Course Type: Elective

Dance 1B is a movement-based studio course designed to further the development of the dancer in the principles and elements of modern dance practice and choreography.  The class will include physical practice in contemporary/modern dance technique.  Students will study dance history, choreographic processes, and improvisational techniques.  Through written assignments and class discussions, students will grow in their ability to analyze dance performance as an art form through a critical, informed, and appreciative lens.  Students will work collaboratively to explore dance elements and perform choreographed dances in a supportive community environment.

Students will continue the study and development of acting through scene work. While building on the principles and techniques learned in Drama 1A, students will participate in group warm-ups (vocal and physical), theatre games, improvisations, and advanced theatre exercises. Students will work on scenes from professionally produced plays. Students will study 20^th Century theatre through the study of playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and August Wilson.

Roots of Jazz: Exploring Music in Culture is designed for non-musicians and develops the art of perceptive listening to music of Africa, Latin American, India, Bali, China, the Middle East, Asia, Japan, and Eastern Europe. Learning will be balanced between theoretical and experiential song-writing activities. Students will evolve specific criteria for listening to, describing, analyzing, understanding, and creating music as it is understood and experienced in different cultures. Students will play instruments and explore digital media.  This is an intermediate level course, meeting four class hours per week with extensive lectures, experiential learning, audio-visual presentations, class projects, demonstration and attendance at live performances.

The Photography 1B class will build on skills learned in Photography 1A.  In addition, students will learn basic studio lighting and more advanced darkroom techniques to obtain better results when printing in black and white.  Still life is a major aspect of the program and images from the following artists will be presented: Edward Weston, Renger-Patzsch, Minor White and Aaron Siskind.  At the end the semester, students will do research on the biography and style of a photographer who has made important aesthetic advances in history.  The final project will consist of creating still life images with thematic unity.

3D Studies/Mixed Media Sculpture B continues the exploration of the visual world; its relationships of form and space — in the context of historical examples, environmental/cultural impact, creative self-expression and collaborative pieces.  Field trips to local museums and sculpture collections and some written work will complement the original work created by the student in the studio and at home.

*This class will be offered pending adequate enrollment.

As a follow-up course to Studio Art A, the Studio Art B class will place emphasis on the concept of connection and progression in developing and expanding a visual image.  A more refined sense of visual decision-making and creative initiative will be stressed and expected of the mature visual arts student.  Students will use a variety of materials, techniques, and styles to explore themselves in relationship to their personal history, community, and their God.  We will work in acrylic paint, water color paint, pencil, oil pastel, colored pencil, linoleum block prints, and a variety of mixed media materials.  A special project involving an in depth self-study through visual images will urge the student to see her/himself in various aspects; with a connection to a specific community, a realistic self-portrait and a non-objective symbol that strikes a familiar resounding chord.