration for MFA's is designed for graduate students who want a more intense involvement with Dance and Technology. This could be because they have already had significant performance or choreographic careers and are ready to add new skills to their arsenal, or because they are skilled choreographers and dancers wanting to experience a new creative dimension in dance. Both level one and level two (below) of the concentration are awarded the Concentration on their transcripts. 

1. Level one of the concentration allows for a limited involvement in Dance and Technology, but allows for a very full involvement in the dance program. In it a Grad Student takes the full dance program and at least four courses in Dance and Technology over their two-year residency. They complete a Thesis Project and a written Thesis. (We have students currently in this track, but none have as yet graduated) 
2. Level two of the concentration is where students limit their involvement in the program by not being active members of the Second Avenue Dance Company in their second year, which frees up many credit hours for taking intense courses outside the program (in ITP or Integrated Digital Media etc.) They are expected to create a major Thesis Project and a written Thesis. (We have four first year graduate students currently applying to be in this track.) 

The Two Year Sequence of Courses (graduate and undergraduate) 

First Year Fall 

• Dance and New Media
  This is an overview class using guests from ITP and New York City to introduce possible areas of study in Dance and Technology, with the goal of exciting students in the possibility for using these software and hardware tools for creative work and of continuing their study in one of these areas.
  
  The following is an example of areas of study: Beginning Coding using Processing, Kinect, Isadora, Max/MSP, Motion Capture, Green Screen, Animation and Graphics. 

First Year Spring

• Filming the Moving Body
  This class centers around learning to film and edit Dance on film. It covers the basics of filming dance in performance and filming dance for creative dance/film and multi-media pieces. In also introduces editing as the basic tool for all Dance and New Media Activities. Guests will come from the Film Department and Dance on Camera artists. 

Second Year Fall

• Dance for the Camera Projects
  A guest Artist or faculty will teach this class where Dance/Film or Multimedia works are developed. The particular teaching curriculum of this class can be developed by the special skills of the Guest Artist or faculty member. The focus for students is on the completion of a major dance or new media project. This could be a collaborative project, and depending on the size, completion of the project could take place over the entire year. 

Second Year Spring

• Digital Dance Portfolio
  In this class students learn to make a web portfolio representative of their creative and performing work while in the Department of Dance. This can include a website, reels, creative pieces, stage dance pieces in full or part, etc. For those doing the Concentration in Dance and New Media, this class is also a time for them to prepare their thesis projects and write their thesis paper*.
• Digital Dance Performance
  This is a collaborative class with a faculty member from ITP or film. The class is made up of students from both departments. It will include working in collaborative teams on major film projects, gallery pieces, or interactive pieces. 

* For those wanting the Dance and Technology Concentration, a written Thesis and Creative Project (Thesis Project) is required. This will be completed in the second year and will require working with a faculty advisor. The written thesis will be a documentation and discussion of the student’s creative process and research in making their thesis project.