Dance

at Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges

In Spring 2025, Neri will offer an array of courses. Afro Cuban offers an exciting exploration of Cuban dance, focusing on styles deeply connected to Black identity and culture. Latin Social Dances delves into the vibrant, embodied expressions of the Hispanic Caribbean, focusing on social dances like Mambo, Bachata, Merengue, and Rumba. Afro-Modern focuses on técnica cubana as conceptualized by Cuban choreographers Ramiro Guerra and Eduardo Rivero. This technique integrates elements from Graham, Cunningham, Limon, ballet, and Afro-Cuban dance, emphasizing improvisation and expressive breathing techniques.

Mt. Holyoke College
DAN 136 Intro to Afro Cuban, MW 1:45-3:00 PM Kendall Hall, Mt. Hoyloke College
DAN 137 Latin Social Dances, MW 3:15-4:30 PM Kendall Hall, Mt. Holyoke College

Smith College
DAN 142bc Beginning Afro Cuban, TTH 2:45-4 PM in Scott Dance Studio, Smith College
DAN 245 Intermediate Afro-Modern, TTH 1:10-2:35 PM in Scott Dance Studio, Smith College

DAN 272, Monday & Wednesday, 9:25-10:40

Lester Tomé, Assoc. Professor    

• Learn about the social functions of dance as a medium for leisure, religious ritual, artistic expression, economic activity, knowledge transmission, healing, empowerment, etc.
• Become familiar with dance forms such as Indian kathak, Argentine tango, and Senegalese sabar, and study the sociocultural dimensions of dance practices such as voguing in NYC, initiation rituals in Haitian voodoo, the powwow festivities of US indigenous groups, and more. Learn performance theories that help us understand the role of the body, movement, and dance in the construction of culture and individual identities.
• Acquire skills in ethnographic research.

DAN 377sa, Mondays 7:30-9:30 pm, Smith College

Learn salsa in practice and theory in a course that alternates dance lessons and seminar sessions. We examine salsa as an expression of Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American cultures, but also as a globalized form practiced from NYC to LA, from Cuba to Colombia, from Montreal to Tokyo. We will learn beginner to intermediate material in the New York style, and embody an Afro-Caribbean approach to musicality, expressivity, and improvisation. We will discuss salsa in relationship to cultural memory, migration, commerce, technology, political engagement, gender, and more. No previous dance experience is required.

DAN 339 Tuesday & Thursday 2:45-4:45 pm, Smith College

Looking for something meaningful and a little different? DAN 339 Movement, Ecology, and Performance is for you. This course is open to all students interested and ready to center movement, community, and ecological attunement in their daily lives. This course prepares us to meet the moment through action and awareness practices that ready us for change, resistance, and collaboration. Class happens Spring 2025 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in the beautiful Crew House Studio and on the land of the Smith College Campus.

HACU-0203, Tues 10:30-11:50 & Thursday 10:30-12:50, Hampshire

This course is for educators, artists, dance and theater makers, and anyone interested in embodied modes of learning, gathering, and facilitation. With a focus on dance practices and dance pedagogy, we will read about and discuss anti-racist pedagogy, trauma-informed facilitation, universal design, addressing and undoing ableism in the classroom, and approaches to working with children and other age groups. On Thursdays, the class will stretch an extra hour, which enrolled students will run as a class series for the second half of the semester. This student-led series will be open to the entire HC community—students, staff, and faculty. Hands-on teaching experience will help students to deepen their skills at leading and facilitating embodied activities. Writing assignments throughout will ask student to reflect on their experience as teachers and learners.

HACU-0118, Monday & Wednesday, 1-2:20PM

Dive into the bold work of moving together,  learning techniques from contact improvisation, contemporary partnering, and ensemble improvisation.  While harmony and shared affinity may arise in our dancing, we will also cultivate spaces for discomfort, difference, and conflicting needs within our group practices.

DANCE 208, Tuesday & Thursday 10:30-11:45am, Mount Holyoke

This course offers in-depth exploration of embodied West African movement principles and their socio-historical and cultural contexts. Students will study select West African movements and rhythms, engaging with a growing genre influenced by these traditions. Students will refine their skills and knowledge of traditional African dance performances and their rhythms. They will examine both traditional and neo-traditional performances to understand the philosophical foundations rooted in African cosmologies. Students will learn how history and knowledge are artistically constructed within traditional African dance forms, oral traditions, songs, and specific gestures.

DANCE 134, Monday & Wednesday 10:00-11:15am, Mount Holyoke

This course bridges two critical components in dance training: movement and rhythm. The course takes inspiration from traditions that conceive drumming and dancing as inseparable companions in the dance making process. In these traditions, such as many West African societies, the well-trained performer, no matter where they lean in their mode of expression, is expected to have a depth of knowledge in both areas. Throughout the semester, students will be introduced to different dance-drumming traditions. For each dance piece, students will learn the movements as well all the supporting drum parts and an introduction to the fundamentals of the lead drum.

DANCE 301, Tuesday & Thursday,  1:30-2:45, Mount Holyoke

Somatics enhances proprioceptive awareness, uses imagery to deepen anatomical understanding, prevents injury, and promotes coordinated, responsive movement. This course is an experiential study of anatomy and somatic methods, emphasizing their impact on dance practices. While primarily movement-based, the course also critically examines how somatics incorporates ancient medicine, Africanist traditions, and Eastern philosophy, often without acknowledgment, leading to universalization. This course serves as both an ideal warm-up for full-bodied movement and an in-depth exploration of experiential anatomy. Prior dance experience is helpful but not required.

DANCE 318, Tuesday & Thurday, 3:15-4:30, Mount Holyoke

This advanced level contemporary class focuses on both set material and improvisational scores that support our phrasework. Our work together will focus on keeping our weight moving through space, flowing in and out of the floor, reaching past our length, and finding new pathways to explore our momentum. Class will also consist of: Finding connectivity between our floor work and standing exercises; an ebb and flow between improvisation and set material; moving big and boldly through space; activating our eyes while dancing; finding and expanding our length; both imaginative and anatomical cueing; challenging our habitual movement pathways.

Look no further! Five Colleges, Inc. wants to make your registration process as seamless as possible so they have made this cross-registration How To for you. Follow these steps and be sure to email the instructor to tell them of your interest. Happy Dancing!