More Online Dance Learning: A Letter from Stephan Koplowitz

To the Editor:

I just was on a skype call with Scott deLaHunta and he mentioned TD’s wonderful article on Marlon’s Meta Academy and also mentioned that it included a link to CalArt’s announcement of online courses…

I actually was at Bates last summer with Marlon and we had a chance to connect on numerous occasions about online education etc…I was, at that time, right in the middle of producing the content for my class…I’m incredibly excited by the possibilities of this platform for teaching and sharing of information….obviously, there are limits and I think some pitfalls, but the potential benefit for dance community I think is real. Marlon’s project is a great example of what is possible and what’s in store!

Anyway…I thought I’d reach out to you to let you know that my class (the first and so far, only dance related course on the MOOC platform! ) is coming back in September after having been offered last fall….

The class is called “Creating Site-Specific Dance and Performance Works” and is currently open for registration and  will begin on September 29th (for six weeks). (link below).

My experience of conducting the class last year was extremely satisfying and inspiring and now that I’ve had the experience of conducting this class, I am even more exciting and inspired to be teaching again! I’ve learned so much and it will be really exciting to have had my previous experience this time around….

I had students from 148 different countries (the majority from Europe and North America) and through the online “Forum” that the class generates, it brought forth an unprecedented amount of exchange and sharing between  students and artists from all walks of art and life! 

11,000 people registered last year, 6,000 actually showed up for the first week of classes and by the end of the five weeks, we still have between 1,200 and 500 people participating….the students and artists who participated were from all art forms…dance, theater, visual art, music….it really gave me an entirely new perspective…

The class is 100% FREE and it basically constitutes much of what I know about how to produce site-specific work and is the culmination of many hours and weeks of work (to produce the class) and of course my 30 years of my own research work in the field.

Here’s the link:   https://www.coursera.org/course/sitedance

I’d be thrilled if you would share the link in your publication…I’d be happy to talk to you more about it and answer any questions you may have….
The dance scene here in LA is really bursting…there should be an LA outpost or version of thINKingdance!

all my best,Steve

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