Search our site
Search our site

Street Dances

  • Module code: DC6007
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 6
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: Successful completion of Level 5 Dance requirements or equivalent
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This Level 6 optional module allows students to further specialise their study of dance by focusing solely on the group of popular dance forms that have become known under the umbrella term of ‘street dance'.  During the module students will study a number of ‘street dances' in their historical, cultural, economic and political contexts, reflecting on the ways in which these popular dance forms have been transposed, modified, codified, commodified and hybridised.  Using theoretical approaches introduced in the core Level 5 module Popular Dance, students will analyse street dances in relation to issues such as authenticity, ownership, identity, commercialisation and globalisation.  Students will also study how street dances are represented in screen media, for example in street dance films, music videos, TV talent shows and advertisements.  This module has a substantial practical component with a particular focus on developing technical skills in styles that may include locking, popping, breaking (or b-boying / b-girling), hip hop or house.

Aims

  • Introduce students to theories, methodological approaches and issues relevant to the study of street dances
  • To provide technical training in specific street dance styles 

Learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches relevant to the study of street dances
  • Analyse the meanings, values and aesthetics of specific street dances
  • Demonstrate technical knowledge and skill in performing selected street dance styles
  • Show an awareness of performance conventions for chosen street styles
  • Demonstrate creativity in developing and performing innovative street dance performance

Curriculum content

  • Concepts relevant to the study of street dances: popular dance, popular culture, intertextuality, value, identity, globalisation, hybridity, authenticity, ownership, commmercialisation
  • The historical, cultural, economic and political development of a range of street dances (eg. popping, locking, voguing, waacking, hip hop, house, krump, kuduro)
  • Street dances in screen media (talent shows/competitions, documentaries, adverts, films, internet video sharing websites, music video)
  • Hip hop dance theatre
  • Popping, locking, breaking, hip hop, house, voguing, waacking, krump, kuduro
  • Crew dancing

Teaching and learning strategy

Across the year students will participate in weekly two hour sessions that will be structured as practical classes to provide technical training in a number of street dance forms, or lectures and discussion seminars to introduce areas of theoretical, historical or conceptual study.  In teaching block one students will be introduced to debates surrounding street dances, as well as developing technical skills in foundational street styles such as locking, popping, breaking, hip hop and house.  In the second teaching block students will begin to look at how these dance styles have developed in the contemporary street dance scene. 

A number of key skills are developed as part of this module.  In particular students will develop self-awareness, research and information literacy, communication, inter-personal, management and leadership, and creativity and problem-solving skills.  A number of activities will develop these skills including small group and class discussion, as well as practical workshops and tasks.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Lecture / seminar 12
Scheduled learning and teaching Practical 34
Guided independent study Independent study 254
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

  • Assignment 1: Technique assessment 35%
  • Assignment 2 : Group performance and group presentation 65%

Students will receive feedback on both the proposal, group presentation and performance pieces before the final assessments. There will also be elements of formative assessment including regular research and reading tasks, as well as a proposal for the group presentation.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches relevant to the study of street dances Presentation with performance
Analyse the meanings, values and aesthetics of specific street dances Presentation with performance
Demonstrate technical knowledge and skill in selected street dance styles Technique assessment and performance
Show an awareness of performance conventions for chosen street styles Technique assessment and performance
Demonstrate creativity in developing and performing innovative street dance performance Performance

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
PRC Technique Assessment 35
PRC Presentation and Performance 65
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Forman, M. & Neal, M.A. (eds) (2004) That's The Joint! The Hip Hop Studies Reader New York and London: Routledge.

Schloss, J. (2009) Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip Hop Culture in New York New York: Oxford University Press.

Bibliography recommended reading

Chang, J. (2007) Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation London: Ebury Press.

Dodds, S. (2011) Dancing on the Canon: Embodiments of Value in Popular Dance Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gilroy, P. (1993) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness London: Verso.

Malnig, J. (ed.) (2009) Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance Reader Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Osumare, H. (2007) The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip Hop New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Perkins, W. E. (ed.) (1996) Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Rose, T. (1994) Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.

Schloss, J. (2009) Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip Hop Culture in New York New York: Oxford University Press.

Tucker, L. (2007) Lockstep and Dance: Images of Black Men in Popular Culture Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Find a course

Course finder

Find a course
>