EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Christie Austin,
a third-year dance and world arts and cultures student, perfects
her moves in an Advanced Flamenco class held in Kaufman Hall.
By Michelle Kroes
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Department of World Arts and Culture is replacing its
long-standing master’s degree with a M.A./Ph.D program in
culture and performance starting Fall 2001.
Within this program, students may focus their attention on dance
or other aspects of performing arts.
“The new M.A./Ph.D includes specialization in dance and
the different dimensions of dance studies,” said Christopher
Waterman, department chair of WAC. “But the program is more
interdisciplinary than the M.A. before.”
According to the WAC Web site, the new program will have three
core courses on interdisciplinary perspectives on culture,
cross-cultural approaches to the study of performance, and
ethnographic research methods.
Students will have flexibility in designing individual programs
of study and may incorporate practice-based arts into their
curriculum.
This new arrangement is meant to benefit students and bring
distinction for WAC, Waterman said.
“There are a lot of dance programs in the U.S., and we
wanted to do something different,” Waterman said. “When
a student comes into our environment they can learn global issues
in art, diversity of dance in the modern world … it allows
graduate students to learn dance in an intercultural
way.”
The M.A./Ph.D in Culture and Performance is the first advanced
degree of its kind available in the WAC department.
“This is one of the few programs I know that offers a Ph.D
program in performing studies,” said Byron Au Yong, an
entering student of the program who is currently working toward a
master’s degree in dance at UCLA.
“It’s great because it allows working artists to
gain the skills of an academic,” he continued.
According to student counselor Wendy Temple, the introduction of
the M.A./Ph.D program shows a positive trend in the department.
“The graduate program has evolved from the dance
department,” Temple said.
Since its inception in 1995, the WAC department has undergone
many changes. The older programs, such as the master’s in
dance, were carry-overs from the dance department before it merged
with the World Arts and Cultures major to form WAC.
To suit the current department’s mission to offer the
performing arts in a more cultural context, some programs were cut
or changed, Temple said.
For students more interested in preparing as professional
choreographers and performers, WAC has maintained its master of
fine arts degree in dance.
This program, however, will alter along with the other changes
in the graduate program.
“Since the M.A. in dance is discontinued, the M.F.A will
be more greatly boosted,” Waterman said. “The
department will focus on building that program up.”
Some students said the new graduate program is helpful in its
aim to achieve art education at more advanced levels.
“I can now better affect society not just from the grass
roots level but all the way to the ivory tower,” said Au
Yong.