Description

Your essay will be graded on your ability to demonstrate an understanding of the course materials through fully developed, concisely-expressed ideas. There is no text box. You will need to upload a document to this page. NOTE: You will be asked to watch the video of Stormy Weather. This video is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Your essay must describe dances, people, themes and concepts from the course. These must be selected from the Lesson resources. No outside research or quotes are needed and should not be used. Select two examples from different Lessons. Examples b. and c. (see instructions below) may be switched if your c. the example is shown first in the movie followed by your b. example. The video is accessible below the prompt. 

This assignment is a cold reading of a dance. The internet can easily provide information about a dance piece, its plot, characters and creators, but most often when you see a piece, you are going to want to see it with your own eyes and through the lens of your own experience. Although it may be tempting, do not research this piece--at least, not until you have formed your own thoughts and finished your essay. With a minimum 900 word essay, please: a) Write an introduction that explains your own personal experience of watchingStormy Weather explaining your expectations before watching the film, your thoughts as you watch it, and providing a thesis about this film. If you need help with a thesis then you could explain, from your perspective: how dance illustrates the American experience and in what ways; how the movie illustrates the history of American dance. b) Themes example: Choose a dance scene from Stormy Weather and describe it. What makes this scene significant for you? How does it develop your thesis? As you describe this scene, compare it to themes, concepts, people and dances from including: Explain if this film supports Broadway themes or Modernist/Puritan themes. How are these themes represented in the film and/or in the dance scene? Which one(s) is represented and how? 

Describe the form, technique, and structure involved in this one scene. (consider technique as performing a cultural tradition, not about who taught it.) What movements and gestures are part of this dance? What technique(s) seem to be present? Who is represented? Describe how the dance illustrates or contradicts your thoughts on the American identity and how it compares or contrasts to dances from a Lesson of your choosing; c) History of Dance example: Choose a second dance scene from Stormy Weather and describe it. What makes this scene significant for you and your discussion? How does it further develop your thesis? As you describe this scene, compare it to themes, concepts, people and dances from other Lessons including: