WACD was born from the 1995 merger of UCLA's interdepartmental program in World Arts and Cultures and the Dance Department, with the addition in 2001 of resources, faculty, and staff from the interdepartmental program in Folklore.
Now, the faculty of UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WACD) is comprised of scholars and artists dedicated to developing interdisciplinary, cross-cultural modes of investigation to address complex social, political, cultural and artistic questions inherent in the contemporary world. By engaging deeply in multiple artistic and scholarly disciplines, methods, genres and areas of expertise, our faculty forges curricula out of thematic connections that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries.
Chronology
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☉1962
UCLA's Department of Dance is founded under the leadership of Alma Hawkins. It is the first time Dance is recognized as an academic discipline housed within a College of the Arts (now School of the Arts and Architecture). (Others are located in Physical Education departments.) Over its 33-year history, the department plays a pioneering role in establishing dance as a field of study in the university setting, and develops a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to dance studies, including offerings in Modern Dance Choreography/Performance, Dance Education, Dance Ethnology, Dance History and Dance/Movement Therapy with dance degrees at the B.A., M.A., M.F.A., and M.A. in Dance/Movement Therapy levels.
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☉1965
The Interdepartmental Program in Folklore and Mythology originates as an interdepartmental graduate program in UCLA's College of Letters and Science, providing an M.A. in Folklore and Mythology.
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☉1972
Professor Hawkins and faculty from six disciplines convene to establish the World Arts and Cultures Interdepartmental Program (WAC; originally named Ethnic Arts). WAC develops an interdisciplinary B.A. with faculty members from Anthropology, Art History, Dance, Folklore and Mythology, Music, and Theater. Flourishing for over two decades, WAC emphasizes the development of interdisciplinary, intercultural perspectives on the arts, grounded in independent research and field study.
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☉1978
The Folklore and Mythology Interdepartmental Program offers a new Ph.D. degree in Folklore and Mythology.
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☉1993
The faculties of World Arts and Cultures and the Dance Department start discussions to organize a new department around a unique configuration of creative, conceptual, and educational goals. The faculty of both units (Dance and WAC) recognize the deepening crisis that the arts face in this country. They propose to develop a stronger, more viable academic unit that would produce a new generation of artists, arts scholars, and cultural leaders.
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☉1995
The Department of World Arts and Cultures is created from the merger of Dance and WAC. Our unique interdisciplinary character stems from this dual institutional heritage. The B.A. degree in World Arts and Cultures settles into a "dance concentration" and a "world arts and cultures concentration," and also offered an M.F.A. degree in Dance/Choreography.
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☉2000
After four years of planning, the Ph.D. and M.A. programs in Culture and Performance (CAP) are approved by the University of California Office of the President. The department has since discontinued its M.A. in Dance and M.A. in Dance/Movement Therapy degree programs.
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☉2001
The faculty, staff, and other resources of the Interdepartmental Program in Folklore and Mythology are transferred to WAC, becoming a significant component of the department. Folklore remains a touchstone in our current undergraduate and graduate programs.
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☉2010
After three years of deliberation that included input from faculty and students, the faculty propose and receive approval of changing its department's name to Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. This name change becomes effective Fall of 2011, establishing a stronger and clearer representation of the scope and strengths of our two subunits – the study of arts and cultures, and the study of dance.
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☉2011
The faculty proposes and receives approval of the return of a B.A. in Dance, along with a revised B.A. in World Arts and Cultures. Both better reflect the evolution of the two programs at the undergraduate level. These undergraduate programs become effective Fall 2012.