Dance
Dance History, Performance, & Choreography
Course Description/Overview: Scholars will be tasked and challenged with learning beginner aspects of fundamental dance education by:
- Ascertaining and comprehending historical information on diverse dance genres such as Ballet, Modern, and Jazz in order to analyze the cultural, political, social, and economic context of the aforementioned dance genres.
- Ascertaining and comprehending information on the foundational movement technique of Ballet, Modern, and Jazz in order to employ and execute that technique through physical performance at a proficient level.
- Ascertaining and comprehending information on dance elements in order to explore, generate, and perform movement.
- Ascertaining and comprehending information on the history and practice of somatics such as yoga and pilates, and nutrition in order to implement healthful mental, emotional, and physical wellness in dance.
- Ascertaining and comprehending information on the anatomical structure of the human body in order to move in healthy anatomical alignment.
Dance History, Performance, and Choreography will exist as a course that emphasizes all that dance education encapsulates on a beginner level from a physical, mental, and emotional aspect, as dance education provides all three tiers to be stimulated in a creative way. Scholars in this course will be equipped to ascertain, comprehend, analyze, and employ the history, performative nature, and choreographic nature of dance techniques, as well as implement healthful mind and body tips derived from somatic practices such as yoga and pilates. An incorporation of a vast array of learning techniques in conjunction with the constructivist framework will be utilized. Therefore, the breakdown in every class will be:
-Lecture = 5%
-Reading = 10%
-Audiovisual = 20%
-Demonstration = 30%
-Discussion Group = 50%
-Practice By Doing = 75%
-Teach Others/Immediate Use Of Learning = 90%.
Course Details: At the end of this course, scholars will be expected to produce and perform in their own performance concert that will display a culmination of all of the genres they studied throughout the course of the academic year. After each unit scholars will partake in an individual/group assignment to close each unit.
Dance History, Performance, & Choreography 2025-2026 Syllabus
Beyond The Classroom:
The Teacher
Sabreen T. Mateen is a Teacher Of Students With Disabilities candidate with Rutgers University’s Graduate School Of Education. She is also a Dance EdM recipient from Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education. She graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance & Choreography from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. Performing Arts has always been a part of Ms. Mateen’s educational background. As a young girl, Ms. Mateen attended Washington Academy Of Music in East Orange, NJ as a Piano Major under the direction of Yvonne Wise, while also training in Dance at Arts Conservatory Inc. under the direction of Crystal Newby-Reynolds. Ms. Mateen attended Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts Middle/High School in East Orange, NJ as a Dance Major under the direction of Bettina Peets and Jennifer Sweet. A young girl born in Newark, NJ and raised in East Orange, NJ would go on to attend Rutgers University - The State University Of New Jersey’s Mason Gross School Of The Arts (New Brunswick) and The Graduate School (New Brunswick) as a Dance BFA Major and Dance EdM Major as well. While pursuing higher education, Ms. Mateen has choreographed for local schools in New Jersey including Bayonne High School and her own middle/high school, Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts Middle/High School, as well as at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. She has performed in choreography by Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts’ dance department professors Keith Thompson and John Evans, widely exalted modern dance choreographer Mark Morris, and repertory of Ballet Hispanico choreographers. She has also performed at The Joyce Theater and local New Jersey schools as part of the University DanceWorks company at Rutgers. Ms. Mateen has attended Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts, the New Jersey School Of Ballet, and has participated in a residency program with Ballet Hispanico under the direction of Nicholas Villenueve. The genres in which she has trained include ballet, modern, hip hop, tap, and jazz. Ms. Mateen is an Om Factory (NYC) certified yoga instructor. She is also an alumna of Rutgers-Newark University’s Upward Bound TRIO Program in which she mentored and instructed yoga and dance workshops for high school scholars in diverse urban communities who embarked on a rigorous six week pre-collegiate program. Ms. Mateen aspires to continue her service in the field of education and dance related fields.
Ms. Mateen has trained scholars from College Achieve Central Charter School (Westervelt) - North Plainfield, NJ, South 17th Street School - Newark, NJ, Colorguard Section of the East Orange Unified Marching Band, and East Orange School District’s Summer Arts Program. Currently, she is the Dance Director and Dance Company Advisor here at Whitney E. Houston Academy Of Creative & Performing Arts, one half of the Visual & Performing Arts Chair/Lead, as well as the Head Cheerleading Coach with the East Orange Jaguars Cheer Team. In her leisure time Ms. Mateen’s hobbies include listening to music, reading, and being a student in life and in the classroom.
