"As an educator, I use dance as an entry point to encourage students to think critically about issues of history, society and culture. My commitment in any course I teach, is to foster in my students a desire for lifelong learning, creative exploration and the development of a critical perspective that is grounded and well-informed..."
"Learning is a place where paradise can be created." - bell hooks
Dr. Amin's primary teaching interests are dance history,
black aesthetics and popular culture, dance research methods and global dance traditions. She is Assistant Professor of World Dance at UNC Charlotte where she teaches courses in dance history and theory in the liberal studies curriculum, Department of Dance and College of Art and Architecture Honors Program.
Dr. Amin is not teaching during the Fall 2014 semester.
For bookings and speaking engagements, click here.
black aesthetics and popular culture, dance research methods and global dance traditions. She is Assistant Professor of World Dance at UNC Charlotte where she teaches courses in dance history and theory in the liberal studies curriculum, Department of Dance and College of Art and Architecture Honors Program.
Dr. Amin is not teaching during the Fall 2014 semester.
For bookings and speaking engagements, click here.
Courses
@UNC Charlotte
DANC 3222 - Dance History II
This 3 - credit course focuses on various major historical and cultural influences affecting the development of concert dance in the 20th century. The course focuses primarily on concert dance as it emerged as a part of the western theatrical dance tradition in the United States though attention will be given to the development of performance traditions in other parts of the world as well. Socio-political issues evidenced in choreography will be engaged through lectures, discussions, film and video.
LBST 1101 - Arts & Society: Dance
This 3 - credit course provides an introduction to dance in the context of the arts and society. We will explore the similarities among selected dance traditions from around the world in terms of their functionality and we will examine how 20th and 21st century American concert dance, social dance and popular entertainment dance reflect those traditions. We will also study socio-political issues evidenced in choreography through lectures, discussion, film video and live dance performance.
LBST 1101H - Comparative World Dance (Honors)
This course provides an introduction to dance in the context of the arts and society. We will explore the similarities among selected dance traditions from around the world in terms of their functionality and we will examine how 20th and 21st century American concert dance, social dance and popular entertainment dance reflect those traditions. We will also study socio-political issues evidenced in choreography through lectures, discussion, film/ video and live dance performance. The course will be writing intensive and engage students around issues of performance, migration, colonialism, post-colonialism and notions of "diaspora" while encouraging them to connect class concepts to their own experiences
@Colorado College
Social History of Dance: African, Asian, South American & European Dance Traditions
This course will explore contemporary and traditional dances from African, Asian, South American and European Dance traditions through observation (primarily on film) and practice. We will explore cultural codes expressed in dance that both reflect and affect social and political change. We will investigate dances in the social, religious and political context of each tradition including the influence of immigration, trade routes, the institution of slavery and travel in the development of new dances from across the globe.
Topics in Dance: Black Aesthetics in American Dance
This course will examine the development of The Black Aesthetic from its genesis in cultural nationalist discourses of the Black Power/Black Arts Movement of the 1960's and 1970's in the U.S. and its subsequent impact on concert dance. Students will examine primary source documents and choreography from the selected period in order to identify Black performance aesthetics and understand dance as a mechanism through which culture, politics and identity may be ascertained. In so doing, students will be equipped to analyze the creative work of non-White dance artists within an appropriate and applicable socio-cultural context that is both relevant and critical. Moreover, it should be understood that the course, in looking at the work of Black dance artists posits the notion that such artists exist simultaneously within, outside of and in conversation with a Western societal context. The course illuminates the work of these artists who have been marginalized within mainstream discourses in an effort to shift the existing paradigms and challenge assumptions about dance making and the relationship(s) between dance and cultural politics.
@Temple University
Dance Postmodernism in America: 1950s to Present
This course explores the philosophies and choreographic work of Sokolow, Pomare, Ailey, Beatty, Cunningham, Hawkins, Taylor, Nikolais, Pilobolus, Brown, Childs, Rainer, Tharp, Paxton, Jones, Fagan, Morris and others vis-a-vis cultural, social, and historical developments in the second half of the 20th century in America. The class will explore cultural forces such as jazz dance, tap dance, social dancing, and the American ballet, as well as figures from the related arts, such as filmmakers, painters, media artists, and composers who worked with post-modern dancers. The emphasis will be on contextual and critical modes of historical inquiry.
Dance in Human Society
The course offers students an opportunity to explore the many ways that dance can function as both a social and cultural mode of expression amongst various groups across the globe. Through video observation, readings, and dancing, students will be exposed to the many faces of dance as an expression of identity and cultural ethos-- dance as art, religion, social custom, and political action will be examined as evidenced across human societies. The course will look at dance in various cultural groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Students will explore the cultural and social significance of dance from an anthropological perspective, threading common themes and exploring the many contrasts.
Foundations of Cultural Studies
This course examines performance structures, social paradigms, and dominant themes. The course is taught from a comprehensive, comparative perspective of intersecting identities, including race, gender, class, and sexuality by examining and discussing major theorists in the field and analyzing performances based on those theorists. This course also traces the intellectual heritage of cultural studies vis-a-vis scholars, artists, educators, activists, workers, and community members. The lectures, readings, video viewings, discussions, and movement experiences attempt to examine the diversity and similarities in cultures.
@Virginia Tech
Black Aesthetics (Dance)
A definition of those qualities of black American arts which distinguish it from traditional U.S. arts through an analysis of theme, form, and technique as they appear in a representative sample of works by black creative artists.
Introduction to Afro-American History
The Afro-American experience in the United States from 1619 to 1877.
@UNC Charlotte
DANC 3222 - Dance History II
This 3 - credit course focuses on various major historical and cultural influences affecting the development of concert dance in the 20th century. The course focuses primarily on concert dance as it emerged as a part of the western theatrical dance tradition in the United States though attention will be given to the development of performance traditions in other parts of the world as well. Socio-political issues evidenced in choreography will be engaged through lectures, discussions, film and video.
LBST 1101 - Arts & Society: Dance
This 3 - credit course provides an introduction to dance in the context of the arts and society. We will explore the similarities among selected dance traditions from around the world in terms of their functionality and we will examine how 20th and 21st century American concert dance, social dance and popular entertainment dance reflect those traditions. We will also study socio-political issues evidenced in choreography through lectures, discussion, film video and live dance performance.
LBST 1101H - Comparative World Dance (Honors)
This course provides an introduction to dance in the context of the arts and society. We will explore the similarities among selected dance traditions from around the world in terms of their functionality and we will examine how 20th and 21st century American concert dance, social dance and popular entertainment dance reflect those traditions. We will also study socio-political issues evidenced in choreography through lectures, discussion, film/ video and live dance performance. The course will be writing intensive and engage students around issues of performance, migration, colonialism, post-colonialism and notions of "diaspora" while encouraging them to connect class concepts to their own experiences
@Colorado College
Social History of Dance: African, Asian, South American & European Dance Traditions
This course will explore contemporary and traditional dances from African, Asian, South American and European Dance traditions through observation (primarily on film) and practice. We will explore cultural codes expressed in dance that both reflect and affect social and political change. We will investigate dances in the social, religious and political context of each tradition including the influence of immigration, trade routes, the institution of slavery and travel in the development of new dances from across the globe.
Topics in Dance: Black Aesthetics in American Dance
This course will examine the development of The Black Aesthetic from its genesis in cultural nationalist discourses of the Black Power/Black Arts Movement of the 1960's and 1970's in the U.S. and its subsequent impact on concert dance. Students will examine primary source documents and choreography from the selected period in order to identify Black performance aesthetics and understand dance as a mechanism through which culture, politics and identity may be ascertained. In so doing, students will be equipped to analyze the creative work of non-White dance artists within an appropriate and applicable socio-cultural context that is both relevant and critical. Moreover, it should be understood that the course, in looking at the work of Black dance artists posits the notion that such artists exist simultaneously within, outside of and in conversation with a Western societal context. The course illuminates the work of these artists who have been marginalized within mainstream discourses in an effort to shift the existing paradigms and challenge assumptions about dance making and the relationship(s) between dance and cultural politics.
@Temple University
Dance Postmodernism in America: 1950s to Present
This course explores the philosophies and choreographic work of Sokolow, Pomare, Ailey, Beatty, Cunningham, Hawkins, Taylor, Nikolais, Pilobolus, Brown, Childs, Rainer, Tharp, Paxton, Jones, Fagan, Morris and others vis-a-vis cultural, social, and historical developments in the second half of the 20th century in America. The class will explore cultural forces such as jazz dance, tap dance, social dancing, and the American ballet, as well as figures from the related arts, such as filmmakers, painters, media artists, and composers who worked with post-modern dancers. The emphasis will be on contextual and critical modes of historical inquiry.
Dance in Human Society
The course offers students an opportunity to explore the many ways that dance can function as both a social and cultural mode of expression amongst various groups across the globe. Through video observation, readings, and dancing, students will be exposed to the many faces of dance as an expression of identity and cultural ethos-- dance as art, religion, social custom, and political action will be examined as evidenced across human societies. The course will look at dance in various cultural groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Students will explore the cultural and social significance of dance from an anthropological perspective, threading common themes and exploring the many contrasts.
Foundations of Cultural Studies
This course examines performance structures, social paradigms, and dominant themes. The course is taught from a comprehensive, comparative perspective of intersecting identities, including race, gender, class, and sexuality by examining and discussing major theorists in the field and analyzing performances based on those theorists. This course also traces the intellectual heritage of cultural studies vis-a-vis scholars, artists, educators, activists, workers, and community members. The lectures, readings, video viewings, discussions, and movement experiences attempt to examine the diversity and similarities in cultures.
@Virginia Tech
Black Aesthetics (Dance)
A definition of those qualities of black American arts which distinguish it from traditional U.S. arts through an analysis of theme, form, and technique as they appear in a representative sample of works by black creative artists.
Introduction to Afro-American History
The Afro-American experience in the United States from 1619 to 1877.