FRS 002 — Sec. 015 — (2 units) — CRN 53603 — M 4:10-6:00pm — University Club Studio
On Creativity and Contemporary Performance

Instructor: Della Davidson, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Letters and Science

Description: This Seminar will explore the impulses of the creative processes that create contemporary performance and visual art: how artists think and the processes by which art is created. We will explore several different mediums including theater, dance and the visual arts by watching videos, attending performances and talking to artists. We will ask many questions including: What inspires artists? How is this initial inspiration realized into form? What is metaphor? How do we understand abstraction? What makes something contemporary? After looking at the work of many artists, the students will then turn the questions on themselves, exploring their own creative impulses and instincts by doing creative projects of their own design. The goal of this seminar is to explore the wonders of contemporary performance and visual art in order to connect to your own creative instincts and to learn how to “read” contemporary ideas. Learning about art teaches how to think creatively and conceptually about the world as well as to understand the importance of establishing your own point of view. Experiencing the creative process empowers you to trust your own instincts and vision.

Format: VIEWING AND READING REQUIREMENTS: ON DIRECTING by Anne Bogart; A biography of an Artist selected by the student; Videos of select Dance Artists. ATTENDANCE AT CLASS REQUIRED; ATTENDANCE at required Performances; TWO PAPERS One on the viewing of The Ten P.M. Dream and one on Rinde Eckerts’s Horizon; A PRESENTATION on one artist (The artist whose biography you have read.); A FINAL CREATIVE PROJECT with documentation of your creative process Grading: Participation and discussion in Class: 30%; Papers; 20%; Class Presentation 20%; Final Project 30%. One Absence Allowed. Additional absences reduce grade by half steps.

About the Instructor: Professor Davidson is a member of the faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance. Her creative research is in the area of choreography and interdisciplinary performance work, including physical theater and site-specific work. She is the Artistic Director of Sideshow Physical Theater, the professional in-residence performance company of the Theatre and Dance Department. Della and Sideshow are collaborating with the Theater Grottesco of Santa Fe on a new performance work based on the writing of Isabel Allende to premiere at the Mondavi Center in May of 2005. In 2003, Professor Davidson was named a Chancellor’s Fellow and received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to support the current project.