The Architecture of Human Movement

REVISED

Fall 2011 quarter

Faculty

Stephanie Kozick human development , Robert Esposito dance, kinesiology

Fields of Study

dance, history, literature, somatic studies and writing

Preparatory for studies or careers in

human development, movement, and dance related fields.

Description

This program is intended for students who are eager to pursue academic and personal explorations of human development.  This program will feature inquiry into the richness, density, and complexity of human awareness, development, and relationship by integrating a theoretical and practical study of human development with movement and dance

Students will gain a vocabulary for specific ways of talking about human development and movement, which will involve a study of key influences: Kegan’s ideas about the problems and process of human development, Piaget’s developmental expressions of physical knowledge, Laban analysis, and Alwin Nikolais’ formal analysis of space, shape, time, and motion.  The concept of "motion" will be addressed as the refinement or qualification of “movement” into an infinity of potential aesthetic expressions.

The ways in which we develop as human beings involves a set of areas that include cognitive development, social/emotional development, language development, and physical development.  The latter, physical development is an especially fascinating topic. The movement study in this program will be situated historically in the 20th-century.  Rudolph Laban, along with many European artists and intelligentsia were influenced by Eastern thought, as well as by advanced science and technology.  Historical events such as the World Wars spurred an aesthetic and intellectual diaspora leading to postmodern concepts of integrative thinking and holism in environmental and human affairs. These historical movements mark a pivotal transformational period toward the development of viable, holistic networks of integrative theory and technologies designed to inform and create a human community that respects uniqueness and diversity in service of sustainable living.

Studio work will offer a practical mode of human movement study that will develop students’ personal somatic understanding.  It will also involve group work by engaging the practice of Laban’s “movement choirs,” an expressive way of exploring human development through motion.  Studio work will be placed in the context of living in a world of others that requires free exploration and creative play: fun with intent. 

This program's curricular activities will take an interdisciplinary approach that includes reading and discussing scholarly material, critiquing films, group and individual movement explorations, writing, and academic workshops.

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

No Required Online Learning

Books

Greener Store

Required Fees

Fall $45 for entrance fees.  

Offered During

Day

Program Revisions