Last year, the Department of Dance at Mason Gross School of the Arts unveiled its International Dance Studies Online Certificate program, featuring elective courses each focusing on a different world region.
"These are a variety of rigorous academic courses in dance studies, placing dance practices in their social, cultural, political and sometimes religious contexts,” said Jeff Friedman, Ph.D., associate professor of dance studies and certificate program coordinator.
The online certificate program provides students with an ability to "critically analyze dance practices from an array of global-local cultural contexts,and sometimes students will get the chance to record and share a selfie-dance, too," he said.
At the completion of the program, students will be able to understand the complexities of globalizing pressures on changing dance practices and a knowledge of a variety of international dance practices.
In October 2017, Friedman announced that three new courses were added to the program, giving students the ability to earn the certificate by completing four of the following three-credit courses:
- Dance in India (07:203:136) NEW
- Dance in Israel: Body, Ideology and Culture (07:206:134) NEW
cross-listed as Special Topics/Jewish Studies (01:563-293)
- Dance Forms in Africa (07:203:135) NEW/AVAILABLE SPRING 2018
- Dance in Istanbul: Whirling, Belly Dancing and Revolving Around East and West (07:203:133)
- Dance Appreciation Online: The Art of Movement (07:203:131)
- History of Broadway Dance Online (07:203:132)
The courses are all at the introductory 100 entry-level, and all of them are taught by global dance artist or scholars from around the world with master’s and doctoral degrees in dance studies and dance education. For complete details on certificate program requirements and course descriptions, read the flyer.
Friedman coordinated the program over a period of three years, with the aid of an "Internationalizing the Curriculum" Rutgers Global Grant. Rutgers Global is celebrating the fifth cycle of the Rutgers Global Grants, an annual seed funding initiative intended to stimulate international collaboration, research, and teaching.
For more on this grant opportunity, consider attending the Rutgers Global Grants Symposium on November 16, 2017.
