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      Choose one pre-assignment from the following options. 

      Please inform your pre-assignment choice by email to the course tutor Tua Helve (email: tua.helve@aalto.fi) by Wed 14 September. In this same email, briefly answer the question: “why did I choose this course?” 

      Upon the choice of assignment, prepare your contribution for presenting in the first session (task 1 key points/mind map, task 2 collage with key words. If possible, prepare this for optimal sharing on the screen). 

      Task 1. Select and read two of the texts by Uusitalo (2006), McLaine and McCabe (2013), Helve (2018) and Bugg (2020). Analyse and collect main points: Based on these materials, which aspects appear key to costume design within contemporary dance? Please note the role of each author (designer, theorist, etc) and their possible impact on the testimony.

      Task 2. Select and read two of the texts by Uusitalo (2006), Helve (2018) and Bugg (2020). Do background research/collect data: the texts mention people/groups/companies related to the 20th and 21st century dance, Finnish and international. Choose three of these people/groups/companies and find out who they are. With bullet points, describe their contribution and approach to costume and dance. Any personal reflections? Introduce in visual collages these three plus one additional name of your choice (four collages in total). 

      Pre-assignment texts:

      Uusitalo, Marja. 2006. “A dancer’s costume – visionary and concrete.” In Theatre People – People’s Theatre: Finnish Theatre and Dance 2006, edited by Kaisa Korhonen and Katri Tanskanen, 96–102. Helsinki: Like.

      McLaine, Gretchen and McCabe, Janine. 2013. “Communication by Design: A Collaborative Project for Student Choreographers and Costume Designers.” Journal of Dance Education 13(4): 139–42.

      Helve, Tua. 2018. “Political by Design: Costume Design Strategies within the Finnish Contemporary Dance Productions AmazinGRace, Noir? and The Earth Song.” Nordic Journal of Dance 9(1): 14–31.

      Bugg, Jessica. 2020. “Dressing Dance – Dancing Dress: Lived Experience of Dress and its Agency in the Collaborative Process.” In The Routledge Companion to Dance Studies, edited by Helen Thomas and Stacey Prickett, 353–64. Abingdon: Routledge.