Paul Scolieri

I had great expectations going into this class based on the reviews I read. Professor Scolieri is probably the worst professor I have ever had. He simply loves to talk. The only part of this course that I enjoyed was being able to go to two dance performances. However, I still would've not taken this class if I could go back in time. I wasted so much time and energy going to class to listen to nonsense.

This class was interesting, and Prof. Scolieri is such a kind and patient human being. The course gave students an overview of the history of dance ranging from the Aztecs, to Dance in South Asia, to Africa. The workshops were fun too, and you can tell that Prof. Scolieri has worked hard to bring teachers in to teach. I would say, however, that the grading standards for this class were confusing at best, and made many of us panic. Everything was graded out of 4 (??) and canvas was not set up properly so the grades kept getting multiplied and the courseworks overall grade displayed numbers like 207.59%. The final necessitated quite a bit of studying, and consisted of 50% Identifications from readings/ documentaries, 50% a 1250-word in-class essay (you get roughly an hour to write it). Also, if you don't know anything about dance, it can be quite difficult to participate in class discussions since many students are dance majors etc. This class is not hard if you stay on top of everything. What makes it stressful and confusing is the lack of a mark scheme, the fact that attendance grades are never released, and the logistical aspects of the course that are not well put together. We never even got the final exam grades back, they simply published our final class grade.

I loved this course and I love Paul. (It's the second course I took with him. Dance History was equally great.) This course changed my perception of movement. It was really great to think about movement and not necessarily "dance." I approach choreography and dancing differently as a result. Paul was incredibly generous with his time and energy and as almost all other reviewers say, he has endless enthusiasm. He actually worked individually with us on final projects. I met with him at least four times. Plus, he read several drafts of my final paper, filled them with notes and suggestions. He always had words of encouragement. The Laban material is actually fascinating and complex. I didn't expect it to be as physically demanding as some of the material was. I would definitely encourage dance majors to take this course. It will change the way you think about moving and about the way you see movement.

Prof Scolieri is a really good professor to listen to. You watch a lot of dance clips in class and he is a very passionate teacher who really seems to enjoy the subject as well as teaching. He also asks for a lot of input so you have to talk in class. And go to a lot of shows - but that be fun -- esp when people ask you, "have you done things in the city" - you can now say yes... However, he is a hard grader. It is not an easy A. Not a hard B, but not A. I recommend going to him to discuss each paper - he can be very helpful during his office hours.

This class is so poorly organized and taught that it really floors me that he's taught it before. Scolieri seems like a nice enough person, but he obviously puts no thought into preparing for class. The first twenty minutes are spent playing around on google earth or youtube-- definitely not something that helped cultivate academic growth. Once he has time to compose himself he;ll want to keep you ten minutes over which, to me, is incredibly disrespectful of the tight schedules of a lot of students. He assigned a random selection of readings as well as one book (written by his friend), so there's no real academic leaning to the course. Going to class will also be a waste of time as he encourages people to tell random stories (about rabbis with puppets, for example). This helps conceal the fact that he really has nothing to say. Basically the course will be a complete drag on your life. You won't go to classes because they're so horrible, but then every month or so you'll have an assignment (paper, midterm, paper, final) that will haunt you.

Paul's Class was amazing. The posts that suggest he only takes to dance students is false. He loves everyone, and actually takes the time to know every single person in class. He's very interested in who you are and what you also do outside of class. This class isn't actually hard and is very manageable, even if you rarely pay attention. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS. I learned a great deal and am so glad to have taken it.

Short writing projects, group studio work outside of class, a fairly involved final project (but totally worth the work).

I love professor scolieri's class. I knew nothing about dance going in, but had no trouble with the class at all. And, if you are a dancer, you'll still learn a lot and not feel held back. He's just a great speaker, and makes the class SO interesting. He just has a wonderful personality. When students make comments in class, he listens and responds well. The class discussions are great. It's a very comfortable setting, where you can participate if you want but don't feel like you HAVE to. The readings are very light. Most won't take more than 20 min before class. At the beginning of the semester he gave us a pop quiz on the readings. It was just to scare us, and wasn't graded. You should do the readings anyway, cause it makes the class more enjoyable. Instead of readings, we also had to watch a few films. But they're not long, and fun to watch. One was west side story. If you're worried about the performances taking too much of your time-don't. They're a nice break from your work during the week. If you're looking for a fun and interesting class, with a great professor, take this. I would definitely recommend him.

Prof. Scolieri seems like a nice guy, and I'm sure he is. But this class was a waste of my time. I don't think I learned much I'll be able to use in my other classes. I take good notes and my notes were incoherent, and a lot of what he said in-class felt like he was using us for his free-associations. We screened a lot of movies and there was some reading, but it seemed like the videos and readings were really the basis for what he wanted, and the class didn't add much to that -- class time seemed disorganized and arbitrarily put together. The midterm, which was worth less than 10% of our grade, was very difficult and clashed with Paul's casual in-class lassiez-faire attitude. He wasn't very welcoming during office hours and sometimes the grading on papers seemed arbitrary -- if he doesn't agree, a student could find herself penalized for a different opinion. The material we covered was so broad that I don't think I got a deeper understanding of any of the cultures we studied. Maybe he was just having an off semester?

I have a feeling that the only students who like Paul Scoleri's classes are dance students. Do not take this class if you're a Barnard student looking to fulfill your general education requirements (as I did). He is clearly partial towards students that have a proclivity for the arts. If you don't have a solid background in dance, I would advise against taking it. He claims in the beginning that you don't need any experience in dance, but he clearly cares. He also refuses to give extensions. I've never once asked for an extension in my entire college career, and the one time I really needed one he was useless. And of course, we didn't get the papers back until 4-5 weeks later so it's obviously not because he was in a rush to have them graded. He makes the class more dense than it needs to be. You're not going to remember 95% of the terms (often in different languages) that he throws at you so I don't understand why he burdens students with them. The class wasn't hard because it was academically challenging, because it isn't in the least bit. It's that he gives you so much more information than a student can possibly learn/digest in one semester, unless you're taking a light course load, and expects you to know it all. I love culture studies and was looking forward to this class, but quickly realized it was going to fall short of expectations.