The boldly passionate musical and dance form of flamenco casts it spell over aficionados around the world. But new fans might find some of its distinctive features puzzling. Flamenco scholar Nancy G. Heller introduces the basic elements and vocabulary of traditional flamenco music and dance, demystifying and enhancing the experience for audiences. She also traces the innovations explored by its avant-garde performers in the 21st century.
Our understanding of dinosaur behavior has long been hampered by the inevitable lack of evidence from animals that went extinct more than 65 million years ago. But with the discovery of new specimens and the development of cutting-edge techniques, paleontologists are making huge advances in reconstructing how dinosaurs acted. Paleontologist David Hone provides a look at the fundamentals of dinosaur biology and evolution and describes feeding, communication, and social behavior.
When the doors of Radio City Music Hall opened in 1932, New Yorkers entered a new world: a dazzling Art Deco fantasy of an entertainment palace far removed from the drab realities of the Great Depression. With its Hollywood films and lavish stage shows, “The Showplace of the Nation” has given generations of audiences a place to escape from the everyday and dream. Actor Tim Dolan surveys the history of this iconic theater, sharing its stories, secrets, traditions, and trivia.
When classicist Michael Ventris deciphered the Linear B script in 1952, he shed light on our understanding of the politics, economy, society, and religion of the world of Late Bronze Age Greece, sometimes referred to as "Mycenaean." Classicist and archaeologist Dimitri Nakassis examines what this writing system and a second still-undeciphered “Minoan” script, Linear A, can tell us about life in the Aegean during the second millennium B.C.E.
Historian Clay Jenkinson has chosen 10 magnificent images to explore how great photographs epitomize a moment or an era, capture an extraordinary event, provide a window into the human condition, or make us ache with appreciation and wonder. Jenkinson tells the backstory of each photograph, covering who took it, when, under what circumstances, what has happened in the aftermath, and what influence the image has had on the world. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Art superstars Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Frida Kahlo didn’t evolve within a vacuum. They descended from centuries of celebrated women artists—as well as those whose names were lost. Art historian Nancy G. Heller traces the history of European and American women artists from the late 16th century to 1950, addressing the socioeconomic, political, and aesthetic significance of their work and placing their lives and art within the context of their male contemporaries. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
The Arts and Crafts Movement was a dominant influence in visual and decorative arts and architecture in the decades leading up to and after the turn of the 20th century, offering an artistic and philosophical reaction to the florid, overdecorated, and industrialized designs of the high-Victorian era. Art historian Bonita Billman explores the rich flowering of the movement in Britain and America, as well as its enduring legacy. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
Artists use their palette as a vehicle for expressing their creative vision—and behind every great painting there’s a palette that tells its story. Art historian and author Alexandra Loske explores this symbiotic relationship, pairing the palettes of artists including Seurat, Rembrandt, and van Gogh with their masterpieces, revealing a fascinating aspect of the creator behind the canvas. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
