New York City

Resident Director: Cynthia Williams (Fall 2001)

The program in New York City gives students the opportunity to live and work in a large metropolitan setting. Students will spend the semester living in Manhattan in private rooms (’97 program—at the West Side YMCA), studying film, theater, contemporary popular culture and interning in "The Big Apple".

APPROXIMATE DATES
 August 26 – December 7, 2001

ACCOMMODATIONS
Students will be housed at a centrally located student residence (West Side YMCA) for the semester. There is no meal plan, but a cafeteria on the property is available for inexpensive meals and students can take advantage of the range of restaurants, bistros, and cafes that New York has to offer. More information on affordable places to eat will be provided during orientation sessions.

ELIGIBILITY
The Program is open to all non-first year students in good academic standing (2.8 GPA or above). As always applicants must submit a personal statement that clearly outlines why participation in the program would help to fulfill personal and academic goals.

APPROXIMATE COSTS
 The program fee (the regular tuition plus the normal room charge) covers internship fees, expenses related to course work such as required films and theater tickets, and the apartment housing. Not included are personal expenses, meals, and transportation. It is anticipated that meals will be between $75.00-$150.00 per week depending on the student’s budget and ingenuity. Other expenses to consider are in-city transportation – at least $3.00 per day; tickets to films, museums and theaters, and other personal expenses.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Contemporary Dance History - The focus of this course is the growth and development of today’s post-modern dance, using the 1960’s starting point. As in many other arts disciplines, dance in the 1960’s underwent tremendous changes and witnessed the breaking down of traditional forms and aesthetics. Iconoclastic choreographers associated with the Judson Church Performance Space in NYC and NO to the techniques and presentations of their predecessors. After the Judson rebellion, the aesthetic of dance was never quite the same. This course starts with the revolutions instigated in the 1960’s and traces the development of dance into the 1990’s. Attendance to live performances is required.

Literary New York - New York City was the home of some of the most significant writers in the United States, including Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Henry James, Stephan Crane, Richard Wright, Saul Bellow, Langston Hughes, and Allen Ginsberg. It remains the center of major publishing houses and independent journals and presses. The confluence of new visions and the established institutions of culture and power are perhaps most vividly played out in the literature of New York City. Indeed, the very notion of an American vision or mythology is both mapped out and tested in this literature. Various maps of the city will be constructed including its history, art and architecture, demographic changes, and power structures. The required reading will attempt to reflect major literary periods from Melville’s new York of the 1850’s to the present as well as many of the neighborhoods where the work was written or which the work represents.

Seminar - This is essential in integrating course work, the student’s internship experiences, and discussion of self-selected arts events viewed during the previous week. Over a "home" cooked meal, students will be asked to discuss particular issues and articulate how their internship, viewing, or participatory experiences over the past week have impacted on their understanding of the topic.

Internships - Each student will be engaged in internships with professional theaters, artists, architects, magazines or dance companies. The internships offer the participants an intimate and realistic view of professional standards, procedures, materials and personnel associated with the student’s chosen field of interest.