|
|
A Short Historical Background
UCLA's dance history began in 1932 shortly after its new Women's Gymnasium
was completed. Although the gym was the center for women's athletics,
including basketball, swimming, field hockey and fencing, its classes
in "natural dancing to develop ease, grace and rhythm" were
among the most popular, according to university records. In the years
that followed, the Women's Gymnasium became known as the Dance Building,
home of an evolving program rooted in movement, dance, choreography,
history, performance and culture. In 1962, she established an autonomous Department of Dance, the first university-based dance department in the country, equal in status to the departments of Art, Music, and Theater Arts in UCLA's College of Fine Arts. Under her leadership, the department developed degrees in dance/movement therapy, theoretical studies in dance history, aesthetics and education, as well as choreography and performance. Hawkins received a Rockefeller grant that made the development of the Graduate Dance Center possible in the 1970s, and the center soon became a model for many other dance programs in the United States and England. As it developed, the department became a source of dancers, lighting and costume designers, and technical personnel for dance companies across the country, as well as for teachers and those researching and documenting dance. Continuing to lay the groundwork for even more extensive work, Hawkins and faculty from six disciplines created the World Art and Cultures (WAC) program in 1972. Its Bachelor of Arts degree was developed with faculty from anthropology, art history, dance, folklore and mythology, music and theater. The program flourished for more than 20 years as it produced interdisciplinary, intercultural perspectives on the arts. In 1993, the world arts and cultures and dance faculties under the direction of department chair Judy Mitoma began discussions to organize a new department with unique creative, conceptual and educational goals. They proposed to develop a stronger, more viable academic unit that would lead to a new generation of artists, arts scholars and cultural leaders. Both faculties contributed their specialized talent and vision. The Department of Dance was unique in its exploration of the multiple manifestations of dance by integrating theory and practice from a global perspective. WAC had continued to expand under the leadership of Judy Mitoma, who is now director of the department's Center for Intercultural Performance. It sought to provide students with the conceptual tools to examine and extract the meaning of the arts regardless of cultural boundaries. The Department of World Arts and Cultures was created in 1995 by the merger of the Department of Dance and the WAC program. Its three-tiered mission centers on the study and creation of dance and body-based performance; cross-cultural study of the arts and performance; and community/outreach work, particularly in the Los Angeles area. Today the department, under the leadership of chair Christopher Waterman, is at the forefront of innovative, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural study of the arts. It offers a curriculum in which students can explore the vital relationship of dance, performance and the arts to cultural theory and criticism. Both performance and theory courses investigate the role of the artist and the arts in society, crossing cultural boundaries to affirm differences and establish common ground. WAC is also home to the Center for Intercultural Performance (CIP), where its innovative programs, including the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange and the UCLA National Dance/Media Project, have attracted scholars, performers, videographers and community-based artists from around the world. CIP has been recognized with significant grants from the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition to its core staff, WAC hosts an impressive roster of visiting faculty, including experts in dance and choreography, performance art, aesthetic anthropology, cultural studies and folklore. Led by a faculty of artists, dance scholars and ethnographers, the department has successfully combined the performance aspect of dance with its interdisciplinary analytic strengths to develop outstanding artists and cultural leaders. Students from WAC have gone on to pursue advanced degrees and careers
in dance and humanities, arts management and practice, education, cultural
policy, community outreach, architecture and urban planning, law and
public service. With enrollment at an all-time high, the department
currently has 188 undergraduate and 54 graduate students.
|
