Open (ATC30) AND UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE PREPARATION (ATC3M)
This course will give students opportunities to express increasingly complex ideas through
ASL dance movement and to experiment with choreography. Students will develop technical skills; study the historical aspects of various dance forms (advanced swing, contemporary and popping hip-hop) and the function of dance in Deaf community and hearing community; evaluate dance works; and investigate ways where ASL and dance can be integrated.
Note: In dance, the medium of expression is movement, the instrument is the human body and the guide is musical rhythms. A large percent of Deaf individuals rely on visual cues & contact with other performers, counting to the beats and vibration created by the music as their guide to dancing. This course also will allow Deaf individuals appreciate the music and the dance forms through ASL. This presents an opportunity for students to connect the bass and the beats of music to various ASL dance forms and express their understanding and appreciation of the music and the three essential dance forms through creative and expressive dancing.
Reference: For a list of links, please click on “Dance Resources”.
Overall Expectations
By the end of this course, students will:
- describe various ASL dance forms in North America (Dancing Hands, Rathskeller, Wild Zappers, SignDance Company and Flux Fusion) and around the world (China Disabled [Deaf] Performing Arts Troupe, ChanDanse des Sourds from France, etc.) using appropriate terminology;
- demonstrate technical proficiency in two or more forms of dance – advanced swing, contemporary, and popping hip-hop;
- choreograph dance works that combine a broad spectrum of complex movement skills and techniques (advanced swing – body flight and count techniques such as centre point balance, west coast swing techniques such as right side pass, left side pass, push break, tuck & turn, basket and whip with the “Overload”, contemporary – Alexander, Graham, Release techniques with the “You Show Me”, and locking hip-hop techniques such as animation, boogaloo, crazy-legs, dine, stopping, liquid dancing, puppet, scarecrow, strobing, ticking, touman, king tut, vibrating with any funk, electro or hip-hop songs);
- demonstrate an understanding of ASL dance choreography, presentation and production;
- analyse and evaluate the formal structure and meaning of fusing ASL with a broad spectrum of dance forms;
- demonstrate an understanding of historical timeline of ASL dance;
- analyse the significance and function of a variety of ASL dance forms in specific communities (i.e., Deaf community and hearing community).
Specific Expectations
By the end of this course, students will:
- describe the elements, principles, and techniques used in a variety of ASL dance forms from advanced swing, contemporary to locking hip-hop;
- identify ASL dance forms from a variety of time periods and describe their historical, structural, and stylistic characteristics;
- demonstrate an understanding of the historical timeline and evolution of ASL dance;
- demonstrate skill in executing complex ASL and body movements (locomotor and non-locomotor movements, combinations of movements) and body positions in two or more ASL dance forms (advanced swing – body flight and count techniques such as centre point balance, west coast swing techniques such as right side pass, left side pass, push break, tuck & turn, basket and whip with the “Overload”, contemporary – Alexander, Graham, Release techniques with the “You Show Me”, and locking hip-hop techniques such as animation, boogaloo, crazy-legs, dine, stopping, liquid dancing, puppet, scarecrow, strobing, ticking, touman, king tut, vibrating with any funk, electro or hip-hop songs);
- demonstrate increased technical proficiency in two or more ASL dances (advanced swing, contemporary and locking hip-hop), showing coordination, endurance, flexibility, fluidity, rhythmic sense, and strength in their performances;
- the ability to fuse and use vibrations, ASL, visuals, body movements, and themes, as stimuli for both improvisation and performances;
- solve complex compositional (both ASL and dance) problems through guided exploration (e.g., notation systems such as cues, counting, eye contact, communication with others);
- demonstrate appropriate use of elements, principles, skills in technique and composition with respect to formal structure and meanings through their presentation of dance works.
- analyse and explain the significance and function of a variety of dance forms in the Deaf community and hearing community;
- use multimedia technology (e.g., videotape, CD-ROM stop action) appropriately as an analytical tool in the field of ASL dance. (The Deaf Culture Centre has a multimedia media studio complete with state of the art multimedia technology to record and view dance performance).
