By Anne Hall

In 2011, the famous singer Beyonce, was once again caught using the work of other artists without their permission.

The act inspired the originating artist, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, a world renowned contemporary dance choreographer. She decided to challenge the world to create their own choreographic piece that emulated sections of her dance company’s work and share it with the world.  People responded with work that completely changed the appearance of the piece Rosas Danst Rosas, and now, Dr. Karen Schaffman has taken the challenge into the classroom.

The new course offered is called VPA 380-25: Dance Ensemble and Repertory, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. in Arts 101. The class emphasizes use of the inspirations of choreographies already made.  It focuses on appropriation and adaptation of those pieces to make them meaningful to the individual.

“We’re going to be working with a piece by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.  She offered up her work. Beyonce’s choreographer stole her famous piece. Instead of getting angry, the choreographer actually offered up the whole process online,” Dr. Schaffman said.

While Dr. Schaffman works hard to develop the dance program on campus, she is collaborating with the Visual and Performing Arts programs to create cross-disciplinary works that collaborate dance with other mediums.

“I’m interested in dance being available to everybody,” Dr. Schaffman said.

A School of Arts Director is in the process of being hired on campus to establish more exposure and potentially expand on curricular vision and facilities.

The dance program at CSUSM is a unique program in that it is constructed to motivate collaboration within disciplines. Understanding dance culturally and scholarly in order to unveil the individuality of the student artist is the primary goal.  Social justice is also a strong interest for Dr. Schaffman’s curricular endeavors.

“I’m hoping that the program can evolve into dance of activism while it evolves into cross disciplinary work with visual artists and media artists,” she said.

The Spring Dance Concert is scheduled for May 1 and May 2.  The subject matter concentrates on challenging the spring dance students to consider finding a performance that will experiment with new things and find themselves beyond their comfort level to establish work that can relate to present day.  The motivation is to “think outside the box.”  Students will consider work that has already been made to appropriate ideas and develop new things.

“We think carefully and mindfully about what we’re putting out into the world.  [We’re] looking for something that’s really meaningful,” Dr. Schaffman said. “What do they need to make now? Thinking mindfully about what they should put out into the world.”

Exciting developments continue to evolve within the CSUSM dance department and student interest has been thriving.  In order to establish a dance major, students can contribute to the efforts by continuing to show interest in the contemporary artistry that is being practiced and expressed within our campus walls.  Continuing to enroll in the courses and taking the opportunity to experience the movement, hands on, is the motivated savoir-faire.