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Southern Utah University

Spring Semester 2026

Dance Capstone (Face-to-Face)

DANC 4751-01

Course:	DANC 4751-01
Credits:	3
Term:	Spring Semester 2026
Department:	TA
CRN:	12954

Course Description

Dance artists will develop original scholarship that critically evaluates and analyzes their creative practice through a written and oral defense presentation to faculty within their discipline. (As Needed) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Registration Restriction(s): Dance or Dance Education majors only; Junior or Senior standing required

Required Texts

Instructional, historical, and current videos, articles, and additional relevant materials will be posted to Canvas. Advanced notice will be given to students to read, review, and analyze the material prior to class before discussions.

Learning in Real Time
Learning is not a fixed, linear process. It evolves as students interact with new ideas, reflect on their experiences, and engage with the course material. This policy acknowledges that students' understanding, and interests may develop over time. As such, the selected readings will be determined by student choice and be adjusted throughout the semester based on ongoing discussions, evolving interests, and feedback. This real-time learning approach ensures that the course remains relevant and responsive to their academic journey and allows for agency and autonomy

Suggested Reading
Should students wish to be further informed on the jazz dance history and other pertinent information related to jazz dance a wonderful reference is:

Careers in Dance: Practical and Strategic Guidance From the Field by Ally Duffy (ISBN-13: 978-1492592723)

References
This course will utilize the MLA method for scholarly documentation.

Learning Outcomes

At the successful completion of this course, students will:

Critical Thinking:

Students will analyze and synthesize research materials (including their own creative practice) and put their creative practice into conversation with the performing arts as a field of study.

Creative Thinking:

Students will utilize an artistic/creative project to direct and guide their research questions to produce original scholarship.

Communication:

Students will present their final product in the form of a written thesis, production, teaching demonstration, or symposium to be workshopped and honed throughout the semester.

Professionalization & Workforce Alignment:

Students will assemble professional portfolios and distinguish practical applications of their dance curriculum coursework to creative, educational, and administrative occupations within the dance field.

Course Requirements

Assignment Breakdown
Portfolios (Midterm) 20%
Students will compile and refine a comprehensive set of professional materials that showcase their artistic identity, skills, and accomplishments. The portfolio will include reels (performance, choreography, and/or teaching), a polished resume and curriculum vitae (CV) tailored to both artistic and academic opportunities, and a professional website that serves as a central hub for their work. Students will also curate high-quality headshots and dance shots that reflect their style and versatility. Additionally, they will audit and develop their social media presence to ensure it aligns with their professional goals and artistic brand. The objective is to prepare students with the tools necessary to successfully market themselves, secure opportunities, and establish a sustainable career in dance. By the end of the project, students will have a cohesive, professional portfolio ready for submission to auditions, residencies, teaching positions, and grant applications.

Course Spanning Assignment
The course spanning assignment will consist of the following parts:

Justifications for Final Project/Thesis Submission/Project Proposal Submission 5%
Rough Draft of Paper/Project 10%
Final Paper/Project 30%
Final Presentation 5%
Final Presentation 5%

The Final Dance Capstone Project is the culminating experience of the program, integrating both creative and scholarly components. Students will design a project that reflects their unique perspectives as artists, scholars, and citizens, showcasing their artistic focus, research interests, and professional goals. The process begins with a Justification for Final Project, a Thesis Statement, and a Project Proposal to establish a clear conceptual and practical framework. Students will then submit a Rough Draft of their paper or creative project, followed by the Final Paper/Project that demonstrates rigorous research, creative innovation, and critical analysis. The capstone concludes with a Final Presentation, where students share their work with peers, faculty, and the broader community. This multi-stage process ensures depth, refinement, and professional readiness, culminating in a portfolio-worthy project that positions students for success in the next stage of their artistic and scholarly journey.

Participation
Physical, cognitive, and creative participation are an essential part of the course and include adherence to:

Introductory policies
Video policies
Attendance and late policies
Appropriate attire
Mutual respect
Applying corrections
Attention to movement retention
Attendance at all mandatory classes
On time completion of ALL written and practical assignments

Additionally, daily active participation in the course is expected and students will be assessed base on the following criteria:

Personal Responsibility
Performance/Psychomotor skills
Knowledge and Cognition
Positive character and willingness to engage
Attendance at required dance performances

The instructor will notify a student if the level of active participation is not meeting the standard, becomes questionable, or drops. Students who actively modify their participation in a timely manner will prevent a negative outcome on the participation evaluation at the end of the semester.

Criteria Used for Assessing Final Grades
The following grading standards will be used in this class:

All assignments must be submitted in order to pass the course
Students must receive a C or higher for it to count towards their major/minor requirement
*Remember to review the attendance policy with respect to final grades

Grade Range
A 100 % to 94.0%
A- < 94.0 % to 90.0%
B+ < 90.0 % to 87.0%
B < 87.0 % to 84.0%
B- < 84.0 % to 80.0%
C+ < 80.0 % to 77.0%
C < 77.0 % to 74.0%
C- < 74.0 % to 70.0%
D+ < 70.0 % to 67.0%
D < 67.0 % to 64.0%
D- < 64.0 % to 61.0%
F < 61.0 % to 0.0%

Course Outline

In preparation for engagement with the dance field at large, course materials will guide students in the development of professional portfolios as well as original scholarship. The design, development, and completion of this original scholarly or creative project that will culminate in a written and oral defense presentation to faculty within their discipline.

Modules for the course will include:

Building Your Portfolio
Theoretical Research Models
Practical Research Models
Business Models
Project/Paper and Oral Presentation Preparation and Submission

Final Project* must be approved through a justification, execution, and defense process. Examples of projects students can pursue include but are not limited to topics of Performance, Choreography, Education, Community Engagement, Business/Arts Administration, Scholarly Research, Social Activism/Civic Engagement, or Dance Science. Dance Capstone will be approved by the Dance Faculty.

*Collaboration with fellow CPVA student designers inside and outside of respective coursework is encouraged, though not required or guaranteed.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late/Missed Assignments
Students MUST complete all assignments in order to pass the course. Therefore, if an assignment is missed or turned in late, the student will be placed on the Incomplete List for the course and fail the assignment. Once the missed assignment is turned in, the student’s name will be removed from the Incomplete List. For every day an assignment is late, students will lose points for the assignments and if an assignment is 4 weeks late, the assignment will receive 0 points (extenuating circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis). Note: all students must submit all assignments so while no points will be accrued for work submitted beyond the 4 weeks late, students are still required to submit the material or will receive an incomplete for the course. The per day deduction depends on how many points the overall assignment is worth.

Extensions for Assignements
Students will ONLY be considered for an extension of an assignment through written emailed requests. Please note the request must come through at least 3 days prior to the assignment due date and will not necessarily be approved. This will be a case-by-case basis and will ONLY be considered under extenuating circumstances.

Make-up/Extra Credit Work
Make-up work and extra credit will only be considered under extenuating circumstances. Proper documentation will be required for these to be considered.

Repeat Credit Assignments
Students retaking this class for repeatable credit CANNOT submit assignments from previous semesters. If said student would like alternate resources to complete the assignment, please let the instructor know. The expectation is that students are furthering their knowledge from the previous semester and deepening their understanding of the material. If a student submits a previous assignment from a previous semester, they will be given a single opportunity to resubmit within 3 days of discovery.

Attendance Policy

SUU Dance Program Attendance Policty
Attendance is required for all classes unless excused by the instructor or for official university travel. A student is allotted three unexcused absences (for classes meeting two-days per week) or four unexcused absences (for classes meeting three-days per week). Following the allotted unexcused absences for a specific course, each additional unexcused absence will incur a half letter grade deduction from a student’s cumulative grade as outlined below:

0 additional unexcused absences: A
1 additional unexcused absence: A-
2 additional unexcused absences: B
3 additional unexcused absences: C+
4 additional unexcused absences: C-
5 additional unexcused absences: D

Taking care of oneself and time management should be a top priority. Please note these absences are meant to include any illnesses students incur, rest and recovery days, or mental health days needed. Long term illnesses or injury will require temporary accommodations with the Disability Resource Center on Campus and a meeting to set up a plan to move forward in the course.
In addition to attendance, grades are contingent upon the completion and quality of all other course requirements as outlined by the professor.

Tardiness
If a student arrives to class more than 5 minutes late, they will be marked tardy. In a studio based class- they will observe and complete an observation form to be handed in to the instructor at the end of class. Three instances of tardiness to a class will be counted as one unexcused absence and applied to the attendance grading policy.

Observation
If a student is unable to participate in a studio-based class due to an injury or otherwise, students are allowed to sit out and observe. They will fill out a hard copy observation form to be handed in to the instructor at the end of class (found in each dance studio’s sound cabinet). Students exceeding three observations will meet with the instructor to develop a plan moving forward.

AI Use Policy

Use of Al (artificial intelligence) writing programs (such as ChatGPT, Bing Al, and Claude) is allowed in this class and will not be policed. Please note that successfully writing a paper using Al will involve just as much (if not more) work as writing the paper without Al. Al cannot write the students' assignments for them.
Disclosure of Al-Assisted Writing:

For each assignment students will decide and disclose whether they have used Al writing tools (either in part or in whole). Concealing or lying about the use of Al will result in an a grade of incomplete and there will be no opportunity for re-submission.

Note:

For dance courses whether physical or theoretical AI is notoriously inaccurate.
The same minimum standards and rubrics will be in place for each assignment regardless of whether the student is using Al. Assignments that fail to meet the minimum standards specified with the use of AI will be marked as incomplete and students will be given three days to resubmit the paper, no further extension.
Al is prone to writing factually incorrect statements, inventing fake quotes from real sources, and inventing entirely fake sources – most of which are NOT Primary or secondary sources. It is the students' responsibility to double-check that any Al-assisted work submitted is free from these errors. Work containing factual errors, fictitious quotes, or sources will be marked as incomplete, and students will be given three days to resubmit the paper, no further extension.
Submitting more than one assignment with these types of errors will result in failing the class.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

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