At the end of the sophomore year, each student will develop and present to the dance faculty a 3-5 minute work of original choreography to demonstrate technical proficiency in dance
Objective
Dance BFA Majors Will Demonstrate Proficiency In Dance Artistry
Dance BFA Majors Will Demonstrate Proficiency In Dance Artistry, technique, performance, and choreography.
Indicator
Sophomore Gate Adjudication
At the conclusion of the sophomore year, each candidate for the BFA creates and presents to the dance faculty a 3-5 minute solo, which constitutes the Sophomore Gate. Dance faculty assess students on technique, performance, and choreography. Students must pass the Sophomore Gate to be retained in good standing in the dance program. The attached rubric details the elements of choreography and performance that are assessed in the presentation. This rubric was developed in April, 2010, to replace the solely qualitative assessment formerly used. Faculty used a combination of qualitative remarks and quantitative scores to assess each student.
Criterion
100% Satisfactory - Sophomore BFA Proficiency Standard
The expected Proficiency Standard for the Sophomore BFA program that 100% of BFA students completing their Sophomore year and submitting to the Sophomore Gate adjustication would demonstrate at least a "Satisfactory" compiled judge's score for proficiency in technique, performance, and choreography on the 3-level evaluation scale (outstanding, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory)
Finding
Spring 2010 Sophomore Gate Results Summary
All students were found to demonstrate at least the stated criterion of satisfactory dance proficiency at the 2010 Sophomore Gate Adjudication. All students were also found to have made satisfactory progress in dance performance skills between program entry and Sophomore Gate (Based upon informal faculty evaluation of improvement upon admission auditions). A discrepancy was noted in trying to assess the choreographic skill of those who had not yet completed choreography II, versus those who had completed the course. This stimulated departmental reflection dicussed in Action.
Indicator
External Evaluation Of Performance Excellence
Students representative of the SHSU Dance BFA program's students in good standing will be recognized by external adjudication as being outstanding performers.Each year, the SHSU dance program submits choreographic work to be adjudicated at the South-Central region of the American College Dance Festival. In this forum, both the merit of choreography and the performance of the dancers is evaluated with detailed oral feedback from three professionals in the dance community. Works considered to demonstrate exceptional quality are selected for the Gala concert. In even numbered years, between 2 and 4 works are selected to be presented at the Kennedy Center National Festival in Washington DC.
Criterion
Recognition By American College Dance Festival Association
In 2010, the SHSU dance program's dancers will be judged to be excellent by a jury of the South-Central region of the American College Dance Festival
Finding
Criterion Met- Selected For Gala And National Festival In 2010
The 2010 dance proficiency criterion was met. SHSU presented choregraphy by Assistant Professor Andy Noble, featuring 9 dance BFA majors. From approximately 40 works presented at the South-Central REgion, Kinky Kool fAn Blowing Hard (by NOble) was selected for the Gala, and was one of four works chosen for presentation at the Kennedy Center. The adjudicators were extremely complimentary about the technical and performance talent of all 9 students. At the National FEstival, student Jesus Acosta-Herrera was recognized as one of 10 outstanding student performers; this information will be included in a news release to be published in Dance Magazine, the premiere publication for dance news.
Action
Connect Presentation Of The Sophomore Gate With Choreography II Course
Faculty were satisfied with the technical and performance achievements of students reviewed by the ACDF panel, as well as by the performance of students adjudicated by SHSU dance faculty in the Sophomore Gate. No changes are planned in the delivery of curriculum for ballet and modern techniques. Having noted the difference in capability in choreography for those who had completed coursework and those who had not yet taken DNC 276, Faculty determined that students will be advised into choreography I in the fall of their sophomore year, and that the sophomore gate will then occur for all BFA candidates on completion of choreogaphy II at the conclusion of the spring semester. Transfer students will be immediately advised into choreography I, and will perform the Sophomore Gate solo at the conclusion of their second semester in the dance program. An additional action taken this year in response to program assessment was the development of a standardized rubric for Sophomore Gate adjudication.
Goal
Dance Choreography Proficiency
BFA candidates will learn the craft of choreography and will gain experience in creating and presenting extended, original works.
Objective
Students Demonstrate Proficiency In Choreography
Dance BFA students will demonstrate proficienty in choreography, by the culmination of the BFA sequence of choreography courses. The Demonstrated Choreographic proficiency will include a grasp of choreographic form, movement invention, and the ability to direct student dancers who are cast in a choreographic piece.
Indicator
Senior Studio Evaluation
BFA candidates will undergo Senior Studio evaluation. For their Senior Studio performance evaluation, students produce and present a public concert, in which each candidate will create an original choreographic work. Students are evaluated by faculty panel on effectiveness of choreographic concept utilizing a standardized rubric. Students' evaluations include assessments of their grasp of choreographic form, movement invention, and their ability to direct students cast in the work
Since this is the first year the dance faculty has assessed the Senior Studio beyond the instructor of record assigning a letter grade for the course, we have used the Sophomore Gate Adjudication Rubric as a starting point.
Criterion
100%
The expectation of the BFA program is that all of its senior BFA candidates will demonstrate more than adequate choreographic proficiency. However, because the 2010 Faculty review and evaluation of the Senior Studiot was being standardized for the first time and becuase the evaluation was employing a rubric which had never been tried for this purpose,only a passing vs. failing levels of proficiency could be guaged; hence the 2010 criterion was that 100% of senior BFA candidates would "pass" the evaluation.
Finding
Criterion Met But Assessment Needs Refinement
The Senior Studio evaluations revealed that 100% of seniors who were BFA candidates met minimal "passing"standard for choreographic proficiency; however the assessment was deemed unsatisfactory by the faculty reviewers who prefer to assess by higher, more sensitive standards. It was determined that the Assessment tool Needs to be revised and refined.
Action
Improve Assessment & Peg Choreographic Curriculum To This Outcome
The Dance faculty met to discuss the Senior Studio review and its assessment and determined that they would convene in Fall 2010 to improve the rubric adopted from the Sophomore Gate to better fit the Senior Studio assessment for choreographic proficiency.
Faculty also reflected upon how the outcomes of the Senior Studio evaluation could be used to help guide the Choreographic Curriculum. We agreed to make this Senior Studio perforance an assessment in which all faculty participate, as well as a benchmark reflecting the content of the choreography courses. As a result the expect that the ensuing discussion of the outcome will drive modulations in the instruction of the choreography courses.