Introduction to World Dance offers an interdisciplinary view of dance across a global, transnational, diasporic, international context. Seeking to understand dance in its many forms through a study of the diverse social and cultural contexts from which it originates, this course engages ethnochoreology, dance studies, performance studies, and cultural studies discourses. Dancing, in all its varied forms, from religious ceremony to social dance to concert dance, serves as an important tool for critical inquiry and reflective thought about identity – personal, cultural, familial, sexual, and global. Using dance as both a social and an aesthetic lens, this course investigates the multiple ways in which cultures are transmitted and transformed by movement. The course includes both movement and lecture/discussion components. The core of this class includes descriptive analysis of dance in a cross-cultural perspective, interpretation of dance as meaningful social, historical and contemporary artifact, and appreciation of dance in relation to other expressive media.