This course will explore a specific idea, concept, period, person, or event important in the history and/or aesthetics of dance. Topics will vary depending on the instructor?s research and expertise. This course is an in-depth exploration of salsa from theoretical and practical perspectives. Dance lessons familiarize the students with beginner to intermediate level salsa steps, targeting skills in bodily coordination, musicality, expressivity and improvisation, as well as in memorization of choreography and communication between partners. The learning of the dance is framed within an analysis of literature on salsa cutting across dance history, anthropology, musicology and cultural studies. Readings, documentaries, class discussions and research assignments situate salsa as an expression of Latino and Latin American cultures, but also as a global product through which dancers and musicians from Cuba to Japan perform notions of gender, ethnicity and nationality. No previous dance experience required.