Theorizing corporeality through dance scholarship and practice
The Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies and the M.F.A. in Experimental Choreography at UCR's Department of Dance are cutting edge programs in Dance Studies designed for the next generation of scholars, artists, and educators committed to world-wide research in dance, embodied reflection, and meaning-making through movement.
The Ph.D. program, established in 1993 (as the Ph.D. in Dance History and Theory), has achieved world-class status as the preeminent site for intellectual inquiry into dance, corporeality, movement, choreography, and performance. The specificity of the program's focus on dance studies -- as opposed to performance studies or theater studies -- distinguishes it in the field. The training doctoral students receive at UC Riverside prepares them to become the next generation of dance scholars.
The M.F.A. program, inaugurated in 2002, is especially designed for the practicing artist who desires to return to an institutional context for advanced study. The focus of the program is on the development of experimental choreography that challenges cultural assumptions and is informed by a critical and reflective perspective. M.F.A. students benefit from close interaction with the Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies program.
The cooperation between these two graduate programs, both conceptually and through linked curricula, contributes to the department's embrace of both dance making and written scholarship - dancing and writing about dancing - as modes of theorizing corporeality.
For questions, please email the Graduate Advisor via the Dance Administrative Coordinator, Katrina Oskie, at katrina.cox@ucr.edu