Writing about dance (or any type of art)

I wrote a series of posts for the Seminar 1, “The Arts in New York City,” taught by Prof. Natov (Fall 2016) to help students write about dance. This series includes excerpts from texts by dance historians and critics, links to videos of dancers, and activities from the book Writing Analytically (5th edition) by David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephens. Though these posts specifically address writing about dance and choreography, I wanted to create a series that offered students exercises and examples that they could modify so as to write about any form of art encountered while taking Seminar 1. The post titled “Turning Points and the Importance of Context” isn’t specifically about dance – in fact, the primary examples are taken from pop culture. However it has been included within this series as a kind of conclusion to the main points discussed in the previous posts – the importance of using specific examples and details – as a means to create context for the audience. Perhaps most importantly, students can use the strategies and tools beyond Seminar 1 to enrich their writing regardless of the assignment, genre, or subject. To read each post in the series, hover your mouse over the images below to see the post title and click on the image.