125
ED 344 865 AUTHOR TITLE INSTITUTION REPORT NO PUB DATE NOTE AVAILABLE FROM PUB TYFE EDRS PRICE DESCRIPTORS IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT DOCUMENT RESUME SP 033 758 Oliver, Wendy, Ed. Dance in Higher Education. Focus on Dance XII. American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Reston, VA. National Dance Association. ISBN-0-88314-521-9 92 126p. AAHPERD Publication Sales, 1900 Association Drive, Reston, VA 22091. Information Analyses (070) -- Collectod Works General (020) MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. Adult Learning; *College Faculty; *College Students; *Curriculum Development; *Dance Education; Higher Education; *Program Improvement; *Teacher Education Programs; Teaching Methods *Choreography; Historical Background This monograph opens with an historical overview of dance in higher education from 1887-1991 and then focuses on issues for the 1990s. The publication is divided into five sections: (1) "Current Perspectives: Over7iews of the Field" discusses what constitutes an appropriate dance education at the college level; (2, "Teacher Education" calls for program improvement, consistency among technical, conceptual and pedagogical knowledge, Ow need for a discipline-based approach to teaching dance, incorporation of African-American dance history into the curriculum, and integration among the arts in order to promote better understanding of dance competition; (3) "College/Adult Beginners" addresses strategies for studio classes based on 1.,rinciples of learning, introduces self-teaching into technique classes, describes the challenges in working with adult-beginner ballet students, and talks about an experience in which a university community became involved in dance; (4) "Teaching Choreography" takes an historical view of the dichotomy between process and craft; and (5) "Faculty Issues" focuses on the problems of tenure and promotion, presents a survey on dance administrators, and discusses mentoring among dance faculty. The document contains 18 papers. (LL) **************(**************************************A**********.******* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************

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Page 1: ED 344 865 SP 033 758 AUTHOR Oliver, Wendy, Ed. TITLE ... · DOCUMENT RESUME. SP 033 758. Oliver, Wendy, Ed. Dance in Higher Education. Focus on Dance XII. American Alliance for Health,

ED 344 865

AUTHORTITLEINSTITUTION

REPORT NOPUB DATENOTEAVAILABLE FROM

PUB TYFE

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

IDENTIFIERS

ABSTRACT

DOCUMENT RESUME

SP 033 758

Oliver, Wendy, Ed.Dance in Higher Education. Focus on Dance XII.American Alliance for Health, Physical Education,Recreation and Dance, Reston, VA. National DanceAssociation.ISBN-0-88314-521-992

126p.

AAHPERD Publication Sales, 1900 Association Drive,Reston, VA 22091.Information Analyses (070) -- Collectod WorksGeneral (020)

MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.Adult Learning; *College Faculty; *College Students;*Curriculum Development; *Dance Education; HigherEducation; *Program Improvement; *Teacher EducationPrograms; Teaching Methods*Choreography; Historical Background

This monograph opens with an historical overview ofdance in higher education from 1887-1991 and then focuses on issuesfor the 1990s. The publication is divided into five sections: (1)"Current Perspectives: Over7iews of the Field" discusses whatconstitutes an appropriate dance education at the college level; (2,

"Teacher Education" calls for program improvement, consistency amongtechnical, conceptual and pedagogical knowledge, Ow need for adiscipline-based approach to teaching dance, incorporation ofAfrican-American dance history into the curriculum, and integrationamong the arts in order to promote better understanding of dancecompetition; (3) "College/Adult Beginners" addresses strategies forstudio classes based on 1.,rinciples of learning, introducesself-teaching into technique classes, describes the challenges inworking with adult-beginner ballet students, and talks about anexperience in which a university community became involved in dance;(4) "Teaching Choreography" takes an historical view of the dichotomybetween process and craft; and (5) "Faculty Issues" focuses on theproblems of tenure and promotion, presents a survey on danceadministrators, and discusses mentoring among dance faculty. Thedocument contains 18 papers. (LL)

**************(**************************************A**********.*******Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.***********************************************************************

Page 2: ED 344 865 SP 033 758 AUTHOR Oliver, Wendy, Ed. TITLE ... · DOCUMENT RESUME. SP 033 758. Oliver, Wendy, Ed. Dance in Higher Education. Focus on Dance XII. American Alliance for Health,

U DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and improvementEDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER IERIC)

C This document has been reproduced trec., red from the person or organizationOriginating It

CI Minor changes have been made to improvereproduction quality

Points of view or opinions slated in this document 00 not necessarily represent official0E141 POSItiOn or pOlity

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS

MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY

HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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IIFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)"

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Page 3: ED 344 865 SP 033 758 AUTHOR Oliver, Wendy, Ed. TITLE ... · DOCUMENT RESUME. SP 033 758. Oliver, Wendy, Ed. Dance in Higher Education. Focus on Dance XII. American Alliance for Health,

FOCUS ON DANCE XII

Dance inHigher Education

Wendy OliverEditor

A Project of theNational Dance Association

An Association of theAmerican Alliance for Health,

Physical Education, Recreation and Dance

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EDIMIt's NOTE ON FOCUS ON DANCE XII

This monograph, Dance in Higher E(/14CU(imE, was compiled during 1991. A Call for Papers wasmade public over a simonth period, and the deadline for subnUssions was January 31, 199 I .

Papers submitted were then blind-reviewed by a panel of four highly qualified readers from thefield of dance in higher education. I wish t.o thank these readers for their time, dedication, andinsight. This volume would not have been possible without them.Wendy Oliver Editor

('OVER CREDIT: Mark Wheeler teaches a dance class inthe Department of Health, Physical Education,Recreation iind Dance, ljniversity of Georgia, Athens.

Copyright 1 992,

American Alliance for Ilealt h, PhysicalEducat ion, Recreat ion and Dance

1 900 Association DriveReston, Virginia 22091

ISBN

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ContentsIntroduction, by Wendy Oliver

Current Perspectives: Overviews of the FieldDance in Higher Education: Out of the Picture or Into the Fray, by Edrie FerdunA Prismatic Approach to Analysis of Style in Dance as a Paradigm for Dance Education,

by Betsey GibbonsDance Education at the Selective Liberal Arts College, by Lynn Malluck BrooksUniversity Dance: Some Questions, by Jan Van Dyke

Teacher EducationContent Knowledge in Dance Education, by Sy trie FortinDance Education Degree Programs in Colleges and Universities, by Karen ClenienteProspects for Planned Change in Dance Education, by Francine Lee MorinAfrocentric Forms in 20th Century American Dance History. Transforming Course Content

and the Curriculum, by Julie A. KerrDance MATERIAL (Dance, Mu:,ic, and Art Training and Education Resulting In Aesthetic

Literacy), by John R. Cranfi)rd

College/Adult BeginnersDeveloping Skills in Dance: Considerations for Teaching Adult BeginncnI. by Ca r91 A.

Wood and Susan Gillis-KrununtStudent as Teacher, Teacher as Student, by Gail Lee AbramsBallet I Curricular Design in Higher Education, by Carol J. SoleauServing a Broad Dance Community in Higher Education, by Elea in» Wtisman

Teaching ChoreographyThe Integration of Process and Craft in the Teaching of Modern Choreography:

A Historical Overview, by Carol M. PressObservation and Criticism in the Choreography Class. by La rry Lla,ender

Faculty IssuesTenure and Promotion of Dance Rwulty, by Jessica WoodManagement Competencies for Dance Administrators in Higher Education,

by Erlyne E WhitemanBenign Neglect: Issues in Mentoring, by Kellry Pierce-Byrd

tii

7

1 2

1927

3:3

354147

5:3

64

73

75808489

93

95101

107109

114118

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IntroductionWendy Oliver

Brief Historical Overview of Dance inHigher Education

It has been a little over a century since the earli-est dance programs were established in higher edu-cation in the United States. Since that. time, dancein higher education has seen tremendous growthand change. Each era of university dance educationsince 1887 had a dominant issue, or issues, aroundwhich educators rallied. The record of these con-cerns has been kept in the publications of Own.respective times.

1887-1900

Most dance educators associate the year 1926ith Margaret H'Doubler's great accomplishment

of establishing the first dance major in higher edu-cation at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.However, fewer or us are aware that in 1887,Dudley Sargent established the . arvard SumnwrSchool, a normal school which included dancewithin its physical education program. This schooland others like it were established for the sole pur-pose of physical education preparation for femaleteachers; although men taught the courses, onlywomen took them. The rationale for includingdance (called dancing caaist hen ics or aestheticdancing) in the curriculum stressed grace man-ners, and physical fitness (O'Brien, 1966).

However, grace and fitness were not tlw onlyqualities valued during this time. The influence ofFrancois Delsarte's ideas o; expressivenessthrough movement were strongly felt at thelarvard program. and this notion was "at the lead-

ing edge of ideas about dance- (O'Brien, P. 216).

1900-1930

1905 was the first year dance was the main sub-ject of discussion at the conference of theAmerican Physical Education Association. It wasalso t he year when seven articles about dance

6

appeared in the physical education lit erat ure.Henry Taylor. in his article "The Dancing Foot."said:

. . the new dancing must be hygienic; itmust be gymnastic; it must be recreative; itmust be expressive and it !mist illust rate t hehighest stan(lards of beauty. (in O'Brien, p. 218)

Educator Luther Gulick was leading the reformof physical education for children, advocatingdance as a beneficial and necessary activity(Chapman, 1974) and was the first educator towrite a book about dance (O'Brien. 19.. 6). Duringt he years between 1905 and 1917. folk dancebecame popular in higher education, co-existingwith aesthetic dancing. This was a change towardsocial rather than personal expression, Meanwhile,Isadora Duncan was performing in Europe, but. herwork did not appear to directly affect dance educa-tion at that time (O'Brien). In 1915, JacquesDalcroze's eurythmics, or music interpretation.came to the fore in dance education. The impor-tance of expressiveness in dance eclipsed thenotion of physical fitness or grace.

During the years 1918-1932, dance expandedsignificantly through the "new.' physical education,which valued what was natural. expressive, andeducational. The center of activity was TeachersCollege, Columbia University, where GertrudeColby created and taught "natural dance.- based onher synthesis of ideas from Duncan and Dalcroze(Chapman, ! )71). It was at Teachers College thatMargaret If Doubler was trained.

II'Doubler's dance major, established under theauspices of the Physical Education Department atthe I.Tniversity of Wisconsin, stressed creativity andpersonal growth, founded on a biological understanding of the body. Although she called her styl,."interpretive dance," it was actually a part of theemergence of what became modern dance. whichrejected both ballet and aest het ic dance (Chapman,1971).

Also during the late twenties, dance educatorsattended the performances of Martha Graham.

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Doris Humphrey, and other artists, and enrolled intheir courses. The teachings of these great dancersthen began to permeate I he schools.('ommunication through dance became thebyword. However, not all educators agreed that anartist-based approach was appropriate in an educa-tional setting ',O'Brien, 1966).

1930-1950

The National Section on Dance was establishedin 1932, as a part of the American PhysicalEducation Association, and signaled an effort bydance educators to determine what dance in educa-tion should be. The purpose of the Dance Section,as stated by Chair Mary O'Donnell, was

. to romote the constructive develop-ment of all types of dance in education, andto provide the leadership essential to thesuccess of such a program. It aims to serveall school levels and all non-school groupsas well. (in O'Brien. 19fi(i, p, 208)

The thirties brought about a period of consolida-tion and strengthening of the ties between profes-sional artists and dance educators. Modern danceWaS seen as a vehicle for the physical. mental, emo-tional, and social development of the student , thuslegit imizing its place in an educational setting.Although modern dance was dominant in highereducation, tap, folk, square, and ballroom werealso taught: there was disagreement as to the valueof ballet (Griffith, 1975).

During the forties, WWII slowed but did not stopthe development of dance in higher education.After the war, the Bennington program founded byMartha Ilill moved to Connecticut College, whewartists such as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey,Hanya Hohn, Erick Hawkins, and Jose Limon wereon the faculty. II'Doubler's views on dance contintied to be taught .,tcross the country. and RudolphLaban and Aileen Lockhart each published influen-tial books. Dance p,'ogranis were almost alwayshoused in pliy,.al ,',I.ncation departments, whichvaried in their million nent to dance.

Walter Terry, dance editor for the Neu' YorkHerald-Tribune, pub ished a report on dance illhigher education in 1918. While modern dance,folk, and square dance were On the upswing, tapand ballroom declined somewhat (Griffith, 1975).The need for a st.rong dance pedagogy generatedefforts to create a framework that wimld prove use-ful to all educators, whether in dance, physical edu-cation, or general education (Evan, in ( 'hapman.197,1).

.)

1950-1980

In the fifties and early sixties, a nukjor focus wasthe location of dance programs within the univer-sity setting. Many programs initially consideredbecoming departments on their own, later decidingthat such action would be impractical. Soon after,dance educators expressed conflict over nmvinginto fine arts areas versus remainirg in physicaleducation. The resolution of this issue was that

. . . dance was an autonommis disciplineand must stand on its own feet, hopefUllymaintaining good relations %with all its asso-ciated areas. This did not mean that mostdance prog-ams went out of physical edu-cation, but that the position had beenfinally accepted intellectually, and the trendwas in the direction of autonomy whereverdance was located. (Griffith, 1975, p. 3 I )

Merce Cunningham and Alwin Nikolais empha-sized nonliteral dance, and as they toured collegecampuses with their conlpanies, their ideas beganto be reflected in the curriculum. Creativity wasst ressed.

In 1905, the Nation Se,.tion on Dance in AMIPERbecame the Dance Division, mirroring t he trendtoward autonomy in higher education. Dance pro-grams continued to migrate out of physical educa-tion, and by 1973, only 50 percent of all dance pro-grams in higher education renlained in physicaleducation departments (Stanich, 1981).

Many publications on modern and recreationaldance appeared in t.he 1960s, including AlmaHawkins' Creating Tbrough Dance (1961).However, older texts continued to be popular.According to a survey by Fannie Melcer (1970),three of t he most used dance texts at that time wereCurt Sachs's 14'orld History of the Donee (1937),Margaret II'Doubler's Donee: Creat ire ArtViperience (19-10), and Doris Humphrey's TheArt (4. Mak ina Dances (195) ). The academicaspect of dance began to be recognized when phi-losopher Suzanne Langer wrote abian dance as anart form in the late 1960s.

There was great concern about the lack ofresearch in dance. Educators became aware thatwitInnit a body of research and publications. theirheld would not be highly regarded by the rest t no

academic community. In addition to voicing its con-cern about research, the Dance Division alsopointed to three other problems of the time: "train-ing quality teachers. getting men into the field. andestablishing dance as a discipline on all campuses-(Griffith. 1975).

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An issue of concern during the sixties and seven-ties was the disagreenwnt over what styles of mod-ern dance technique should be taught in colleges.There were factions who espoused the "old-fashioned" techniques of Graham and Humphrey,and others who preferred the approach ofCunningham or Nikolais. During this time, accord-ing to researcher Diana Stanich,

the literature indicated that an effective dancemitjor should include a variety of dance forms.The pro em lies in dance faculty being trainedin onl iw specialty of dance, or trained in onlytheor tical or historical aspects of dance. Thefindings from this study suggest training teach-ers of dance to teach at lemt three types ofdance. Some dance programs solved this prob-lem by having professional dancers to teachworkshops in specific dance forms. (1981, p.157)

Anot her issue was that of academic degreerequirements. Many professional dancers wereteaching within higher education without. the"proper credentials." This continued to be prob-lematic in the eighties and was linked to the notiont hat dancers should be taught the academic side ofdance, as well as technique and composition. Theissue of research continued to be debated, withs(une educators feeling that all creative effortsshomld be directed toward performance and chore-ogra)hy and others feeling the need or desire tolegitimize the field through publications (Stanich,1981).

For students aspiring to perform. it was gener-ally accepted that professional studios, not col-leges, were the best places to train. Most danceprograms up through the early 1970s believed thatt he main focus of dance in higher education was tot rain teachers, not performers. although there we, esome exceptions to this rule (Stanich, 1981).

Ethnic and jazz dance became more visible oncampuses during the seventies, and ballet gainedreacceptance as the decades-long feud betweenballet and modern dance died down. Dance anthro-pology, dance therapy. and dance exercise becamea part of college educat U in.

1980-1991

Since the early eighties. ballroom, folk. and tapdance have cont limed to thrive. and jazz dance haszmaned to in pularit y: however, nualern dance andballet have (lint inued to form t he (.ore ()I danceprograins. More dance programs have !wen gearedtoward training professnmal dancers than everbefore: however, there is an awareness t hat dancers

must prepare for a "second career" (Collins-Head,1987).

"Multiculturalism" becaine an important issue,the thrust of which is that dance education mustbegin to seriously incorporate dance concepts andstyles from many cultures if it is to remain relevantto future student bodies. As it stands now, mostdance programs are centered around moderndance, generally a white, middle-or-upper-middleclass art form that does not necessarily reflect thevalues of other cultures. Since minorities in theUnited States will become more and more preva-lent, dance educators have noted that it is impor-tant to create dance education that takes intoaccount different frames of reference.

Hiring, tenure and promotion, and gaining legiti-macy and recognition in academe have continuedto be viewed as problematic. As "degree inflation"has taken hold, colleges and universities haveupped their hiring requirements, some as high asthe doctorate, for jobs that are primarily teachingservice classes. The struggle to equate creativework with publications continues in faculty bids fortenure and proimaion. Even at universities wherecreative work is accepted in rank and tenure deci-sions, the standards by which this work is judgedare ma always clearly defined.

Issues for the 1990sThe subjects chosen for this issue of Focus on

Dunce reflect the current concerns of its authors.and by inference of higher educators across thecountry. It is interesting to note that many contem-porary coiwerns in the field actually have precur-sors in earlier times.

The discussion of what constitutes an appropri-ate education in dance at the college level (cer-tahdy an ongoing theme thr(iugh the decades) isthe f()cus of foer papers. Edrie Ferdun writes aboutt he current roles and future directions of dance illhigher education, explaining her vision of a disci-pline that would recommit to social mncerns aspart of its overall mission. Betsey Gibbons advo-cates moving away from mmpart mentalizat ion andt echnical training to embrace a nuire pluralisticframework. Lynn Matluck Brooks discusses the sit-uation particular to dance in the small, liberal artscollege. Jan Van Dyke reacts against the "conserva-tory approach- in dance training that effectivelycuts dancers off from many of their intellectualcapacities. All of these aut hors are suggesting thata holistic approach be consideredone thatexposes students t more t han "dance training."

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Quality teacher education was mentioned as astrong concern for ..he National Section on Dancein the 1960s. Here, it is discussed by three authorswho still see room for improvement. Sy lvie Fortincalls for consistency among technical, conceptual,and pedagogical knowledge in teaching dance.Karen Clemente writes that dance educationdegree programs have actually declined in numberin the recent past, and speculates on the possiblecauses behind this trend. Francine Lee Morinstresses the need for a discipline-based approachto teacher education carried out through inserviceteachers.

Tied to the theme of multiculturalism is JulieKerr's paper on Afrocentric dance. Kerr points outthe strong influence that African-American dancehas had on the history of dance in this country andsuggests ways for incorporating this informationinto the curriculum. John Crawford asserts thatintegration among the arts promotes a betterunderstanding of dance composition. lie hasdesigned an approach for improving aesthetic liter-acy through the combined study of art., nmsic, anddance.

College and adult beginners are the subject of

four papers. Susan Gillis-Kruman discusses herstrategies for studio classes based on principles oflearning. Gail Lee Abrams has introduced "self-teaching" into her technique classes with excellentre:,ult.s. Carol Solea i describes the particular chal-lenges in working with adult-beginner ballet stu-dents, sharing with the reader her own personaldesign for teaching. Eleanor Weisman talks of herexperience at the University of North Dakota andhow she wa.s able to involve the university commu-nity in dance.

In the area of teaching choreography, CarolPress takes a historical view of the dichotomy thathas occurred between process and craft, and urlescomposition teachers to examnine the philosophiesunderlying their curricula. Larry Lavender sug-gests that "Did you like it?" is an inappropriatequestion for composition class and carefully out-lines an alternate way of proceeding.

Finally, faculty issues were the focus of threeauthors. Jessica Wood writes about the problems oftenure and promotion. Erlyne \Whiteman presentsher survey on dance administrators, and KelleyPierce-Byrd discusses mentoring among dance fac-ulty members.

References

chapman, S. (1974). Morement education in theUnited States. Philadelphia: Movement EducationPublications.

Collins-Head, S. (1987). Theoretical ,foundationsdance in higher education from 197.5- / 985.Master's thesis, California State ITniversity at LongBeach.

Griffith, B. It (1975). Theoretical foundat ions of dancein higher education in the United States:1933-1965. Doctoral dissertation, I`niversity ofSouthern California.

Melcer, li! II. (1970). Three surveys of dance resourcematerial. Journal of Health. Physical Education.Recreation, 41(2), 87-88.

O'Brien, D. A. (1966). Theoretical fimmlat ions af

dance in American higher education; 1885-19:Q.Doctoral dissertation, University of SouthernCalifornia.

Stanich, D. (1981), Theoretical .foumlat Unis af dancein higher rducation ;n the United States from1965-19:4. Master's thesis, California StateI Iniversity at Long Beach.

Wendy Oliver served as editor for this issue of 119Cus on Dance.She is a professor at Providence College,

Providence, Rhode Island C2918.

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Current Perspectives:Overviews of the Field

:) 10

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Dance in Higher Education: Out of thePicture or Into the Fray?

Edrie Ferdun

The status of dance in Ow colleges and universi-ties cannot really be separated from Ow status ofhigher education, the society, and the world inWhich WC live. ln fact, it is in t he chill climate ofwar, economic recession. and suspect values thatquestions about the relative importance and posi-tion of (lance in higher education now presentthemse'ves. As a means of participating in t hestock taking t hat is going on across t he country, t hefollowing questions are posed. Ilow rooted andsturdy is the inszitutionalizat ion of dance in higherethication? Whose needs are being served? Whatfunctions and affiliations now characterize dancein higher education? Ilow satisfactory are they inrelation to higher education and tlw society as weattempt to understand t hem today? All of us insidethe field of dance must surely spend some timereading our situations and looking for what mightbe III(' handwriting 011 the wall or t he crack that sig-nals new hope. Alt hough each of us faces a uniquesetting, perhaps we sense t he times together. Theohservations I share can be tested against yours.

process may help in finding the next stepstoward t he future of (lance in higher education.

Institutionalization

'rhe 1 990s see dance institutionalized more fullythan at any time in the history of higher educatin t his c(nintry. It is represented in courses, pro-grams, 811(1 maj)rs leading to undergraduate andgratluate degrees, including the doctoral degree.This fact , however, is still noteworthy. Dance,unlike mathematics or philosophy, is not a subjectautomatically assumed to be a necessary constitu-ent in academe. Dance performance has foundexpression and a degree of public attention andsupport in many colleges and universities. Theothei arts and athletics are more prominent. but

7

dance is VieWed as a legitimate art and a viable ave-nue to the milimunity In litany parts of the (I)tuit rycollege dance productions represent the onlyopportunities for experiencing live dance perform-ance. Inside the academic institution dance hasdeveloped research, service, and programmaticrelationships and affiliations with a variety ofdepartments. Core requirements in the arts andhumanities that include dance have tended to movedance a little closer to the mainstream of educa-tional consideration. Dance faculty and their workin teaching, research, creative production, or ser-vice appear to have achieved full standing in mostinst it ut ions.

Alt lunigh One must certainly conclude that danceis present , t he question of its relative vulnerabilityis unanswered. The recency of its establishmentmay make it easiest to root out. There are a limitednuinber of tenured faculty commitments. and it hasnot been tested philosophically and practically dur-ing various kinds of social stress. As well as beingyoung, dance is marginal in its lack of traditionalsupport and affiliation with higher status depart-ments in the university. Outside higher educati(m,and sometimes within, dance still carries contro-versy and suspicion in its association with the body.sexuality, and nondominant cultural groups, Its pri-mary clientele is female. On the other hand. it isthese groups Who have animated the culture inrecent years, including higher ed,:ation andscholarship.

A conservative climate would seem to speak f(n-either maintaining what has already been built orsomehow reducing it in keeping with earlier andpresumably more essential definitions of the uni-versity. A more proactive position might see danceas a source of vitality and seek to redefine and per-haps redeploy it toward purposes it IlOW °Illy sug-gests but has great capacity to address, such as

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Populations Served

One of the themes of scholars in the !Wills had todo with the political nature of knowledge, met Innis.and goals. Throughout all processes of perception,language and action locations awl implicationsrelated to tuiwer are relevant. How this works inour everyday lives can sometimes be obscure. butsomeone in dance does not need much prodding totalk about the role of essentially political factors inthe status of dance its a field. One of tlw facts thathas been critical to t he birth and growth of dance inhigher education has been that women make up theprimary, some!intes exclusive, population servedby dance classes, programs, and professionalenterprises. ln ()tad:. The DaHre awlIts Place in Ethwat ion (1.925), it is interesting tofind a foreword written by K. Louise Nardin, dean ofwomen at the l'niversity of Wisconsin al Madison,Presumably her support played a role in the :wcom-plishment of the first dance major in that p(Tiod.Nardin spoke exclusively of WOIllell'S education inher rationale for dance. "I'he alliance amongwomen, ot ten in women's colleges Or in sex sepa-rated departments of physical education, gener-ated the power to propel dance through its firstst ages.

In I 95). unlike I 99 I , the force of women wasclearly circumscribed; unique opportunities forcollective expression came together m the sym-bolic worlds ()I' sport and dance. As women havebecome more integrated into the assumptions andactivities of higher education. the role of dean ofwomen luts faded and most colleges and depart-ments are not explicitly identified as male orfemale. The current affirmative action officers andspecial services designed for women and women'sstudies departments appear not to have agendasI hat include dance or dancers. There has beenremarkable silence fnum women's studies in therealm of dance. Conferences and workshops, evenin the arts, are repeatedly held with little or no cov-erage of dance. Like dance. which had to work veryhard to define itself as a discipline and professionalhuid distint froln the populations most involved init , so women's st tidies seems to need to define itselfin terms of the nuist recognized. potent, and explic-itly ilseful departments and functions in highereducation. Unless dance academics strive ltard toconstrue dance into frameworks understandableand appreciated by t he articulate and energeticleaders affiliated with women's studies, there is lit-tle to expect in the way of automatic support fordance from org.nized bodies of Women On campus.

8

Alt lumgh the dance profession may understandthat it continues to have a role as a change agentand symbol for women's opportunities, achieve-Went ti, and dreams of cultural transformation,tItere is little momentum front wItich to build. It isin the context of Afriran-American studies wherethe surge toward dance seems now to have deepand social reasons. Beyond 11111liicultural concerns.there is a dance, art , communication imperctivc inAfrican-American culture that speaks for itself, andneeds to be heard and appreeMted. Dance in highereducation is just beginning I() address those wh;)see and experience dance in its cultural roles andwho seek to make visible and powerful the lemaciesand visions of t heir communities. The dance Nardinsupported in 1925 was not only assumed to be forwomen, Ian was associated with "higher qualities,""good music," and the absence of "individual s('lf-striving" p. xiii, xiv). How lingering isthis elite concept in the institutional setting?Modern dance has worked its way toward multipledefinitions. Various kinds of democratization havetaken place. but the whole field of dance as a .sub-ject matter, method. and cultural practice needs toalert itself to factors t !tat may bear on its definition,access, and appreciation. Race, social class. eth-nic. political, and sexual orient at ions may be classi-fications that need special study not only to fill outthe picture of who is being served in dance inhigher education but also to ensure against the pre-clusion or promotion of particular groups or ideassimply hy %irtue of the unexamined traditions ofthe history ()I' dance in higher education.

Functions and Affiliations

Alt hough there are issues ()I power, social con-text, and historical moments and figures. theseneed to be seen in their translation int.) the func-tions, programs. and working units that make upour current enterprise. Dance in connection withphysical education ltas a long history ()I' concern

11' the well-being ()I' students in colleges and mil-% ersit ies. The need for activity, as such. and thebasis for valued accoeolishment have mach.' stuthowork the most fundamental ground for thinkingabout dance in higher educat ion. Professionaldance artists, leading choreographers. and dancers(nit side higher education ltave been an integral andinspirat ional part ()I' shaping the dance activities tothe art ()I' the times. It was Alma Hawkins whoacknowledged the diverse and sometimes divisiveenergies of artists and teachers in the colleges and

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44"

Ballet students in the danceprogram at Kent State

University's School of PhysicalEducation, Recreation and

Dance. Developing dance artistsand dance art in relation to

other arts has become a primaryfunction of dance programs in

higher education.Photo by University

Photographers.

_+11111111...

responded by placing dance clearly in the middle ofthe important educational thinking of the time inher book, Modern Dance in Higher Education(1954). Dance as a comprehensive subject was notassumed; college programs meant (lancing experi-ences and creative experiences for a range oflearners.

Continuing development toward the performingarts, however, is readily apparent today in our BFA

and WA programs. Developing dance artists anddance art in relation to other aas has become a pri-mary function. Ilannah Wiley, in an article in theChronicle of Maher Education (1989), sees thisfunction as having been our dominant agenda andmakes a case for further development and integra-tion of dance programs wit h t he professionalworld. Bringing professional dance into greaterrelation to university programs seems laudible,seeing thc arts establishment as the primary or

exclusive ground with which to articulate needs tobe questioned. MEN programs dream and work fora world where artists are valued and rewarded insome adequate measure for their contributions.Federal, state, charitable, and upiversity support isvery basic to this assumption; the current eco-nontic situation inspires little confidence.

While dance was Dooming as a performing art inrecent decades, the institution of education andother more service oriented fields have undergonevarious kinds of decline. Colleges of education andprofessional preparation programs have oftenfound themselves having to retreat and defend.Karen Clemente (1990) found in a national survey,which included 134 college and university depart-ments, that many had discontinued their danceeducitt ion degree programs because of limited jobopportunities in public schools. The philosophyand practice of dance education, however, was still

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considered important and 77 percent of theresponding schools offered courses. The majorityalso danced for the public schools while interactingin only minor ways related to more fundamentalprogrammatic exchange. Dance preparation in thecontext of physical education persists in someform, even though the connection to dance depart-ments cannot be assumed. The Clemente surveycorroborates the impression that the physical edu-cation curriculum in the public schools is the larg-est purveyor of dance.

There has, of course, been significant movementtoward dance specialists and dance certificationacross the country, hut progressive institutionaliza-tion remains t.o be seen. Positive developmentalong this line has profound implications for dancein higher education. Despite the significant leader-ship from many dance educators in colleges anduniversities, it is not :dear to what extent dance inhigher education seeks to affiliate itself with educa-tion or with the social agenda that seeks to reno-vate and revitalize the nation's schools and chil-dren. Is dance strong enough as a subject matterand performing art in higher education to allow thekind of participation, commitment, and contribu-tion that it might want to provide'? Who will pay thehills for investing in the future of education'? Arethe affiliations with other arts educators, physicaleducators, and mainstream education sufficientlydeveloped to predict a way for dance to work?

The commercialization of much of what in thepast had been associated with public institutionshas created for dance a wider marketplace withinwhich to understand itself. Although I am not awareof dance programs shifting markedly toward prepa-ration for exercise, aerobics, and fitness centers ortoward media, advertising, and other businessesusing dance as a matter of course, it is apparentthat dance majors have a variety of new part-timejobs anti interests. The exercise science industry,the focus on performance enhancement, and therole of technology in creating shoes and devices ofeconomic consequence has changed the context ofdance in society. Affiliation with the sciences, pro-fessionally in the form of dance science, beginsagain to take dance in the direction of its originalrelationships in the colleges, that is, with the healthand medically oriented field of physical education.This time, however, it is with changed social valuesand experiences. The foothold physical educationused to have in the public schools seems to haveloosened in some ways. making it more open tosuccessful dance, while also subjecting it again toexclusive preoccupation with exercise.

From another direction, the human potentialmovement, holistic health concerns, and the accu-mulating theory and practice from East and Westthat dancers often refer to as the body therapies,give another hilosophic framework and careervision to socially and personally concerned danc-ers. In an earlier period dance therapy successfullyinstitutionalized itself in relation to various medi-cally oriented contexts, as well as individual prac-tice. Somatic educators and dance scientists maywell seek to define special programs that may ormay not stay intimately associated with dance aswe know it. Dance departments have not been par-ticularly necessary for many of the developmentsthat are surrounding dance. It remains to be seenhow the dynamics of dominance at the institutionallevel will shape t he framework and role of dance.

Possible Directions

These times can certainly be read in a variety otways anti can lead us to an array of strategies tomeet the potentials we ascribe to ourselves. The oldneeds that arise out of looking at the health andvitality of the peol 'e not only remain but shouttheir claims on our attention. Fantasy and play,touch and physicality, live interaction, disciplineand creativity, group work and appreciation of dif-ference all seem even more necessary than in previ-ous periods. ''he needs for sound somatic orienta-tions and personal and social stability in the face ofpersistent stress suggest ritualized dance activitiesbe valued. Needs for self-help and growth suggestcreative, integrative approaches informed by anexpanded base in psychology.

The virtuosity expected of the professionaldancer suggosts that long and systematic pathwaysbe provided for dancers to follow. Yet the multiplic-ity .4 approaches characteristic of today's dancesuggests breadth, creative flexibility, and princi-ples that can be applied across the various worldsof body, movement, art, and culture. The latter ori-entation may find particular compatibility to uni-versity purposes because of the resolve of cogni-tive dissonances and perspective it presents.Performance anti production, however. demandthat preparation be somewhat stabilized at kast forindividuals or groups participating in the samekinds of choreography. The situation can be read asa call toward greater specialization along variouslines or among t he various roles of choreographer.pe r fo nue r, atm d ience t ear her, and scholar ortoward a more unified approach centered on theindividual or cult tire. In any case, to provide alter-

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native pathways and to represent differentapproaches means dance departments must have afull complement of faculty. Choices must be made.Numbers of students, the relative importance ofvarious functions of the dance in higher education,the potentials for alternative avenues for darwe inthe society, and the situational realities and .dsall must play a part in the choices. What will thevalues be?

Dance as a performing art, professionally con-ceived, seems to excite great numbers of aspiringstudents. Concern is sometimes expressed as to theadvisability of thinking and planning programs inrelation to a star path dream set in view of limita-tions on fuaire opportunities and remuneration.Audiences for dance have certainly grown, but whoand how many are involved in a satisfying, econom-ically sustaining cycle? Placement of dance in thereal fabric of society and educating for itsenhanced functioning seems to be an emerginggoal. The same could be said for the discipline ofdance within the context of the university. Should itserve an arts function, be service vehicle forselected populations and functions, or be a subjectwith the usual assumptions for participation in thefull range of education and research missions? Is ittime for dance to better fulfill its subject matterrole in relation to the humanities and to assumemore confidently its importance as a socially rele-vant phenomenon? There are many dance depart-ments fielding courses for the general educationcurricula of their colleges and universities. Often,facing a broader range of students encouragesfresh definition of dance. Much of the recent devel-opment and controversy in the humanities and gen-eral education has changed the ground and theappreciation of the knowledges and practices rep-resented by the field of dance.

As I see it, dance does have special tignificanceiil higher education at this time. Part of that signifi-cance is based on the historic refusal of dance toabandon immeriion in dance experience as a vitalform of education. Academe is on the brink of newrii.'alizations relative to alternative nlodes andmeanings. Dance offers a background of informa-tion and a new frontier in scientific, cultural, andclinical studies. What dance seems to have forgot-ten is the dynamism of commitment to socialchange and personal integrity that was so vital toits early years. The present period would seem tocall for movement into the central currents ofsocial concern. By this I mean to confront poverty,racism, sexism, holuophobia, agism, fascism, andthe general abuse of life and legacy. The full devel-opment of dance as a discipline and comprehensiveundertaking involving goals in dance as art,humanity. and vehicle for education and otherhuman social needs seems to be the most poten-tially enduring and ret.ponsible framework fordance in higher education. There is a room for agreat deal of variety in emphasis among the variousaspects of dance and dance programming, but. thefull house of consciousness seems to provide thenecessary perspective and the checks and balancesto support and direct growth.

Higher education, like the society, is lookingaround for ways to resolve economic dilemmas, not .always with wisdom or foresight. My sense is thatstaying in the picture of higher education is veryimportant to the development of an enlightenedsense of culture and is imperative not only for thegrowth of dance as a field, but for the success ofhigher education. I have no doubt that this is a timefor entering fully and directly into the fray. Our his-tory has rea(lied us to speak if we can connect pur-posefully to our visions and values.

References

Clemente. K. (1990). Daiwo in public education.Spotlight on Dance. I7

ll'Houbler, NI. (1925).Tile dom.(' and its place in criti-cal ion. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

Hawkins. A. (195.1). Modern dom.(' io higher calico-ion. New York: Teachers College. Columbia

VViley, H. (1989, August. It)), College dance programsmust become more fully integrated with the profes-sional world. Chronicle of Higher Education, B 2-3.

Edrie Ferdun is a professor in the Dance Department at TempleUniversity, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19121.

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A Prismatic Approach to Analysis of Stylein Dance as a Paradigm for Dance

EducationBetsey Gibbons

Dance depends on the artistic processes of per-formers and choreographers to bring its incandes-cent phenomenon to life. More and more, these art-ists are being educated in dance major programs incolleges and universities. Dance educators mustexamine the educative process and seek to answerquestions such as: What constitutes an educationin dance? What is considered knowledge? How arewe educating dancers in institutions of higher edu-cation today? What are the guiding concepts foreducation in dance? What are the underlyingsupposit ions?

Dance and a Postmodern Curriculum

In a discussion of postmodern curriculum,William Doll (1989) described three facets of post-modern thought that have implications for rethink-ing dance curriculum. These are the nature ofclosed es. open systems, the structure of simplic-ity is. complexity, and accumulatice vs. trans-formatory change. The closed system, exemplifiedby the "teacherproof" curricular materials of the1960s, attempts to "protect itself" from fluxes ofnature. An open system, on the other hand, usesfluxes, pert urbat ions, and anomalies as triggersthat set off the individual's internal trans-formations and reorgan izat ions. Simplicityattempts to ignore anomalies and other "bumps" ona smooth, linearly ordered path, whereas complex-it y assumes a web-like reality with multiple inter-acting forces and views individuals as participantsinside the web, rather than as external observers.In complex situations, interactions among inter-twined elements can produce sudden spontaneousreorganizations into newer and higher orders ofcomplexity. ..1ccum141at11 c change assumes pre-

dictable, controlled, and well-defined incrementalchanges. Transformative change occuring in anopen system is exemplified by quantum physicswith its nonpredictable, spontaneous leap; it hasthree assumptions: internality, spontaneity, andindefiniteness. Internality refers to internal reor-ganizat ion by an active, rather than passive,learner. Spontaiwity is a strong element in thistransformative process; when a transformationoccurs that allows new perspectives, it .. may occursuddenly, spontaneously. Indefiniteness refers tothe concept of ends perceived as ends-in-viewrather than predetermined goals. The course mustdevelop its. own path along which students, teacher,and course material undergo transformation, withinquiry and creativity guiding the direction andprocess of development.

An education should be a thoughtfully organized,cohesive, interconnecting web of experiencesrather t.han a o mection of narrowly defined anddiscrete areas of :;.udy. Penelope Hanstein (198(i)describes a postmodern curriculum for dance ason:7 "which attends to, in explicit ways, the perce)-tion, exploration, transformation. and discrimina-tion of artistic conceptions while cultivat.ing histor-ical and cultural perspectives, developing thediscerning skills of the critic, and guiding out stu-dents as they seek answers to questions about thenature of dance as an art form" (p. 5ti). Dance cur-riculum is often, however, polarized into "tech-nique" (also called "studio" or "activity") classesand "theory" (history. criticism, aesthetics, etc.)classes, which often seem to have little in commonand even appear to be at odds with each of her. Howdo we as educat ors create a sense of educationrather than simply administer a series of courses?

The duality inherent in the concept of "trainingthe body as instrument" does a great disservice to

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ourselves and our students. Dissecting the personinto the three parts of body (which is trained inte(hnique classes), niind (which is taught in theoryclasses), and spirit (which is generally not dealtwith at all in the e(tucative process) leaves threeparts in search of a whole. Technique classes oftenfail to promote the imaginative thinking, inquiry,and discovery that lead to the ability to creativelyorder and make flexible worlds from experiences.Theory classes such as aesthetics and criticismoften employ a polarized approach to choreo-graphing and performing, elevating to a superiorposition the role of the choreographer and neglect-ing t'a, concept of the performer as a creative indi-vidual who also employs artistic process strategies.

Students enjoy the immediacy, the "do-ingness"of technique class. Within the total student experi-(11(T in a college dance major program, a studentwill probably spend frmn two to four times thenumber of hours in technique, repertor- andrehearsing with dance faculty as in theory classes.Such experiences are most often approached withthe least openness as closed systems with presetand tightly controlled outconws. I lowever, tech-nique, repertory, and rehearsal can pil be opportu-nities for educating students in perception, explo-ration, transformation, and discrimination ofart istic concept ions.

The globalistic, pluralistic approach of the post-modern paradigm for curriculum should form thebasis for the approach to teaching and curriculum.The total curriculum and individual approaches toteachMg must be harmonious and interactive; fac-ulty and students in t he dance program shouldstrive to approach the educative process byattending to t.he perception, expkgation, transfor-mation, and discrimination of artistic conceptions.while cultivating discovery-oriented approaches tothe study of dance as an art form. Thus curriculumbecomes a process of development, a becoming,rather than a concrete body of knowledge to becovered; learning becomes "a by-product. ofinquiry, not a direct and exclusive goal in itself"(Doll, 1989. 252).

The Prismatic Approach

The prismatic approach (Figure 1), originallydeveloped by the author :is a model for the analysisof style in danc, is also appropriate as a post-modern approach to curriculum for dance. Theprismatic approach luis. as its central core andguiding tenet. the unique individual: a complex and

1 3

STYLE OF TRF PERFORMER

STYLE Ct. THE VI HECTOR

rtiF PANCE FNENT STY I+ CH A1V. HAPHEN

TY F 6ttNi,E

.4 Wt44

C 1,01 t/ Hut t. F 1 1 ,a!,et t !,

Figure 1, Pietorialization of the prismatic approach tothe analysis of style in dance .

integrated person whose creative artistic processesstir a constant change in an ephemeral art form.The global model that the author developed fromthe prismatic approach is in the form of three-di-mensional globe (Figure 2), which represents threeinteractive aspects of style (Gibbons, 1989). Thefirst dimension concerns the artistic processes ofthe choreographer and the performer; the secondconcerns the qualitative features of the dance workand the genre with whic h it. is associated; and theIlnrd concerns changes that occur in these aspectsover time. The interaction of these three will pro-duce, at any time, a dance event that is a uniquegestalt. The first aspect, artistic process, holds themost fruitful information concerning danceeducation.

CHANGESTHROUGHTIME

ARTISTICPROCESS

:NTKPA-T

PF1WEENART 1 t=,

ANt-

ct,A1.1 1 AT I %T.

F I ATt'bFt-:

QUALITATIVEFEATURES

Figure 2. The interaction between the threedimensions of the global model: artistic processes,qualitative features, and changes through time.

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The Nature of Artistic Process

Four aspects contribute to style in ai -cistic pro-cess (Figure 3). Disposition to act refers to the ini-tiative to discover and solve artistic problems;schema refers to how the artist conceptualizes theart form; strategies refer to choices made con-cerning the available possibilities; and trainingand temperament refer to the dancer's training ina form that is congruent with personalt emperament.

Artistic creation is more than a matter of the art-ist skillfully manipulating the medium and is amuch more involved process than simply reproduc-ing or "expressMg" an idea. The process of creationin art is a conversation or encounter between theartist and the medium, a discovery-oriented activ-ity in which the artist seeks solutions within themedium. "Gradually the work 'tells' the artist whatis needed. . The process itself yields ideas thatwere not a part of the initiating conception"(Eisner, 1982, p. 51). Through experimentation,investigation, and discovery, the artist learns aboutthe work being created. The creative transactionsthat help to shape the idea are the result of theinteractions among the idea, the medium, the cho-reographer, and the dancer. It is this process of cre-ative transaction that is interpretation. The inter-pretation of ideas leads the choreographer and the

Figure 3. Ring model ofelements that comprise

artistic process in dance.

pei former to single out the qualitative aspectwhich is most intriguing.

Disposit km to Act

The disposit ion to act involves formulating aproblem. Jacob Getzels and Mihaly Czikszentmihal-yi (1976), in a longitudinal study of creativity in thevisual arts, differentiate between presented prob-lem situations, in which the problem has a knownformulation, and discovered problem situations, inwhich the artist must first identify or discover theproblem itself: the task is given but the specificproblem must oe found. From an origina! vagueidea, previously experienced only as diffuse ten-sions, the artist must create the concrete statementof a problem. The problem is discovered fromwithin the situation itself, and each artist will per-ceive and resolve the problem in a unique fashion,This ability to formulate problems is the essentialdifference between the artist and the craftsman ortechnician.

Central to this process is the concept of thinkingin the medium, what dance theorist Maxine Sheets-Johnstone (1981) refers to in dance as "thinking inmovement." The painter may think in terms of line,hue, saturation of color; the dancer, in terms of theorganic or geometric shapes of the body, the ineffa-ble connotations of gestures, or the flow of move-

I T I ON T.D ACTThe al-i i i, t e,rs1ve prohleme hr,-enlh 'Ili., I 1 Vt!

neitot tat ion

H ' a 1

f rn. May ;Ty. ye 7,1 i

1 e

1 S

W11 t

A N N Tt MP TRAM:- NI: l'T

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ment, The mental processes of a dancer are notmerely a symbolic way of designating thought butare the very presence of thought, providing individ-ually ordered information. "In such thinking, move-ment is not a medium by which thoughts emergebut rather, the thoughts themselves" (F. wets-Johnstone, p. 400). The act of dancing is an infor-mation gathering event for the dancer. Intelligencein dance includes kinesthetic and spatial intelli-gence; an awareness of abstract relations of spaceand tinw; concrete awareness of the movementphrases and body shapes in One part of the danceconnecting with those in another part; the ability todiscover new relationships between movements invarious parts of the body while performing; and asense of style to harmonize rhythmic spatial quali-ties of movement with expressive qualities andabstract ideas to create a sense of unity and orderin a performance (Carter, 198:3).

Schenut

Selwma refers to how an artist conceptualizestlw art form. This is revealed as a constelkition ofqualitative features emerging through works andperformances as reflections of personal schemata.In dance, each artist has a particular vision of artand the art form that helps to sculpt the develop-mental process. Each choreographer explores aunique conception of dance movement, of thedancer, and of the purpose of art , which will be con-sistent throughout the choreographer's ()enure:'that is, the form the dances take is consonant witheach choreographer's creative process, with eachone's philosophy of the training and rehearsingrequired for dance performance, and with eachOne's expectations concerning viewers' responses"(Foster, 1986, pp. 1-2). In reference to the per-former. Selma Jeanne Cohen (198:3) stated that "forthe dancer to execute the visible dimensions of theprescribed steps is not emnigh; that is only part ofthe style. The style hes also in the attitude towardthe movement, which is also an attitude towardlife" (p. :350).

One way of ktoking at schema in dance is to rec-ognize the genres of moclern dance, ballet, and jazzas general schemata. General schemata arise frontthe personal schemata of tlw individuals WhO workwith and devekp them; individuals develop per-sonal schemata from the general schemata of thegenres with which they clumsy to work.

Modern dance has been referred to as "a point ofview" (Fraleigh, 1987; Martin, 19(6) and is charac-terized by its individualistic spirit and individual

15

discoveries, will, creativity, and imagination.Ballet, on the other hand, has often been referredto as a "system" characterized by a sense of tradi-tion; its relatively long and strong collective his-tory; and a movement vocabulary, pedagogical sys-tem, and rules for choreography developed overcent uries. During the early development of t hemodern dance "a real dichotomy existed: the balletdancers felt themselves disciplined instruments ofprecision; their counterparts considered them-selves freely creative and self-expressive in(lividu-als. They moved differently, felt differently"(Cohen, 1983, p. 350). Jazz has often been charac-terized as highly skillful popular entertainment tobe appreciated but not studied (Friesen, 1975;(;iordano, 1975), dealing with the )urely physicaland sensual aspect of dance.

These genres exemplify but are not exclusivelybound to such schemata. Performers or choreogra-phers trained in any genre may conceptualizedance primarily as an individual point of viewdeveloped through individual discoveries, as amovement system embodying established idealssubject to stylistic interpretation, or as purelyphysical entertainment using highly skilled per-formers. This may not necessarily be a result oftraining in a particular genre; it is more likely thatdancers seek training that closely resembles a per-sonal schema.

St111teflies

St rategies involve choices for acting upon tlwaspects of the medium the artist has selected. Tlwparticular nature of these strategies and how theyare applied involves slightly different elements foreach of the interpretive processes of the chorogra-pher, director, and performer. The nature of thechoices made during creation in the arts isextremely c(nnplex. The constraints or rules sug-gested by society and history still leave an enor-nmus number of choices open to the artist, whowould find it impossible to accept all such possibil-ities. However, what is chosen can also be seen asthe result of what is not chosen. If each dance uti-lized the entire vocabulary of movenwnts or rangeof qualities available, there would be little exceptsyntactic arrangement to distinguish one workfrom another. Each dance and each performance ismade unique by the artist's paring away those qual-ities that do not contribute to the work. During tlwinteraction between artist, idea, and medium as theheuristic process of creation, the artist learns todiscard what is not essential to clarify the develop-

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ing idea. Each choreographer or performerchooses to eliminate from her or his particular stylethat which does not contribute to a particular artis-tic vision.

Strategies may be utilized on two levels: 1) as agenre imposing a tacit set of rules On choreogra-phers and performers that define what is accept-able in that particular genre, or 2) as personallyimposed delimitations, the self-imposed bounda-ries of the artist's choosing. The first strategicalchoice for an artist is whether to "follow the rules"of a particular genre or to stretch or break them.Originality or creativity may thus be of two differ-ent soils. The first sort of originality is the inven-tion of new rules; the second sort develops newstrategies for realizing existing rules.

Most style changes have involved the use ofnovel strategies rather than novel rules, makingpossible subtle strategic plays. While some artistshave invented new rules, some of the great chore-ographers have been incomparable strategists,developing new strategies for realizing existingrules. In general the ballet genre, with its strongrules, encourages strategists, while the modern orcontemporary genres have been characterized byiconoclasts who sought to break the establishedrules.

However, certain modern choreographers suchas Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, and MerceCunningham achieved longevity by successitillyestablishnig a consistent, stable style and develop-ing new rules, and then becoming strategists.Cverall, successful choreographers in any genreare those who have explored and employed, in newways, forms and procedures established by them-selves or others.

Performers employ a similar process in the useof strategies; the difference lies in the nature of thematerial. For the performer, conveying the danceimage is a more complex process than simply"expressing" oneself or "reacting" to the music.Conveying the work necessitates developing anunderstanding of it, then making choices abouthow to best convey that understanding. Eachdancer approaches the art of performing differ-ently and will find unique qualitative problems ofinterpretation and realization. Like the choreogra-pher, the performer must find a way to express.through movement, a particular idea. Rehearsalsrepresent a series of successive transformationsduring whkh the dancer transforms the subjectmatter, which may arrive as a movement vocabu-lary or "steps," into the very substance of the workof art.

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Training and Temperament

Training and temperament are interactive andindivisible in dance. Training in technique is morethan simply increasing speed, flexibility, and endur-ance. Addressing only the "body" aspect of the per-former clouds an understanding of performance asan active artistic process and strips the performerof the role of artist. More than mere physical bodiestrained in the motional habits of a particularschool, dancers do not improve technique by sheer"physical" means, by mindlessly repeating themovement over and over. It is only when thedancer, working in the medium of motion, experi-ences a conflict, formulates a problem, and suc-ceeds in resolving the conflict (usuit; ly on a whollykinesthetic level) that technique is improved.

Training also helps to shape how the dancer con-ceives the act of moving and initiates or motivatesmovement. For example, a port de bras may beseen as a geometric shape, a relationship betweenbody parts, or as a spatial investigation.Furthermore, training develops a dancer's view ofthe relationship between the studio educative pro-cess and the dance performance. According toSusan Foster (1986), "in (Deborah] Hay's class oneperforms dances, while in Balanchine's class oneenhances skills; in Graham's class one trains thebody, and in Cunningham's class one does themovement" (p.

The interaction of training and temperamentenables each dancer to develop a unique movement.style. For the dancer, the link between self and styleis individual temperament. If the dancer's move-ment propensities are not in accord with or not ful-filled by the general movement, style studied, thedancer will often leave that style for another andwill choose a general style which "fits" personaltemperament. Sondra Fraleigh stated that "it is sig-nificant that movement is the medium of dance andthe intentive human body its immanent. source"(1987, p. 19). Here "intentive" is a key word tounderstanding the artistic process aspect of theperforming dancer.

Summary

Dance education is often approached in a com-part mentalized manner. Both the craft-orientedapproach to choreography and the -wpoint oftraining the dancer's body as instrum, often per-meate a curricular approach to the dance disci-pline, from technique to philosophy courses. In his-

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tory, criticism, and aesthetics courses, the roles ofthe choreographer and the performer are of'given different weights or levels of importaiitechnique classes often focus on training the danc-er's body as an instrument; choreography classesoften focus primarily on the structural aspectscomposition.

Recognizing artistic process and performance asheuristic processes is essential for a postmoderndance curriculum. In order for critics, aestheti-cians, educators, artists, and students to makecohesive whole from what are seen as many dispar-ate parts, a cohesive, holistic franwwork is neededto provide a way of approaching the study of dance.The prismatic approach, which has artistic processas its core, can illuminate the vital roles that chore-ographers, performers, and reconstructors play increating dance, enable analysis of each part in rela-tion to the whole, and create a sense of wholenessin the production of this phenomenon. Such anapproach also provides a framework for historians,theorists, and educators for the study of the variousaspects of the disciplMe of dance (see Figure 4).

Whereas typically the academic system recog-nizes discursive thought, qualitative thinking as aform of knowledge in dance must also be recog-nized, cultivated, and explored in all parts of danceeducation. Disposition to act, schema, and strate-gies must be recognized along with training andtemperanwnt so that the students can learn to dis-

Ns,hema

nt. rat egies

! ernret amen!t a ining

ChorographicProcess

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Figure 4. Aspects of style concerned with artisticprocesses and how they contribute to the uniquedance event.

17

cover and understand the qualitative informationinherent in dance, and avenues to creative prob-lem-solving can be opened.

Concepts of artistic process must be applied toall classes in a dance curriculum. Artistic processshould be applied and used as a basis for teachingchoreography as opposed to traditional craft.-oriented courses in composition (Blom & Chaplin,1982; Hanstein, 1986). The concept of artistic pro-cess as applied to performance as well as choreog-raphy must form the approach to courses in criti-cism, aesthetics, and philosophy.

Recognition of the multiplicity of schemata fordance may enable less "competition" betweendance styles. Why should a college student. be com-pelled to choose a major in either ballet or moderndance, and why is jazz dance rarely given the legit-imacy of its other two sisters? These schemata arenot mutually incompatible. Each style offers a dif-ferent "worldview" of dance, of the interaction ofthe roles of the performer and the choreographerand their relationship to the whole of dance.

Dance educators must seek to recognize anddiminish compartmen:alization within the disci-pline, and replace it with a sense of the intercon-nectedness of the art form as a whole. Dance cur-ricula should be guided by the key characteristicsof postmodern thought that include inquiry ori-ented toward discovery, a sense of the interactionof aspects of the dance discipline, and an under-standing of process and transformation. It shouldbe envisioned "not as a linear trajectory nor as acourse (with hurdles) to be run, but as amultifaceted matrix to be explored" (Doll, p. 251).

Referring to the concept of complex reality as aweb of multiple, interacting forces, we .see thatdance can be a means by which the individualmoves in a variety of directions simultaneously:forward to the future, backward to synthesize andseek to understand former experiences, forwardinto a deeper understanding of the past; outward toconnect and reconnect bonds between the self andothers, inward to knit new internal connectionsamong the selves of the self; upward to discovernew depths of spirituality and intellectuality, down-ward to elevate the knowledge of the body.Learning can occur at any time. Life is a fundamen-tally heuristic process. Dance can be a way ofaccessing that deliciously interactive spiral ofexperiencing, learning from, and teaching theworld.

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ReferencesBlom, L.A.. & Chaplin, L.T (1989). The intimate act qf

chorcography. Pittsburgh: University of PittsburghPress.

Carter, C. (1983). Arts and cognition: Performance, criti-cism, and aesthetics. Art Ethical ion,36(2). 61-67.

ohen, S.J. (1983), Problems of definition. In Copeland,R. & Cohen, M. (Eds.). What is dance (pp. 339-354).New York: Oxford Iiniversity Press.

W (1989). Foundations for a post-modern curricu-lum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 21(3),943-953.

Eisner, E. (1982). Cognition and curriculum: A basisJOr deciding what to teach. New York: Longman.

Foster, S. (1986). Reading dancing: Bodies and sub-jects in cmitempwary American dance. Berkeley:IJniversity of California Press.

Fraleigh, Sit (1987). Dance and the lived body.Pittsburgh: Irniversity of Pittsburgh Press,

Friesen, (1975). Pereeivirg dance. The Journal qfAesthetic Education, 9, 97-108.

Getzei, & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1976). The creativevision: A longitudinal .study of problem ,finding inart. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Gibbons, R.E.G. (1989). A prismatic approach to thea MilySiS of style in dam.e. Eugene, OR: MicroformPublications.

Giordano, G. (1975). Anthology of American jazzdance. Evanston, IL: Orion Publishing House.

Ilanstein, P (1986). On the minim of art making indance: An art ist lc pmcess skills model hr the teach-ing (11 chWrography. iinpublished doctoral disserta-tion, Ohio State University.

MartinI. (1966). Modern dance. New York: DanceHorizons.

Sheets-Johnstone. NI. ( I 981). Thinking in movement .

Tlw Journal of Aesthetics and ..irt Celt icism, .19,399-4(17.

Betsey Gibbons is in the Department ofHealth, Physical Education, and Dance atWashburn University, Topeka, Kansas 66621.

Students in the danceprogram at Washburn

University. Photo by PaulGoebe! for Washburn

University.

1 8

V

.1111111111111.

41W,Vrita-

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Dance Education at the SelectiveLiberal Arts College

Lynn Matluck Brooks

Education in dance at the small, highly selectiveliberal arts college can, and should, have goals andmethods distinct from dance in other higher educa-tion settings. These liberal arts collegeswiththeir small student bodies, high faculty-studentratios, selective admissions standards, limited yetstudent-accessible resources, and historicallydetermined curricular focuses (Carnes, 1978;Carnegie Foundation, 1987, p. 22)have a specialmission in the preparation of students of dance.While these colleges may not be the most appropri-ate institutions for training the theatre dance pro-fessional, they can play a special role in the train-ing of the crucial nondance population thatsupports the presentation and evolution of dance inAmerica. Indeed, liberal arts graduates can serve asthe main body from which educated board mem-bers, fundraisers, grants officers, publicists, andmost importantlyaudience can be drawn. Theseroles might not be spotlighted in theatrical postersor in critical reviews, yet the dance artist cannotfunction in today's complex business world (andart is business, we have all learne(l) without an edu-cated and articulate support structure.

The Liberal Arts Context:Goals for Dance

The history of higher education reveals severaldistinct philosophies that have, historically, deter-mined goals, curriculum, and pedagogy. BruceKimball has lucidly analyzed these in terms of the"(rites libemles" ideal, the "liberal-free" ideal. andthe accommodations these two Opposing idealshave made throughout the history of higher educa-tion in Europe and the United States. The liberalarts ideal concentrates on the handing down ofknowledge, tlw appreciation of received wisdom,

and the study of great texts and classical sources(Kimball, 1986, pp. 107, 111, 237-2:38; Bennett,1984, pp. 4-5). Devised and nurtured as trainingfor the gentility in the Renaissance and later peri-ods, a Iles liberates studies themselves were non-technical, nonmarketable, indeed wholly nonpro-fessional (Kimball, 1986, pp. 182-18:3; Winter (tal., 1981, pp. 2-4). But they led to the formaticm ofa type of good citizen-statesman who could bothlead and serve the government.

On the other hand, the liberal-free ideal is con-cerned with speculative investigations, free from "apriori" standards; it places stress "upon the volitionof the individual rather than upon the obligations ofcitizenship found in the artes liberates ideal(Kimball, 1986, p. 119). This self-expressive andintently innovative search for truth, as character-ized by the liberal-free ideal, is most evident inlarge research universities where departmentsprize experimentation and new findings. In thearts, this would translate as the creation of newworks and the exploration of new aesthetic andtechnical frontiers. In dance programs at thehigher education level, then, we see that trainingfor the practice of the art and craft of dance canbest be accomplished at conservatories or in largeuniversity departments with the resources and thephilosophical tradition to support innovation andcreative explorations.

Within the artes liberates tradition, howevercharacterized by the humanist concern for classicaltexts, language, and valuesthe student was and istraditionally prepared for a broad understanding ofcult tire, aesthetics, history, and ethics and also forthe articulation of values culled from this cumula-tive study. The study of the liberal arts, then. pre-pares the leading citizen for a role as statesman andorator, shaper and articulator of public policy, by

establishing a hist orically justifiable basis for anal-

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The liberal arts college provides a broad base ofcultural knowledge and helps students developskills in evaluation and discernment of quality.Photos from Providence College by Alan W. Bean.

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ysis, evaluation, and integration of information.This base need not be forever backward-looking; itserves, rather, as a springboard for application,decision, and action in the present The develop-ment in the student of taste, values, and mentalacuity, which has been the ideal of liberal arts edu-cation, surely speaks directly to those in educa-tional circles today who call for the nourishment of"critical thinking" and "values education" amongstudents of all levels. These sorts of buzz words arenot new in educational parlance. The ability of theliberal arts curriculum to meet these sorts of needshas been a longstanding argument of the defendersof the a des liberates ideal (Kimball, 1986, p. 151;Mayhew, 1962, p. 6; Winter et al., 1981, p. 27).

It cannot but be clear to any who are employedwithin the American higher education system thatthese two educational "ideals" are ,just thatidealsthat are rarely achieved in reality. As Kimballstresses throughout his book, accommodations onboth sides of the higher education divide have beenmade. For example, many faculty members andadministrators within the institution of the liberalarts college now believe strongly in new researchas a support for the good teaching and studentpreparation that they continue to prize.

Similarly, many large universities continue tochampion some model of liberal arts education andto establish separate colleges of liberal arts or ofhumanities within the larger structure of the uni-versity I do not intend here to argue for the superi-ority of any one modelbe it an ideal or an accom-modation. Rather, I would like to point out thatreturning to a traditional &flint ion of the a rtes lib-erates can well serve our thinking in planningdance curricula and in devising goals for danceeducation at the selective liberal arts college.

The studies embraced by the liberal arts curricu-lum are the humanities, which include the history.criticism, and theory of art (Bennett, 1984, P. :3).This places the liberal arts curriculum in a sphereseparate from the training of specialists, profes-sionals. and techniciansI hose who actually makeor produce the art. The liberally educated person,t hen, is skilled at "the analysis and discrimination ofvalues"including aesthetic quality (Kimball,1986, p. 197), and is capable of asking penetratingquestions about life, art, and ethics. William J.Bennett has articulated some of these questions:

What is justice? What should be loved?What deserves to be defended? What isc(airage? What is in ible? What is base? Whydo civilizations flourish? Why do theydecline? ( 1 )84,

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These are the questions the educated personmust be able to ask and ponder if he or she is to haveany appreciation of art as a sphere of legitimateinquiry and expositkm. Performer-choreographerMeredith Monk, one of t e great synthesizers ofcontemporary art in America, has wondered why artin our society has degenerated to the status ofanother "commodity," a "diversion rather than anessential need" (Monk, 1990, p. 30). Monk pointsout that, unwilling to make the effort to wrenchthemselves from their television sets, manyAmericans seem to find art too arduous a pleasurefor their impatient, fragmented, tired lives. Monkconcludes, "As artists, presenters, audiences, andlovers of art, we have a significant role in our soci-ety. We are responsible human beings" (p. 31).Monk rightly recognizes the crucial roles played notonly by dance artists, but by those who must under-stand, appreciate, and support those artists'achievements. It is in this sphere that the liberallyeducated individual can be a vital presence.

Of course, liberal arts colleges face a tension intheir own systems of values. Broad and lofty educa-tional goals, which seek to provide a general andfundamental learning base, are in direct conflictwith the concern expressed by parents, students,and college administrators for vocational prepara-tion and placement (Astin, Korn, & Berg, 1990, pp.54, 86; Mayhew, 1962, pp. 12-13). In this conflict,however, the field of dance can actually benefitwithin the context of the liberal arts college. Unlikethe dance conservatory or the university dancedepartment, which emulates a model of specializa-tion established in such fields as the sciences, theliberal arts dance progi am need not be concernedwith training for the profession of dance perform-

2 1

ance. This training is, in fact, generally best accom-plished elsewhere and does not necessarily need tobe gained within the realm of higher educationalinstitutions at all.

While liberal arts collegeslike many other insti-tutions of higher educationare busy trying to pre-pare their students for some sort of job proficiencyor for graduate school in fields that draw the eliteand financially ambitious studentfields such aslaw, medicine, business government, and research(Astin, Korn, & Berg, 1990, pp. 48-49, 80-81)they must also adhere to their historical mission.This mission includes providing a broad base ofcultural knowledge and developing skills in evalua-tion of new material and discernment of quality.The fulfillment of this mission within the dance cur-riculum will allow graduates of these collegesnow professionals in their various fieldsto serveon dance company boards of trustees, make artspolicy, and be avid dance-goers. It is indeed theduty of these colleges to guide their now-educatedalumni toward the effective and socially responsi-ble exercise of their nonprofessional time (Mayhew,1962, p. 6). Let us harness these resources for thesupport of the dance field.

There are certainly examples of small, liberal artscolleges such as Cberlin or Connecticut Collegethat have effective!, established conservatorieswithin their educational structures. These schoolshave chosen to redefine themselvesor at least aportion of themselvesin pursuit of highly devel-oped performance programs. Even liberal arts col-leges that lack a focus on training for dance per-formance occasionally graduate individuals whochoose to pursue dance as a profession. But liberalarts colleges, in general, are chosen by those stu-

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dents whose professional goals lie elsewhere. Theseindividuals, however, if provided with a sound lib-eral training and an appropriately designed dancecurriculum, can prove Nita! to t he sustenance of t he-at re dance.

Designing a Liberal ArtsDance Curriculum

In establishing arts policyand t hus support fort he artseducation that moves beyond technicalspecialties is essential. With the diverse culturalforces affecting the arts at all times, hut perhapsnever more stridently or numerously than today.education in the liberal arts can help to establish aforum for "public discourse and the means to arriveat decisions that can be agreed upon" (Kinnan.1989, p. 33). Richard Lyman points out that theestablishment of a "shared knowledge base" isessential so t hat people have a body of learningfrom which to draw values, for it is indeed impossi-ble to "expect people to learn to read in a vacuum ofinformation" (Lyman, 1989, p. 57). Thus, t he cull-ing of classical sources and the analysis of greattextsthe very stuff and met hod of t he liberal artsidealis well suited to t he formation of policy-makers and arts supporters who can apply theappreciat ion developed by their training to the eval-uation of new works.

Recently, much academic discussion has cen-t erN1 on the failure of American schools to providest udents with a foundation in either critical, evalua-tive thinking or rudimentary cultural knowledge.result ing in an undiscerning and "culturaily illiter-ate" population (see Bh)om, 1987; Hirsch. 1987:also Bennett )8,1, p. 2). Dance educators can takeresponsibility for offering courses which do.indeed, provide students with a basis for knowl-edgeable evaluat ion in one portion of human behav-ior: dancea behavior which manifests itself in artworks as well as in ritual and social expression. Toprovide guidance in t he choice of works or danceforms viewed and st tidied it is t he obligat ion, andthe pleasure, of the dance educator at the liberalarts college to cull from t he great body of dance his-tiny and et linoloKy those works t hat give t he stu-dent a view of !he ex olut ion and role of dance as artand as vital human behavior. These works. sup-ported by appropriate and accessible readings inaesthetics, analysis. and context . (an provide hestudent Wit h a foundation from which to apply judg.meats, to per('eive evolut ionary t vends, and to

grasp meanings in works not studied before. Thusthe teacher must be able to set aside a personalagenda regarding his/her own tastes and must offera well-balanced, yet critically defensible program ofst udy.

What are some criteria whici. such a daiwe-basedliberal arts curriculum must meet? William Bennetthas outlined sonic of t he feat ores that he finds can"mark t he points of significance" in a field andensure that a student "does not wander aimlesslyover the terrain, dependent solely on chance to dis-cover t he landmarks of human achievement'(Bennett, 1981 p. 6). Ile urges care in balancing"breadth and depth" in the approach to tilts subiectstudied and urges the use of primary texts in a pro-gram that continues beyond one introductory-levelctiurse. Ot her requirements of good liberal artsteaching, states Bennett include strong faculty.institutional conviction that the humanities aretruly central to education, and the belief that theycan be taught with rigor as "a means of inquiry thatcan convey serious truths, defensible arguments.and significant ideas" (p. 8), Course cont e'..t and thequality of teaching, t hen, are the major const it uentsof a successful curriculum. In choosing course con-tent, it is evident that any field of knowledge is farlarger t han even a full four years of st tidy canencompass. Thus the choice of certain "blocks" ofinfoonat ion must be made (Mayhew, 1962, p. 50),in order to balance demands of breadth and depthand to offer stepping stones toward emit inued inde-pendent involvement in the field.

buTcased Attention to History

With careful thought, the features listed abovecan be applied to dance curricula with lit t diffi-culty. Dance is a field whose history can be easilyhist , hut in recent years increased attention haslwen given both to salvaging thus past and to thepreservation of current repertoire and relatedmaterial for fut tire generat ions. Such developmentsas the establishment of the Society of Dance I list oryScholars, t he creation of a graduate program specif-ically in (lane( history at the University ofCalif( wnia-Riverside and the increased publicationand quality of books and art icles about subjects andmethods in dance history and et hnology all attest tot his concern among dancers and scholars for recap-t tiring and sustaining t lie historical viability of I hedance event and t he life devoted to dance.

The materials are indeed becoming available forthe founding of a curriculum in dance t hat follows

0

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tile liberal arts ideal; great textsdances and danceliterature in our easeserve as a field for investiga-tion, questioning, and the formation of critical judg-ment and aesthetic sensitivity. Also, access tofilmed and recorded versions of dance works and toother audiovisual media now allows us to gain someexperience of dances either lost to the repertoire orsimply beyond the range of class field trips. While Icertainly exhort st udents to see dance live and try tomake live professional performance available tothem--or to bring them to itrecorded dance is animportant and relatively affordable way to intro-duce a large body of choreography and material foranalysis in the classroom. The current commercialvideotape market is dominated by ballet works,which allows some good covertwe of great works inhat genre, but leaves other masterpieces (e.g., in

jazz and modern dance) unavailable. Distributors ofeducational and experimental films and videos mustbe investigat.ed for coverage of areas not met bycommercial distributors. The efflorescence and ris-ing quality of regional dance groups is anothermeans of bringing the experience of dance perform-ance and viewing to colleges that may be far fromsuch dance centers as New York or San Francisco.Ma.ny of these companies present works by mastersof choreography, recreated through notated scoresor set by designated artists; many regional troupesalso commission work by renowned art ists, as wellas presenting their own material. Thus, it is trulypossible today to create a dance curriculum that fitswell int o the liberal arts tradition.

Foundat ion courses in dance, then, can address arange of dance styles, funct ions, and criteria. usingexamples of fine performances and thoughtful ana-lytical writing as the "great text: for study. Forexample. under "styles" (or "forms" or "genres"),one might art iculate such western theatre forms as,jazz, ballet, and modern dance. These can serve asgeneral cat egories for comparison, but also asumbrellas under which to group ot her subdivisions.Modern dance, thus, might be further studied interms of historical periods, of individual tech-niques, or of national contributions. In terms of his-torical styles, the period of the forerunners, forexample. might lw discussed with film aed video-recorded works of Ruth St. Denis used as visualtexts (for example. T.ailblazers gilloderti Dam('includes such excerpts. as does the 1958 film 1?nthSt. Den is a rid Te(I Shawn). excerpts of St. Dents'sown writings could be used as written texts, andSuzanne Shelton's Divine Dancer would be imiaff-t ant for critical and contextual informat ion and as amodel or dance research. To study individual tech-

2:3

niques in modern dance, students could look at.Doris Humphrey's style in her dances performedlive in reconstruction or as recorded in the recentlyreleased video recording of With My Red hies andNew Da ?we; supportive written material might. bechosen from Humphrey's autobiography, DorisHumphiry: An Artist First, as well as from MarciaSiegel's Days (m Earth and Ernestine Stodelle'sThe Dance Technique of Doris Humphrey. A studyof national contributions in modern dance mightlo9k at current American postmodernism, Germanthmce-theat re, and ,lapanese Wank

Functions and PUrposes

The teacher might also choose to view dances byfunct ions or purposes. so that "theatre dance" itselfbecomes a general category contrasted with ritualdances, folk dances, social dances, and so on.Choosing one culture or nation, such as Spain,might offer t he teacher ample material with whichto make such comparisons, with, for example,dances of the Escuela Bolera serving as theatre-.dance works, the dance of los Seises used as a sub-ject of rit ual dancing, and the Andalusian Sevillanasstudied as examples of folk dance. The interact ionsand common features of these dances and theirfunctions can and should be articulated.

I believe it important to open students' mindsabout the range of dance that geographical, cul-tural, and historical considerat ions permit. Thus, Ioften place "classical dance" forms of differentnat ions close together on a syllabus. St udents mightstudy classical ballet and then the classical dancesof India. I ask them to reflect on what makes bot hforms "classical" despite their obvious differencesin t echnique and performance. This leads to investi-gation of choreographic foiin, training, profession-alism in dance, aesthetics. and social values in eachcult ure.

At the same time, the very complex interplay ofnational styles that has influenced art ists for centu-ries can be discussed within the context of any onedaml. form st udied. For example, in a recent reviewof the work of Seattle-born modern dancer ainlreographer Mark Morris, Arlene Cr(We points outt hat "nudt iculturalism exist s and has always existedin Ainerican dance: there is scarcely an Americancluireographer of note who has m)t been influencedboth by t he pluralism of Our society and by the waydance .1 naturally soaks it up'' (Croce, 1990, p.

nuxis, of c(nase, draws on his background inflamenco, Balkan and Israeli folk dance, Hindu

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Providence College Dance Co. photo by Alan W. Bean.

dance, modern and ballet, and others. He is hardlyakme in this array of s(uirces: Isadora Duncan drewfrom the ancient Greeks. St. Denis from theCilentals. Erick Hawkins from the AmericanIndians, and so on. up to today's avant-gardistssuch as Molissa Fenky, whose upbringing in Spainand Africa has proi'oundly shape(1 her work (Dixon,1989). Nor is this use of crosscultural material lim-ited to Americans. Students should know that, forexample. Diaghilev's Ballets Russes displayednational influences from old Russia, chic newFrance, exotic Spain, and the mysterious East.

Similarly. the influence of popular dance formson "art- dance needs to be pointed out to studentswho may feel that they lack intellectual or aestheticaccess to refined theatre dance. The evoluti in ofballet from European folk forms is only one exam-ple of this: Twyla Tharp's melange of boogying,baton-twirling, modern dance. and highly sophisti-cated ballet comnwntary is another such example.Thus there is literally a world and a wealth of sub-ject matter for the shaping of a foundatkm coursein dance at the liberal arts college. I advocate noone fixed syllabus here: there is great room for tiwindividual teacher's creativity in course design.

The crux of the design, however, must be the qual-ity and influence of the works (both visual and writ-ten) the teacher chooses, so that the most compel-ling themes, demonstrated by the finest examplesof dance performance, choreographic styles, andaesthetic trends are presented to the students.

Criteria for evaluation can be introduced throughintroductory writings on aesthetics as a philosophi-cal field, and on dance aesthetics specifically. Forexample, Betty Redfern's Dance, Art, andAesthet ics might serve as a text in this area, provid-ing a basis for aesthetics in general and for danceaesthetics particularly (Carter, 1990, pp. 33-34).The writings of the best of dance critics throughtime--from Gautier to Edwin Denby to DeborahJowittcan serve as additional texts and examplesof careful evaluation and articulate dance writing.

Earlier mention has been made of the need tochoose "blocks" of material for presentation, ratherthan attempting total coverage of dance history,ethnology. and aesthetics. An example of such bl(ickdesign can be drawn from my syllabus. I try to dis-cuss some examples of the great western theatreforms that I believe will be most available to our stu-Oents-cum-datwe supporters: ,jazz, ballet, and mod-

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ern dance. I focus on certain great works or on cer-tain great masters of the form; then, in closeproximity, I introduce related forms, drawing oninternational folk dance, ritual forms from a varietyof religious perspectives, current or historicalsocial dances, and classical theatre forms with inde-pendent and powerful traditions. These subjects aresupported by introduction to various methods ofanalysis, from effort-shape, to Adshead's "fourstages" (Adshead, 1988, pp. 111-122), AllegraFuller Snyder's "dance symbol" (Snyder, 1972, pp.213-224), and others. Students learn that all ofthese analytical methods can serve as a "way" to awork that might be initially unfamiliar and puzzling.

In order to know whVh one(s) of these avenues ofapproach will be most fruitful, I encourage studentsto start, with the most immediately available mate-rial: the movement that they are seeing. They mustlearn, then, first of all to engage actively in whatthey view, so that they do see it, rather than lettingit wash superficially over them, as if they werewatching a television sit-com. They must attempt todescribe what they are seeing, both in terms of spe-cific movements done and of larger group or tempo-ral developments. Any assertions they makeaesthetic, analytical, or sociologicalmust besupported by evidence based on the dance itself. Ifstudents describe certain movements they see as"gripping" or "ugly" or "romantic" or "expressive,"for example, I ask them to articulate why the move-ment appears that way to them. Which dancersmoved in the low level primarily, and why was thischoice made? Were the dances led only bywomenor only by menand why or why not?Many other sorts of questions of this nature can beasked regarding any viewed material.

Learning to "Rewl"

The students, thus, must learn to "read" tlwdancesto make of them texts of which specificquestions can be asked in order to glean particularinformation and to make sound personal judg-ments. supported by evidence. The need for the cur-rent generation ef students to learn perceptiverewling in the convent ional sense of that word hasbeen stressed by education authorities (Bennett,1984, p. 1 1), and I believe that we must extend thatdemand and training to the "reading" of dances. It isall too easy for our students to regard all dancing asentertainment, relaxation, a pretty gloss on tlwhuman body: I hope to jolt them out of that positionforever.

95

This foundation course can, and should, be fol-lowed by courses that study in greater depth spe-cific subjects or questions raised in the earliercourse. But now the students have developed both abigger picture of the variety of dance ar i,. its func-tions and some language for the articulation of whatthey are seeing. Lest my curriculum seem unduly toslight craft in favor of context (flobgood, 1990, pp.22-23), I want to make it clear that among the sub-jects that might be studied beyond the foundationcourse, or together with it, I include technique. Thefoundation course should help students to developawareness of the kinesthetic component of danceviewing as well as dance ' I always bring stu-dents in my foundation course out of the lecture halland into the dance studio for movement explora-tions, so that the technical terms they must learnare understood from within their own bodies. Thus,for example, they explore, feel, and express the var-ious poles of time, space, weight, and flow and workout combinations of full efforts. This is ev.ellentpreparation for any dance technique course, andalso perhaps, these first forays into the studio willencourage hesitant students to venture back for amovenwnt course.

Curriculum in such areas of dance study as com-position, criticism, anthropology, and history canall spring from the foundation cot irse, If the teacherhas carefully designed the choice of materials intro-duced initiallythe dance works, the dance artists,the forms, the geographical coverage, and the sup-portive readings assigned to each day's topicstudents not only learn much information aboutthose particular dances studied, but more impor-tantly, they learn a number of widely applicableskills.

1. I iow to view works in a continuum of creativ-ity and innovation.How to analyze and evaluate new material pre-sented, including that of the cut rentavant-garde.

3. llow to find information about forms itot pre-viously encountered.

4. How to articulate both what they see and theirresponse to it.

These skills will well serve the mature individualwho leaves college, becomes a professional in afield other than dance. but maintains an interest indance as a supporter. Such support t ranslates intodance :iudiences. informed boards of trustees fordance companies, and voters who understandissues of arts policy. These people can become t he"good citizens" for dance t.hat t he lilwral art s educa-

2 9

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tion attempts to develop ill a more general sense.Those graduates who enter such fields as govern-ment or business may have direct influeiwe on artspolicy, funding. and representation. Lawyers anddoctors, too-and tlmse in many other fields-canapply their special expertise to areas of concern todancers, if they are liberally educated about dance.And ( ertainly there will always be those individualswho graduate from such a liberal education and findt hat t hey are somehow "hooked" on dance: they maychoose to pursue independent or graduate study of

dance technique and composition. Surely, theirfoundation in dance as a broad field of study, theirfamiliarity with great works and a range of tradi-tions, and their understanding of how to analyzeand articulate the movement they view can onlyserve them well in that study.

For the dance field, this is a curriculum that canlead us all to become the "responsible humanbeings" whom Meredit h Monk called for in herstatement above. This is a curriculum in dance forwhich the liberal arts college is ideally suited.

References

Adshead..1. (Ed). (1988). Dup., Acorn andmart ler. London: Dance Rooks.

Astin, A.. Korn. W.. & Berz, E. ( 990). The Aineviran1e8h111on: Nat lona/ norms .1(a 19S9.

Washington, 11C and Los Angeles: American Council onEducatnin and I'CLA.

B(nnett W.1. (1984). TU ri'da lewi(n. Washington.DC: National Endowment for the Humanities.

Bloom. A. (1987). The closing al. the American mind.Nov Y(irk: Simon and Schuster.

'arnegie Fmindat ion's Cla.ssificat kills of MO/ than 3.:I00Institutions of Higher Education. (198:. July 7).Chrnnicle ()f Iligher Edneatinn, p.

Carnes. B. M. (1978)..4 profile yl private liberal artscolleaes. NA'ashington. DC: U.S. Depiirtment of Health.Education, and Welfare.

Carter, ('. (199), Kill). Review of Dnm:r. out, andfilet thinee Research Jaiirn(C. 22(2). 33-31.

Croce, A. (19)0. July 23). Dancing. Multicultural theatre.The New Yarker. pp. 81-87.

Denby. E. (1)08). al the dance. New York:Ilorizon Press.

Dixon. B. (198) ). The Afro.centric aesthetic. Guest !ec-ture at Franklin and Marshall College. April .1.

Guest. I. (E(l.). (1980). Ga an (lance. London:Dance Books.

Hirsch. E. D...1r. (1)87). ma/ !driller,: Who/ l'11111.A111CriC(Ili lICOLS fo A-11nif .NeW Yiirk: Houghton !Mifflin.

Holigood, B. M. (1990. Summer). The state of theatre inAmerican education. The Phi Koplin Phi .Inurnal,:I_

Humphrey, D. & Cohen. 5.1. (197.2). nw.i.sart i.st first. Middletown. CT: Wesleyan Vniversity

Press.

lowitt, D. ( 195-1). The dance in mind. New York: DavidI. (iodine.

Kimball, B. A. (198(' ). Oratars and philam(phers:..1No.?, of the idea edncalinn. New York:Teachers College Press,

Kmnan. E. T (1989). Liberal education in t post-modernworld. In Nen. Pervert it I's an Liberal Edu('ation(pp. 25-10). Seattle: I'niversity of Washington Press.

Lyman. R. W. (1989). Defining our future: The liberal amsin contemporary society. In Noir Perspectives onLilnral Edlicalinn (pp. .1I-60). Seattle: riliversilv ofWasliingt On Press.

Mayhew, L. B. (1962). The smallev colhve.Washington, DC: Center for Applied Resear('h inEducation, Inc.

N1onk. M. (1990, September). Some thoughts about art.Ihwre .41(niaziiie. pi). 30-31.

Redfern. B. (1988). Donee, art. and acslhel leN. London:Dance Books Limited.

Shelton. S. (1981). MI ine. dancer: Abiagraphi/ IbilhSt. Denis. Garden City. NY: Doubleday & ('o.. Inc.

Siegel. M. B. (1987). Dan.% (m earth: The (lance at Davisliii inith ICY . New Haven, ( and London: Yalel'niversity Press.

Stodelle. E. (1978). The da two' technigne 0 Dorisveil and its (Teat I' patent nil. Princeton. N.1:

Princeton Book l'o,Snyder, A. F. (1972). The dance symbol. (Ma) ResC(i rch

Ann mil 213-221Winter, D. (-1.. ('t al. (1981). ca,se far the liberal

a yrs: Assessina it lit iana fpnits and .51101entfievelalatlent. San Francisci: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Lynn Matluck Brooks is director of dance at Franklin andMarshall College. Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604-3003.

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dancer/IA.:tell:4s or dancer/scholars of the field,with only a small percentage making a career ofperforming. This lack of emphasis on technique inthe academic curriculum allowed universities andcolleges to graduate students in four years, thoughmany were, at that point, not employable as profes-sional dancers. Thus, in spite of apparent commoninterests, a schism developed between the aca-demic dance world and the professional field,reflecting a deep divergence of values centering onthe question of whether one is trying to train thedancer or educate the person, to teach skills orbuild inner resources (Kraus & Chapman, 1981, p.158).

Since the mid-1960s, the number of Americancolleges and universities offering dance has grownsteadily. At the same time, an evolution within theacademic dance setting has been occurring withlongterm implications for the field: the point ofview has shifted. In an effort to integrate profes-sional with educational viewpoints, the trend hasbeen to move away from an administrative base inphysical education, becomiA either an independ-ent dance department orYprogram, or part of adepartment or school concerned wit h other per-forming arts, such as music or theatre (Kraus &Chapman, p. 292). In addition, dance faculties haveadopted professional equivalencies to academicdegrees, allowing for the increased hiring of per-fornnng artists as teachers. Some have encouragedolder dancers to return to school by permitting thetransformation of professional career experiencesinto academic credit.

Moreover, there has been a move to in.stitutional-ize professional training standards. In 1981. repre-sentatives from academic dance programs met inWashington, D.C. to consider the establishment ofan accreditation association for educational pro-grams in dance. As a result of that meeting, theNational Associat Mn of Schools of Dance wasformed. Forty-eight institutions became charternwmbers: ten professional dance training organi-zations and thirty-eight colleges and universities.NASD describes its function as one of finding

ways of clarfting and maimaMing standards indance through the responsible education ofdancers. By means Of accreditation, it canencourage those inst itut ions t hat consistent lygive students a sound basis for significant futureaccomplislunents in dance. (NASI), 1987. p.

Membership is based on criteria such as curricu-lum, admission policies. sequencing of classes,length of nine in operation, faculty qualifications.facilities and equipment advert king, financial nucl-ides. and student access to libraries Standards

and guidelines are described as having evolvedfrom a synthesis of thought about professionaltraining in dance and are to be used as part of thepeer review process of accreditation, rather than asa set, of rules and regulations. According to NASDliterature, standards for admission to the organiza-tion are meant to provide the basis for dialogue onthree levels: within an institution as the self-study(which is necessary for application) is being devel-oped, between an institution and the Association(during the period of evaluation), and between theAssociation and the general public.

Rona Sande, former director of the dance divi-sion at, the University of California at SantaBarbara, wiLS one of the dance educators who for-mulated these standards. Sande says that the NASDhas, in a real sense, given university dance depart-ments permission to do what many now want t,o doanyway: to require an intensive studio componentwithin their programs. Additionally, she says,accreditation has helped legitimize dance pro-grams within the university community, particu-larly among administrators with budgetary and dis-cretionary powers (Sande, 1989).

"Professional" and "Liberal Arts"

Today, the Association has three categories ofaccredited membership. Division I is for danceschools and studios seeking legitimation in theeyes of tlw profession and the public. Divisions IIand III are for college and university departmentslooking for professional credibility. The separationbetween Divisions II and III marks the differencebetween a "pnifessional" degree and a "liberal arts"degree. The associate of fine arts and the bachelorof fine arts degrees are both included in Division IIand both "require that at least 65% of the coursecredit be in stu(lio work and related areas" (NASD,1987, p. .10). This describes a strongly focusedcourse of study, narrowed to the development oftechnical skills and do aCe artistry, in essence. avocat ional degree. The liberal arts degrees arecalled associate of arts or science and bachelor ofarts or science with a major in dance. Thesedegrees usually require that one-third to one-halfthe total course credit be in dance. NASD describesDivision III as including "schools and departmentswhose pred( minant purpi)se and enrollment are inquality education in dance" (NASD. 1985, p. :3). atelling (listinction from BFA (Division II). whichhas as -its primaly emphasis . . the developmentof skills, concepts and sensibilities essential to thedance prof('ssional" (NASD, 1987, p. .11).

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The difference between Division II and DivisionIII points to the dissimilarity in emphasis betweeneducating dancers as people and training dancersfor dance. In its listing in the 88/89Dancemtgazitu, College Guide (Lawson, 1988),the University of California at Santa Barbara, apublic, state-supported university, makes the dis-tiiwtion clear:

The BFA degree k oriented toward training thedance student for a professional career in per-foi mance and/or choreography and the curricu-lum is centered around studio courses andrelated theatrical experiences. The BA degree isa less structured program and allows time forstu&nts to pursue course work that could leadto alternate careers (p. 87)

This distinction affects dancers throughout theirlives, bearing on both the transition they mustmake at the end of a performing career and on theirability to survive in a field where a "job" as a dancerrarely provides a living wage. It also points up anissue that is becoming more important within thedance world itself: Can educators reconcile thedemand from the field for excellence in techniquewith the simultaneous demand for choreographerswho have both skill and vision? What is the rela-tionship between intensive technical training andthe development of choreographic ability? Most.professionally trained dancers learn to think tech-nically, narrowing their concerns to rehearsing,injuries, diet, physical mastery, and survival issues:how to get work, the critical response to current .and future work, and who is doing what. Would thisbe different with a stronger background in thehumanities? With a broader education, might wenot become more resonant artists with a strongersense of our connection to the society in which wework? Today's dance might then be less concernedwith itself, with technique and (lancing, and dealmore with new way- of viewing the times.

I first encountered the distinction between edu-cation and training when I began doctoral studiesin 1936. It was no,-: to me and seemed to imply thatby thinking in tTrms of training, the term we use todescribe a concentration on technique and produc-tion, we in dance deny our students balance.Already. in my professional life, I had been aware ofa lack of verbal confidence and my narrow range ofabilities. I was also conscious of the passive accept-ance among dancers of professional situations t hatare sometimes inhumane and the lack of powerninny of us feel in response to press coveroge andthe political dance establishnwnt, or in simplybeing able to speak intelligently about work we are

interested in doing. With man:: dancers, there is anotable lack of relationship with the world outsidethe dance studio. In fact, in my experience, manydancers willingly exchange a lack of general powerwithin society for the very personal sense of powerthat comes from having strong physical skills.

This is a trade-off with serious implications. Theprecursors of modern dance, the two women whopioneered the field, were not technicians and didnot grow up in dance studios. Isadora Duncan andRuth St. Denis were largely self-taught (Page, 1984,p. vii). Both trained sporadically in assorted stylesranging from Delsartian interpretations to ball-room dance, acrobatic tricks, and a brief introduc-tion to ballet (Ruyter, 1979). Since their time, manyof the artists considered leaders in modern dance,the innovators, the more creative minds, also havenot been people who trained intensively in tech-nique. Doris Humphrey did start dancing at the ageof eight (Humphrey, 1966, p. 17), but MarthaGraham waited, because of parental opposition,until she was 22 to begin her studies (McDonagh,1973, p. 52). Paul Taylor got "a flash, or whatever itis . . . telling me that I'm to become a dancernot.any old dancer, but one of the best" (Taylor, 1987,p. 26), when he was a sophomore in college with noprevious dance experience. Merce Cunninghamhas had a lifelong interest in theatre and beganintermittent dance study at the age of eight, but hecame to the study of modern dance during his col-lege years (Cunningham, 1985, p. 33). ErickHawkins began studying dance after college gradu-ation (McDonagh, 1976, p. 297), and Jose Limon,who thought he would be a painter, came to his firstdance classes at the age of 20 (Gadan & Maillard,1959, p. 214). Alwin Nikolais initiated his trainingat the Bennington College School of Dance as ayoung man (Gadan & Maillard, p. 242), and AlvinAiley started studying with Lester Horton while inhis teens (Mazo, 1984, p. 2:3). Yvonne Rainer saysshe began studying dance in earnest in 1959, whenshe was 25 (Rainer, 1974, P. 5).

How Do People Learn To Dance?

These experiences raise a number of issues ont he broad question of how people learn to dance. Isthere a relationship between technical training andcreativity and leadership? As we train bodies to bedisciplined and Obedient instruments, skilled at fol-lowing directions. accustomed to taking correc-tion, working silently to become a vehicle for

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another person's ideas, are we also training mindsin the same way? Are serious, long-term dance stu-dents put at a disadvantage in today's society, sacri-ficing language and sodal skills for movement andtechnical training?

Speaking as one who spent much of her youth inthe dance studio, I find that the very questions andtheir implications are uncomfortable. Disciplineaiid obedience are high on the list of values weinstill in dance students. and they are, on tlwwhole, :tot the makings of creative leadership andinnovation. What would Yvonne Rainer's workhave been like had she studied dance for ten yearsbefore arriving in New York? As it was, she was 25before she began serious work. Understandably,she had no tradition to uphold, and though she wasan earnest student, the realization that she wouldnever fit the mold of "dancer" in this society gaveher an ambivalence that developed into a radicalresponse, an adversarial posture in regard to thedance establishment (Chin. 1975). "The choices inmy work are predicated on my own peculiar

resources . . . and also on an ongoing argumentwith, love of, and contempt for dancing" (Rainer, p.71), she said, and in this context, the extraordinarydirections she pursued make clear sense.

I suspected that I would never be "good enough"to dance in an official company. Although I wasbecoming more proficient in conventional tech-nical matters, the chunky construction of mybody and my lack of natural litheness did not fit.

the popular image of the female dancer. (Chin,p. 5 )

So she made work that defied that image. Moreimportant, she was not. so identified with dance thatshe could not defy it. Because she had a broadbackground to bring to it. her work was not abouttrying to fit in.

A point of view, necessary to the development ofone's own voice as an artist. needs cultivation andstimulation, exposure to ideas. and faith in one'sown ability to know the truth. Richard Kraus andSarah Chapman (1981) state that most dance edu-cators today believe their position in education isstrengthened by a growing recognition of the needfor educational experiences that will provide asense of personal involvement, helping studentsbecome aware of their uniqueness and capable ofmaking meaningful judgments within all areas oflife. Perhaps these kinds of experiences occur inprograms that include dance in a general curricu-lum, but are they reflected in the way profession-ally oriented dance students are being taught? Infact. the restricted focus of a professionally-orient-ed dance program cuts out the social and philo-sophical grounding needed to un de rst and t heworld and form a response to it and, without doubt,affects both art and lives in the long run.

Excellence in any field requires some narrowingof focus. As a dancer. I have valued my own techni-cal ability and worked hard to increase it. clijoyingthe power it gives me, the pride in myself, and therange of performing opportunities it has opened tome. The issue here is how to balance the concentra-

Broadening the education of dancers will transformthe field of dance in unpredictable ways. Photos atleft and opposite page from the dance program atMankato State Unirersity, MankatoMinnesota.

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t ion required for this kind of achievement with thebreadth and scope necessary for an active partici-pation in the culture around us. Our problemandthe problem of the university programs involvedwith meeting the demands of t.he dance profes-sionis that the technical requirements of a pro-fesskmal career are so consuming that time takenout for other areas of study necessarily inhibitsenergy, concentration, and momentum in a verycompetitive field. However, university programsare uniquely placed to offer dame within a contextmeaningful to both the person and the professionalin each student and could, with thought to curricu-lum, begin to exert profound influence over theteaching of dance.

Teaching About Choices

If long-term, rigorous technical training is theonly way to produce versatile and skilled dancers,should we not also from t.he heginning t each damestudents to develop their minds and emotionidbeings along wit h their bodies? Beginning trainingafter the age of ten, teaching nonjudgmentallywhile providing information on safety and style,and allowing tinw for students to work out proh-ler.ls with combinations individually and togetherduring class are all ways in which we might begin.Allowing discussion of why things are done the waythey are to he a regular part of learning techniqueis another. Providing a context for what is beingtaught will give students a clearer picture of aworld in which they can make choices, as will link-ing a particular technique to a belief system.

Encouraging the development of a point of viewcan only help to balance the discipline built in tolongterm technical training.

We must be sure that (lancers can separate theperson from the function and that. we teach them tostrengthen both aspects. We do want to give stu-dents the skills required for moving with imwer andarticulation. That sense of control is, I think, whatdraws many young women to the field, giving thema realm where they feel a certain empowerment.But we do not want them to stop there. While teach-ing physical skills, we must. watch that. we do notalso teach dependency, creating followers and giv-ing freedom only within the restrictions of t he stu-dio) or the confines of a role.

The unanswered question is: How much do werequire dance to stay as it is? By broadening theeducation of dancers we will be transforming thefield in ways that cannot be predicted. Certainlydancers will become less pliant, more questioningof how they are used, and more conscious of theirown power, as well as more aware of the contextand history of t heir art. Perhaps the form willevolve to fit the dancers rather than the reverseprocess, to which we are so accust on yd. Today,both dancers and choreographers fiml themselvesswept up in the culture-wide worship of success,spectacle, and mastery. Western dance has tradi-tionally held these qualities to be important and hastailored its training programs to suit its vilues. Fora time. it seemed that with the work of MargaretIrfloubler and Anna Sokolow and the early work ofMartha Graham and others, individualism and dem-ocratic thought. would have an influence on the art.The old values have withstood t he intrusion, how-

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ever, and continue to exert a profound influence onstandards within the field, on methods of training,and on priorities in dancers' lives.

Serving dance students within the university sys-tem remains a challenging issue. How best can wejoin the demands of the field with the educationalgrounding necessary for the creation of an authori-tative art that can help us see ourselves, make us

aware of what we take for granted, and lead us toprovocative questions about the way we live? Whatwe all want is the best possible situation for danceand dancers. In order to achieve this, we must con-tinue to examine what we are doing, reflecting notonly on how to be excellent dancers, but on how tobe active and responsive members of our culture aswell.

References

Chin, D. (1975). Add some more cornstarch, or the plotthickens: Yvonne Rainer's Work 1961-73. DanceScope, 9,60-64.

Cunningham, M. (1985). The dancer a ' the dance.New York, London: Marion Boyars.

Gadan, F., & Mail lard, R. (Eds.). (1959). A -1171 ofmodern ballet. New York: Tudor Publishing Company.

Humphrey, D. (1966, spring). New dance: An unfinishedautobiography. Dance Perspectives, 25,9-77.

Kraus, R.G., & Chapman, S.A. (1981). History of thedance in art and educatima. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hill.

Lawson, WJ. (Ed.). (1981). 88/89 College guide. NewThrk: Dance Magazine, Inc.

McDonagh, D. (1973). Martha Graham: A biography.New York, Washington: Praeger Publishers.

McDonagh, D. (197(i). The complete guide to moderndance. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.

National Association of Schools of Dance. (1985). A bro-chure describing the functions of the association.Reston, VA: author.

National Association of Schools of Dance. (1987).Handbook 1988-1989. Reston, VA: author.

Page, R. (1984). Class: Notes on dance classes a rou tulthe world 1915-1980. Princeton, NJ: Princeton 1300kCompany, Publishers.

Rainer, Y. (1974). Work 1961-73. Halifax: The Press ofthe Nova Scotia College of Art and Design; New York:New York University Press.

Ruyter. N.L.C. (1979). Reformers and e i.sionaries. NewYork: Dance Horizons.

Sande, R. (1989, February). Conversation with RonaSande.

Taylor, P (1987). Private domain. New Yirk: Alfred A.Knopf.

Jan Van Dyke is in the Dance Department at the University ofNorth Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina 27412.

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TeacherEducation

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Content Knowledge in Dance EducationSylvie Fortin

In recent years, considerable attention anddebate have focused on educational reform. Inhigher education, many educational reformershave recommended legislation requiring teachersto complete more course work in their own subjectmatter. This recommendation is based On I he

assumption that content knowledge is a "logicalprecondition for the activities of teaching"(Ruclunaori. I98:3). Parallel to that, many educa-tion re.iearchyrs have started to invest igate t henature. the sourci 5, io,d (he development of sub-ject matter knowle.fg, in teacher preparation, aswell as the influerp. -bat teachers subject matterkmiwledge has on stud( nt achievement. 'The resulthas been a dramatic change in the way in which theknowledge base for teaching is conceptualized, andt he newly emerging paradigm reflecting thatchange has begun to influence how experts thinkabout teaching, how leacher education curriculaare st ructured, and how research agendas onteaching are organized. It is important that danceeducators lwconw aware of the issues raised by thisparadigm. The meaning of a knowledge-basedapproach to dance in higher education meritsinvest igat i(m and critical examination.

Three texts, A Notion Prepared: Teochers ,forthe 21st Century (Carnegie Commission TaskMirce. 198(; ). MI/mimic's Teochers: A RoportMe Holmes Group (I lohnes Group, 198(i), and theHam/book of Reword, on Tem'hinfi (third edi-tion. Witt rc)c.k, 198(1). are ('xamples of the effort toimprove teaching. Educator Penelope Peterson(1988) observes that although the three reportsreflect different perspectives. they converge onseveral common themes -,tch as the conception ofteachers t)-: "thoughtful" professiomds who definetheir knowledge bases in systematic t(rms.Educator Lee Shulman (1987) is explicit on this

point:The advocates of protessional rentral hasetheir arguments tut the belief hilt theUe

IN&

exists a "knowledge base for teaching--acodified or codifiable aggregation of knowl-edge, skills. understanding, and I eclmokigy,of ethics and disposition, of collectiveresponsibilityas well as a means for rep-resenting and communicating it. (p..1)

According to Shulman, any organization ofteacher knowledge should include the followingcategories: knowledge of learners and their charac-teristics, knowledge of educational con; ext s,knowledge of educational ends, curriculum km)wl-edge, general pedagogical knowledge, contentkmiwledge, and pedagogical content knowledge.While much might be said about each of these cate-gories, I will direct my anent lint first to pedagogi-cal content knowledge and then to contentknowledge.

Pedagogical ciintent knowledge "represents theblenchng of content and pedagogy into an under-standing of how particular topic's, problems, orissues are organized, represented, and adapted tothe diverse interests and abilities of learners, andpresented for instruction" (Shulman, 1987, p. 8).Pedagogical content knowledge is a pedagog:calunderstanding of the subject matter, the key thatdistinguishes a teacher from a nont caching peer in

the sante discipline. Shulman (1986) refers to it asa missing paradigm because he notices thatresearch on teaching has established quite a sharpdistinction between subject matter and pedagogy.Indeed. mosf research on pedagogical knowledgein the 1980s refers to the broad principles andstrategies of classnmun management and organiza-tion that appear to transcend suWect matter.Direct ing research toward the investigation of ped-agogical content kmiwledge could serve to reversethis tendency of discussing the teaching professionmainly in generic piAagogical terms.

Also implicit in the paradigm of pedagogical con-tent knowledge is an enriching of the notion of con-tent knowledge. To the lay person, it Would seem

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that content knowledge is just what the futureteacher will have to teach. But in the framework ofa knowledge base for teaching, content knowledgemeans more than expertise in the subject matter,more than the "stuff" that is to be learned by stu-dents. In this use, content knowledge is made man-ifest, not just in what the teachers teach but in thepersonal internalized understanding they have ofwhy they teach what they teach. "To think properlyabout content knowledge," declares Shulman(1986), "requires going beyond knowledge of thefacts or concepts of a domain." Ile continues:

Teachers must not only la' capable of definingfor students the accepted t rut h in a domain. t heymust also lw able to explain why a particularpropositlint is deemed warranted, why it isworth kmiwing and luny it relates to other prop-ositions, both within the discipline and without,both in theory and in practice. . . . Moreover. weexpect the teacher to understand why a giventopic is particularly central to a disciplinewhereas another may be peripheral. (p.

Shulman stresses the importance of investigatingcontent knowledge because it is a necessary cmidi-tion to have pedagogical content knowledge.

In the area of dance technique, if we acceptShulman's concept of content knowledge. then wemust assume that when dance teachers possesscontent knowledge, they have mastered to a highdegree the practical skills of their art, form andhave gained a broad and deep understanding ofdance a.s a subject matter. Because of the physicalcomponent of dance, I believe that it is helpful todiscriminate clearly t.wo aspects of content knowl-edge: conceptual content knowledge and technicalcontent knowledge.

Technical content knowledge is the knowinghow. It is the predominant kind of knowledge indance education programs. A look at the ColhweGuide 1990-91: A Directory of Dance in NorthAinernyin Colleges and Universities reveals thatdance teacher educat icin programs usually stressthe physical pursuits by an audition at the entryand the requirement of a long sequence of techni-cal courses throughout the program. At the end oftheir undergraduate program. most dance teachersmaster, at quite a high level, the main skills of dif-ferent dance styles such as the fall/recovery of theLimon technique or the contraction/release of theGraham technique. According to Judit h ( ; ray(1989), this kind of knowledge. compiled fromexperience, "prepares the student to perform aspecific technique or apply a certain knowledge. toa singular dance setting.' (p. 82). What Gray refersto as heuristic kiumledge and what I call here tech-

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Meal content knowledge may also be related toHarry S. Broudy's (1977) concept of replicativesclunding in which "the school input is recalledpretty mueh as learned" (p. 9).

On the other hand. conceptual content knowl-edge is the knowing why and the knowing about. Ateacher with such kmiwledge is not only able to dothe physical skill but also able to provide, withinsight and understanding, a &script ive account ofhow it is done and why it is worthwhile to executeeach movement in a particular way. A teacher withconceptual content louiwledge is also able to gen-erate alternative explanat i ins. representations, orclarifications of the same principle. It is t his kind ofknowledge that enables a teacher to developabstract theories that can be applied to a largenumber of different situations. For example, adance teacher trained in Graham technique notonly should knciw the Graham vocabulary and theprogression usually presented in this technique.but should also be able to pinpoint the first princi-ple of the technique. the Graham contraction.which is one important dance movement thatstrengthens the core muscles of the inidy. When thecore nmscles are strong, the entire spine and torsoare supported. which improves t he execut ion of themovements of upper as well as lower limbs. In addi-tion, the teacher should be able to relate theGraham ccint Fact ion to the concepts of "centering"that dancers of all styles have worked with in oneway or another. Graham's controction. Bart enieff's"hollowing." the navel radiation of BonnieBainbridge Cohen. the "chi" ol' Tae Kwon Do or

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Aikido, to mune just a few, all appear similar interms of physical characteristics despite their dif-ferent labels.

Both kinds of c(mtent knowledge, conceptualand technical, are desirable in a dance educationprogram. Conceptual Pnowledge is useless unlessstudents know how to apply it concretely in a par-ticular setting, and technical knowledge is limitedwhen students have to work in a setting Gifferentfrom the one where they received their training.1 tifort unately, 1 believe that dance teachers oftenrely strongly on their skills mastery or technicalknowledge when teaching and do not sufficientlyemphasize the comprehension, transformatioli,and reflection of their own training in order toadapt to the characteristics of a particular setting.At least two reaSMIS may partially exphiin thisstrong eniphasis on technical knowledge.

One reason may he the historical developnwnt ofdance teaching. While in North America the dance

-Spell," choreographed by Dana Levyand performed by Dana Levy and EoinO'Brien, representing the Ohio StateUniversity at the 1991 MidwestConference of the American CollegeDance Festival Association. Photos byMark Teague.

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performances have coicinuously changed Overtime, the actual training of (lancers did not followthe same pattern. Accoroing to Gray 1989):

In many cultures, one person was assignedthe role of conveying dance nmvements,usually without embellishment or innova-tion. Dance usually evolved over time andchanged subtly rather than draniaticall) . . .

the dancers have handed down pedagogicalstrategies and acted as dance teachers eversince leading and following became formsof teaching and learning. Dance teacherstraditnmally have taught as they themselveswere taught role modeling is still dominantin the training of dance teachers. to. :11

The consequence of teaching as (me has beentaught fails to answer the new and changingdemands of our western society. The last ten yearshave seen an increasing demand for dance teachersin various settings such as public schools and rec-reational or professional studios (McLaughlin,

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(1988). According to Madeleine Lord (1984), adance educator, dance teachers have the tendencyto reproduce the model of instruction adopted inprofessional sottings while teaching in educationalor recreational settings. I believe that dance teach-ers often reproduce the dominant model of teach-ing they have received in their training becauset.hey do not have enough appropriate knowledge tobe able to make the necessary adjustments that adifferent, context requires. If someone has learneddance as a certain repertoire of skills to !nasty!' anddoes not have a broad competency in the subject .

nritter of dance in general, his or her range ofeffective teaching is limited at the outset.

Aside from the power of t raditioh in dance teach-ing, another reason for the predominance of tech-nical content knc, wledge in dance programs in gen-era! and in particular in higher education is thepaucity of research. Data base6 research repre-sents an import:tit contribution to the develop-ment of conceptual knowledge but research evi-dence in dance is relat.ively new and scarce.Shulman (1979) wrote that there wa.s relatively lit-t.le research conducted on teaching in the arts.Gray (1989) indicates that the situation has notchanged, especially in dance teaching: "Researchin dance teaching has to date been restricted to iso-lat ,d studies of teacher behavior and limited inves-tigations of students' attitudes and achievement"(p. 9). The body of disciplinary knowledge basedon systematic study is still quite new. This is not .surpri3ing when one considers tl-at research ismainly conducted in universities and that Margaret11'Doubler established the first dance major inhigher education at the University of Wisconsin in1926 and departments of dance did not gain auton-omy until the 1960s.

Beliefs and Behaviors changing

In recent years, the situation nas, however,changed rapidly. Dance scholars are leveloping apositive attitude toward systematic inquiry and aremore and more appropriately trained to do so.From the !finned focus stated above, research indance now encompasses the areas of kinesiology,psychology, computer motion analysis, etc. Therecent Dance: Current Selected Research journaltestifies to the growing interest of the dance com-munity in syste,natic studies.

New knowledge is emerging from a variety ofsources, and it is prompting teachers to changetheir beliefs and behaviors. According to Martha

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Myers (1989), t,he general picture of dance educa-tion is beginning to change. For example, through-out. the United States and Canada, more and morehigher education programs are including someadjunctive training in their regular schedules.Known as body-therapy or somatic practices, theseidiosyncratic practices were developed by individu-ais such as F. M. Alexander, Irmgard Barteniefi,Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and Moshe Feldenkrais.Marginal to the mainstream of traditional technicaltraining, the priority of the somatic educators isexperient.ial knowledge. Although having differentassumptions from the systematic researchers,somatic educators challenge the tradition of dancetraining the same way systematic researchers do.

My point here is that the increasing attentiongiven to scientific research as well as body thera-pies reveals an important change in the conceptionof relevant knowledge in dance. This should helpfoster the development of instruction of the highestquality while simultaneously encouraging variedand experimental approaches to the teaching ofdance, which is one of the objectives of theNational Associatim of Schools of Dance as statedin its Information Bulletin (NASD, 1989).

According to Tony Eichelberger (1989), knowl-edge comes front t.hree different sources: tradition,systematic research, and personal experience. Indance, tradition that emphasizes technical contentknowledge is the main guide for educators(Clarkson, 1988). However, people from two differ-ent allegiances are beginning to challenge whatClarkson refers to as the "dancer's close-mindedapproach to training" (p. 18). On the one hand,there are those scholars whose intent is to breakthe dance teaching tradition by introducing newconceptual knowledge based on systematic inquiry.And, on the other hand, there are somatic educa-tors who pursue the sante ultimat e goal but whoroot their conceptualization in their personalobservation of the moving body. Alt houghEichelberger notes that "in making decisions. ordrawing conclusions, one of the weakest logicalfoundations for doing anything is an appeal toauthority" (p. 1:3). I believe that any dance teachingdeciskins must be made on the basis of all threesources of knowledge. "Dance education is (liang-ing," writes Sarah Chapman (1988); "a new visionhas begun to emerge, one which embraces thetruth and integrity of earlier decades of our disci-pline while planning for and shaping an expandeddialogue to guide us toward a new century" (p. 57).

So far, I have addressed the issues of sources andtypes of content knowledge, distinguishing t echni-

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cal content knowledge from conceptual contentknowledge. I would now like to turn to pedagogicalknowledge. It is important to reiterate that,whereas the area of pedagogical knowledge may bewell established in other educational settings, thisis not the case in dance. Little attention has beendevoted to the elements of the teaching process,and dance educators have thus far minimized train-ing in interaction skills and the management oftime and students (Frances-Fisher, 1989).

Here again I think that significant changes areemerging in the dance community. For instance,during the last two years, the school of Les GrandsBallets Canadiens in Montreal has been offering itsinstructors a course in the pedagogy of dance, achange from its previous policy of dependingexclusively upon the mastery of a repertoire ofmovements. However, it is important to point. outthat the addition of pedagogical knowledge will nottranslate automatically into better teaching, just ascontent knowledge alone, whether it is technical orconceptual, does not translate directly into betterteaching in the classroom. There is much thatremains to be done in the area of dance pedagogy,and this jc an important challenge facing danceteachers today. Cne of the most important tasks weface is to determine future directions.

Inquiry-Oriented Dance Curriculum

Shulman's notion of pedagogical content knowl-edge appears to be a worthwhile direction. Art edu-cation programs should have, according to DanielReeves (1987),

not only pedagogy and content hut also thepractice of integrating the two as theirundergraduate education maturesStrong art education programs are onesthat suc(eed in integrating pn)fessamalstudies and disciphne cont ent so t hat futurearts teachers learn how to apply knowledgetial skills to instructional settings. (p. .11)

Reeves clearly concurs with Shulman's view.Content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge

form each other and the blending of the two..es specific attention from scholars. A peda-

gog, .11 content knowledge i,.pproach results in ashift in the way we will ask questions. ''What will Iteach today?" would change to "Why and how will Iteach that to this particular clientele today?" Inother words, the knowledge base pafadigm calls fora dance curriculuni that is inquiry-oriented ratherthan focused on replication. As Penelope Hanstein1990) states so appropriately, "when taught only

as the replication of steps, as a closed system in

which the ends are preset and the outcomes tightlycontrolled, we fail to promote the kind of inquiry,imaginative thinking, and discovery necessary forordering our experience and making sense out ofour lived world" (p.56).

In the attempt to provide rekvant, knowledge todance educators, it is important to maintain a bal-anced approach to conceptual content knowledge,technical content knowledge. and pedagogical con-tent knowledge. In the field of physical education,for instance, the absence of such a balance hasresulted in an alarming situation. Daryl Siedentop(1989) explains that there was a turning point inthe mid-1960s when people started to wish for amore intellectual approach to physical education.This view has resulted in a proliferation of coursesin undergraduate programs such as motor learn-ing, motor control, sport psychology, sport history,sport philosophy, exercise physiology, kinesiology,and biomechanics, allowing less time for the actualpractice of physical education. The situation now isthat physical educators are demanding programsless oriented toward the theoretical mastery ofphysiological, historical, psychological, or peda-gogical components of physical education. Theywant to restore technical content knowledge to acentral place in the curriculum. The reason is shit-*: without a minimal technical content knowl-Age, it is reasonable to think that someone cannotteach effectively. The physical education teacher ofyouth sport teams, for instance, should be able todenionstrate t.he sport activities at a level beyondthat at which the students are performing.

It is interesting to note that the broad concept ofpedagogical content knowledge meets the interestof academic di:wiplines as well as physical educa-tion or dance, hut each of them emphasizes differ-ent aspects. The concept of pedagogical contentknowledge has emerged from research on aca-demic disciplines moving the study of teachingfrom general fin''' ngs on pedagogy to particuiari-ties of the subj, matter. In physical education,this emphasis on the specific. knowledge of the sub-ject matter has driven scholars to call for programswit h better consideration of the type of knowledgethat is relevant to physical education. I nlike physi-cal education, dance has kept its focus on technicalcontent knowledge. This may have contributed tothe move away of dance from the field of physicaleducation '._!() years ago when the latter field beganto overstress its conceptual cont ent knowledge,which was a different conceptual knowledge fromthe one appropriate to t he discipline of dance.

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In the dance community, where the metaphor"the teacher as artist" is very popular, a commit-ment to the importance of consistency among tech-nical, conceptual, and pedagogical knowledgeshould be welcomed by dance researcher and ethi-cation community. Both must understand the cen-trality of pedagogical content knowledge and theconsequences of a lack of such knowledge. Theymust also understand that implicit in the concept ofa knowledge base is the premise that knowledge isconstantly in a state of evolution: it is not perceived

as static. ks flanstein (1990) expresses so well,

The increasing complexity of our societyrequires us, and the students who will shape tlwfuture, to function in tasks that demand imagi-native thinking and the ability to suggest alter-natives and formulate hypotheses. Education ingeneral, and dance education in particular,should focus on developing the ability to see theconnection between actions and their conse-quences and between means and ends, to takecognitive risks, and to extend thinking beyondthe known in order to deal effectively with whatmight be rather than with what is. (p. 57)

References

Broudy, II. S. (1977). Types of knowledge and purposesof education. In R,C. Anderson & R.J, Spiro (Eds.,Schooling and the acqu is ii Wm at knowledge.Hillsdalt., NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Buchmann, NI. (1983). The priority qf knweledge amlunderstanding in leaching. Occasional paper #61.Michigan State University Institute for Research onTeaching. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.El) 237-503).

Carnegie ('ommission Task Force. (1986). A Italian pir-pared: Teachers Or :21st century (The Report ofthe Task For(e on Teaching as a Prefession). New Thrk:Carnegie Corporation.

Chapman S. A. (1988). Shaping a new vision-Muer/a/ qfPhysical Education, Recwation aml Damw, 59(9),57

Clarkson, P (1988). Science in dance. In P Clarkson & M.Skrinar (Eds.), Scietrce of dance training (pp.17-21). Champaign. IL: Human Kinetics.

College Guide 1990-91: A directory of dance in NorthAmerican colleges and universities. (1990). [Specialissue] Dance Magazine.

Eielielberger, R. 'I'. (1989). Disciplined inquiry:Understanding awl doing ocial research. NewYork: Longman,

Frances-Fisher. E. (1989). What student choret,.;ra-phers need to know. Dance Teacher Note, 11(.1,1),

(ray. J. (198)). Dance ihslrlicl inh--Seichre applied la!he art al hhh.enh'hl. Cluunpaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

II.:nstein, P (1)90). Educating for the future: A post-modern paradigm for dance education. Journal r4Physfral Education, Recreation and Dance, 61(5),56-58.

Holmes Group. Im. (1986). Tomorrow teachers:report oftlu, Holmes (iroup. East Lansing, MI: Author

Lord, M. (1984). Enseigner avec ..mplesse uti l'art des'adapter a sa classe, Magazine Dans(' an Canada,39, 26-97.

McLaughiin, J. (1988). A stepchild comes of age.Journal (d. Physical Education, Recreation andDance59(9), 58-60.

Myers. M. (1989, Spring). Dance science and smnaticfl wiz! ion in dance training. Keynote address for theAustralian Association of Dance Education bieimialmeeting.

National Associath in of Schools of Dance. (1989, May).Infiwination Restln, VA: Author.

Peterson, P L. (1988). Teachers and studerhs' cogni-tional knowledge for classroom teaching and teaching.Educal ional Research(r 17(5), 5-1 4.

Reeves. I). .1. (1987). Learning to teach art: An integra-tive proce.ss. Design .for Arts in Educalbm, 89(1).4 1-43.

Shulman, L. (1979). Research on teaching in the arts:Review, analysis, critique. In G.L. Kneiter & J. Stallings(Eds.), The teaching prowess awl aesthetics: Tb dyeadmok on research in arts aml aesthetic educa-tion. St. Louis, MO: CEMEREL, Inc.

Shulnian, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledgegrowth in teaching. Educational Rewarchcr 15(2),

Shulman. L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching:Foundations of t he new reform. HarvardEducational Review, 57(1). 1-22.

Siedentop. I), ( 989April). rontent knot( ledgejarph //sera! education. Keynote address to (' and 1Academy Conference on the Implications of theKnowledge Base for Teaching for Teacher Education.Boston.

Witt rock, M. (Ed.). (1986). Handbook yi research ohleach i (:Ird ed.) New York: Macmillan.

Sylvie Fortin is a doctoral candidate atOhio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43202.

The author wishes to thank Daryl Siedentop, JudithKoroselk, Dixie Durn and ,Nhda Moonen lot theirsuggestions on the numuscri pt.

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Dance Education Degree Programs inColleges and Universities

Karen Clemente

This article is based upon a comprehensivenational research project eonducted during theyears 1989 and 1990. It. included surveys to collegedance departments, state departments ofeducation, and selected dance educators in thepublic schook. Though the article is primarilybased on the particular survey responses bycollege dance departments in the nation,references are made to individuals who providedinformation with regard to the larger researchproject via personal memos, letters, and phonecalls.

Dance education as an option for st.udy in highereducation loses a great deal of its appeal if jobopportunities in the field are nonexistent. The dis-continuation of college dance education programsin many states throughout the nation is becomingcommonplace. Reasons for this trend are varied.First of all, in the states granting certification,almost all distinguish dance from other areas ofstudy by stating that dance should be the secondarea of teacher certification in addition to anotherrecognked subject mei' ((ingrasso, 1987). Or, asin the case of Massachusetts, dance certification isshifting to become a fine arts certification that will,by 1993, include dance, theatre, and communica-tions. California, too, which once had dance certifi-cation, now requires that i ri"' School danceteacher must hold certific.,, aot her subjectarea, such as physical ed liberal studies.Similarly, in Minnesota, dance may only be com-bined with elementary education or theatre artscertification. Under such condit ions dance special-ist positions are not viable.

Second, in states which do hire dance specialists.few new positions have been created for thoseteachers; since dance is not mandated as a subjectfor all students in the schools, there are few job

openings in the field of public dance education. 1,()rinstance, in Wisconsin, approximately five to sixdance specialist jobs existed and these had beenfilled for a number of years. For this reason, at the1.tniversity of Wisconsin in Stevens Point, collegestudents were discouraged from pursuing a danceeducation major since, practically speaking, nojobs in public education were available (Gingrasso,personal communication, November :3, 1989).

Mary Elliott., a dance educator in Wisconsin(Orchard Ridge Elementary, Madison), stated thatthere were only two dance educators in her schoolsystem and that her physical education certifica-tion was the reason for her job assignment. She fur-ther stated that even though the Wisconsin StateBoard of Education had approved the phasing in ofone dance teacher in each elementary school, therewas no funding for such an endeavor. Also, thoughthe statewide curriculum guide had been approvedby the State Board of Education, there was noforced compliance. The Wisconsin Dance Councilwas lobbying for such a state mandate, but this par-ticular dance educator stated that the outlook wasnot. encouraging. Without mandates with regard todance education, the job prospects will remainbleak.

The dance department of the University ofSouthern Mississippi also reported via the surveythat there were few college graduates in the area ofdance education and no job opportunities.Furthermore, (ertification, which had been ineffect for ten years in Mississippi, had been lost.

Even in a certification state such as Georgia, asof 1989, no certified dance educators were workingin the public schools (Mark Wheeler, University ofGeorgia). Even though two universities in the statereported I he offering of degree programs in danceeducation, the lack of jobs in the public schoo'

mld most definitely seem to threaten the exis-

tence of such programs.

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At the University of Oregon in Eugene, dancemajors who desired jobs in public education werefaced with the reality of having to relocate to stateswith certification or to go on to get a master'sdegree and teach at a university according to JanetDescutner, Iiniversity of Oregon DanceDepartment chair, as reported in the college news-paper ((ilmore, 1989). This department was work-ing to promote dance in public education and tocreate a climate for the acceptance of dance certifi-cation in the state. It was currently providing work-shops and lecture-demonstrations to nondancespecialists in public schools. These workshopswere sponsored by the Western Oregon Institutefor the Arts and Education and by the OregonDance Associat ion. Also in t his st at.e, SharonOberst , of Western Oregon State in Monmouth,reported on t he 1989-1990 Oregon DanceAssociation Roundtable Discussion Panel, whichfocused on ways in which to enhance dance educa-tion in public schoads (Oberst, personal communi-cation, November (i,1989). These examples indi-cate the kind of networking that should be createdbetween teachers in higher education, state danceassociations, and public education if certificationand job opportunities are to be created in noncer-tification states.

Many other co dlcge dance education programssuffered from the lack ot' job opportunities avail-able in their respective states. Specifically, accord-ing to survt:y responses, at Fort. Hays St ateUniversity in Kansas, dance education courseswere om the boo)ks but not currently offered due to)lack of student interest. Likewise, in New Jersey atWilliam Paterson College in Wayne, a course in thepractice of teaching dance was dropped due to thelack of enrollment. Reasow: for such situationswere obvious in states with no teacher certificationin dance.

However, in New Jersey, a positive move in artseducat ion was reported in February 1990, byTheresa Purcell, a dance educator at BrunswickAcres Elementary School. Purcell provided infor-mation regarding the recent appointment of a 25member advisory council on arts education in New.Iersey, of which she is a member. A local newspaperreported that the council had been established tostrengthen arts education in tlw state and worktoward the achievement of arts literacy("( ooperman selects," 1990). Such an effort can heseen as a way to) develop dance educat ion programsin public schools and. subsequently, in collegedance departments.

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Another reason for the discontinuation of collegedance education degree programs in many statesmay be that dance has been viewed by state boardof education policymakers as strict':' a form ofphysical educat ion. In such st at es, dance wastaught by teachers who may have possessed cert i fi-cation in physical education but. who lacked thequalifications of a dance specialist. Particularly, inUtah and Virginia, dance was a component of thephysical educat ion program: however, in Utahdance certification was granted as well.

In Virginia, though the dance programs generallywere under physical education departments in thelocal schools, Susan Damron, of the Art s andHumanities Center of Richmo id Public Schools,reported that the center budgeted momey for a vari-ety of changing arts programs, which includeddance.

Tlw exception to) t he rule nat ionwide was thestate of North Carolina, which initiated the BasicEthication Program in 1984. This program man-dated that dance, music, theatre arts, and visualarts become a part of the required curriculum,grades K-12. Unique as this situat ion was, asrecently as I 988, there was a shortage of qualifieddance educators to teach in the public schools ofNorth Carolina. Of the four dance educators who)pnivided information regarding their dance pro-grams in North Carolina public schools (KrisCross. Wake County Public Schools, Raleigh:Barbara O'Brien, Henderson County Schools,Hendersonville: Claudette Saleeby Miller,Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Charlotte: andCindy Hoban, Apex Elementary [magnet school].Apex), all based their programs on the BasicEducation Program and the Nort Ii CarolinaStandard Course of Study (man(lated by the state).All reported direct outreach by university dancedepartments to) their programs in such areas as stu-dent teaching, teacher renewal credits, and staffdevelopment.

Changes in the way state departments of educa-tion view the certification issue will contrilmte toeither the increase or the demise of dance educa-tion programs in local school districts and subse-quently in higher education. It' dance is interpretedas a designated subjeyt area and is mandated to betaught, then the potential for jobs will hwrease,likewise. college dance education programs willexpand to meet such needs. The entire issue maybe likened to a tight ly wound and well-oiledmachine that needs the sticngth of every part for itto achieve its designated work.

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University Dance Department Survey

Responses to 1989-1990 surveys mailed tochairpersons of dance departments throughout thenation indicated the degree to which dance educa-tion was a current area of focus in college curric-ula. Surveys were mailed to all four-year privateand state colleges/universities with major and/orminor dance programs that offered at least oildance education course in their curriculum. A totalof 235 surveys were mailed; 134 comphiNI sur-veys were received, representing a 57.0% responserate. Questions were asked in the categories ()I':(a) university acceptance requirements, (b) cer-tification, (c) course work, and (d) outreach. Thefifflowing paragraphs represent the specific surveyresults.

UniveiNit y Acceptance 1?equirements

In the survey category on university acceptancerequirements, in response to the question "Doesyour college/university require that all entering stu-dents have completed a high school arts course,"20.2% (n=27) answered "yes" and 76.1% (n=102)answered "no." Approximately seven years ago,since the College I3oard had reconunended the artsas a requirement for high school graduation, thepolicy had mit become widespread enough to beincluded in most (huice department college admis-si)n requirements.

The second question in the category On admis-sion requirements addressed whether or not thedance department identified specific high schoolarts requirements to be completed prior to admis-sion into the (lance major program. Only 2.2%

=3) dance departments answered "yes."Examples listed for the required courses/areas ofstudy were music appreciation, art appreciation.and the humanities. Most wrote that previousdance t raining was required, but that this trainingwas received in private dance school sett ings. Of allrespondents. 91.0% 126) answered "no" to theabove question. Six schools listed t hat there was nodance major or at least no dance education empha-sis in their department.

( ificat ion

In the survey category On ification. the ques-tion, "In your state, is dance a certifiable subjectarca," yielded a 37.3% ( n =50) "yes" response and a59.7'1,6 (n=80) "no" response. Of the 12 statesincluded in the mailing. 13 currently granted

1:3

teacher certification in dance On either the elemen-tary or secondary levels, or both. The.se were:Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland,Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio,Rhode Island, Texas, lItah, and Wisconsin. At thetime of the survey, sonw states also indicated that

dance certification was pending or being reviewed.If the state in which the college was located

granted certification, the question was asked,"Does your department offer a dance certificationtrack?" Answers included: 17.9% (n=21) offeredan undergraduate emphasis in dance education;22.1% (n=30) offerod an undergraduate major indance education; 6.0% (n=8) offered a graduateemphasis in dance education; while 1.5% (n =0)offered a graduate major in dance education. Thesepercentages reflectNI that dance education empha-ses and/or majors were not prevalent even in statesthat offered certification, suggesting that jobopportunities in public education did not existwithin those states.

Also, there seemed to be an apparent lack ofinterest on the graduate level in the field of danceeducation. This may have been due to the lack ofdance specialist jobs in public education as well asto the practice of hiring graduates with master offine arts degrees as college teaching personnel.Therefore, those who would be apt to pursue adegree solely in the field of dance education mayhave been redirected to other degrees or fieldsbecause of the dearth in vocational demand.

Course Wmt

The third section of the survey investigateddance education course work offered in the respec-tive dance departments. Areas listed were curricu-lum development, movement analysis. philosophy/theory of teaching dance, and practice of teachingdance. Course work in the practice of teachingdance may have included One or all of the follow-ing: workshop, practicum, apprenticeship. and stu-dent teaching. Addit lonal courses that wereincluded in the category of dance education alsocould have been listed at the department's discre-tion as an "other" option.

Courses in curriculum development were offeredby :35.1% (n=17) of the departments; courses inmovement analysis were offered by 58.2% (H=78)of the departments; courses in the philosophy/theory of teaching dance were offere(I by 73.1%(n-=-98) of the departments; and courses ill thepractice of teaching dance were offered by 79.9%

( =107) of the departments. inchiding 17.2%

t;

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(n =23) in workshop, 37.3% (n=50) in practicum,28.4% (u =38) in apprenticeship, and 47.0%(n=63) in student teaching. Other courses thatwere cousidered by the departments as part of thedance education curriculum were listed as "other,"23.9% (n=32). Examples of these included intern-ships, choreography for public school students,field experience, general psychology, educat.ionalpsychology, foundations in education, special edu-cation, ideokinesis, perceptual motor, kinesioloWinjury prevention, preschool creative dance, hio-mechanics, aesthetics, dance history, rhythmicanalysis, accompaniment for movement., teachingdance activities K-12 for dhysical education anddance, and residencies. Overall, there was a highpercentage of theory and practice of teachingcourses offered, an indication that there wasenough interest to tarry such courses in the dancedepart ment curricula.

Question number two in the area of course workinquired into the number of credits a student mustcarry for either a dance education emphasis ormajor. For a dance education emphasis, numbersranged from 16 to 106 quarter hours and from 8 to150 seme.iter hours. For a dance education major.t he range was from 32 to 130 quarter hours andfrom U to 136 semester hours. Credits for minorprograms ranged from 18 to 33 both quarter andsemest er hours. One master's degree through aschool of education required 36 quarter hours. Thewide ranges depicted the varied degree to whichdance education course work was approached ineach department. even in those that respondedthey offered a dance education emphasis or majorprogram. Also. some numbers reflected only dancecourse requirements: others included all require-ments in general education courses. liberal artscourses, and dance courses.

Outivach

The last category of survey questions addressedthe dance department policy in regard to outreachto public education. In 23.9% (n =32) of theresponses, no Outreach was reported. The questionasked specifically about outreach to dance practi-tioners in the public schools. Though 66.4%tn =89) reported that outreach did occur, only in26.9% (n=36) of the cases did it occur for dancepractitioners in local school districts. Many of therespondents explained t hat no dance educationpractitioners existed in their schools: therefore.outreach was limited to lect ure-demonst rat ionsand performances for students.

In fact, all 66.4% (n=89) of those that indicatedthe practice of outreach included contact with thepublic school students themselves. Though suchoutreach is important, trying to locate dance prac-titioners, in order to offer in-service workshops aswell as to create exchange opportunities betweendance educators in public education and highereducation, becomes a top priority for creating anatmosphere for dance as part of a public school'sgeneral curriculum.

In the 26.9% (n =36) of departments that didpr( wide outreach to local dance educators, exam-ples of type of support and/or instruction included:networking to offer teacher workshops t.hrough theCalifornia Arts Project, working with an aestheticsinstitute to train classroom teachers in the arts(Colorado), giving workshops for dance educators(Connecticut.. Massachusetts, Michigan, NorthCarolina, Oregon, Texas, and Utah), meeting with asecondary education advisory committee (Illinois),offering workshops for awareness of dance as anart form and means of expression (Iowa), workingwith the Kentucky Department of Educati(m oneducating classroom teachers in creative dance(Kentucky), giving workshops through theComprehensive Arts Education and other speciallyfunded arts programs (Minnesota), giving weekendworkshops in creative movement (Montana), pro-viding for curriculum development and supervision(New York and Texas), giving staff developmentworkshops (North Carolina), coordinating arts pro-grams for phriical education teachers (Ohio), andserving a-: consultant.s for school districts begin-ning (lance programs, as well as serving on an Artsas Basic Curriculum project steering committee(South Carolina).

Table 1 highlights percentages of the above find-ings in regard to the areas of course work and out-reach to public education by college/universitydance educators. The table indicates that thoughcourse offerings in dance education are common-place, the existence of dance certification educa-tion tracks is low. The lack of job prospects may beseen as a deterrent to attaining dance certification.

The table also shows the difference in the occa-sion of (mtreach to public school students (66.4%of all respondents) as opposed to that for publicschool educators (26.9% of all respondents). Thedifference may indicate !hat there is not enoughinterest and/or time on the part of college/univ, Ni-t): dance educators or by public school dance edu-cators to initiate sudi outreach. It may also indi-cate a lack of support by public schooladministration. This especially may be the case

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Table 1. College/University Dance Department Percentages withRegard to Course Work and Outreach to Public Education

Category

Dance Certification track

Percentage (1

of respondents

Undergraduate emphasis 17.9 24

Undergraduate major 22.4 30

Graduate emphasis 6.0 8

Graduate major 4.5 6

Course workCurriculum development 35.1 47

Movement analysis 58.2 78

Philosophy/Theory of teaching dance 73.1 98

Practice of teaching dance: 79.9 107

Workshop 17.2 23

Practicum 37.3 50

Apprenticeship 28.4 38

Student teaching 47.0 63

Other 23.9 32

OutreachTo public school students 66.4 89

To public school educators 26.9 36

Total number ot respondents in the surveyquestion.

134, n = number ot respondents per

with regard to funding for outreach, includingfinancial support. for dance educator workshopsand staff (levelopment course work through col-leges/universities in the particular states.

Summary and Recommendations

The survey results reveal that college dance edu-cation programs are declining throughout thenation. Reasons are varied, hut most likely theseinclude: I) the lack of job opportunities in a stateupon the completion of dance education degrees;2 ) the lack of state mandates for dance educationin public schools; :3) the trend toward combiningdance with other subject areas for the purpose ofcert ificat ion; and I) a state board of educationpractice that considers dance as a component ofphysical education rather than as a subjeM area inits own right.

Even though dance education degree emphasesare reduced in nuntlwr, in philosophy, dance educa-tion continues to be viewed wit h importance by col-lege dance faculty and students alike. This idea isreflected by the presence of course work in thetheory and practice of teaching dance in approxi-mately 77% of the survey respondents. Such find-ings indicate tlw perceived significance of danceeducation as a field of study even when lack of cer-tification andJor job opportunities are detrimentalto its growth.

Wit h these survey results in mind, those whobelieve in the power of dance education shouldbegin to lobby with more determination at the stateboard of education level for dance programs in thepublic schools as well as for dance certification.Furthermore, greater networking between publicschool dance educators and professors in highereducation is needed. Two specific projects thatwould bring together dance educators for the goalof increased dance education programs in the pub-lic schools are described here.

State Dance Implementation StrategyProject

Based upon the ident ificat ion of dance educationleaders from the areas of higher education andpublic education in each state provided by theresearch study, it %link! be possible to develop anindividual state dance education implementationproject to bring together state arts representatives.state education officials, state college/universitydance department professors, intermediate unitpersonnel, and local school district eclucat ors withinterests in dance. The project would involve thedevelopment of dance education programs as partof the state's general curriculum. Issues such as t heintegration of dance with other arts or other sub-ject areas, the regu lar o fferi ng of dance as an artis-tic experience within physical education programs,

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the dance curriculum, and scheduling and facilitiesfor dance Would be addressed.

lii the first phase of the project, the above issueswould be discussed in terms of their appropriate-ness for specific school districts in the state, whichmaild, in turn, become model programs for otherdistricts. Further, procedures for Unplementationof dance education in each school district repre-sented would lw discussed. Second, aft.er havingarrived at a suitable context for danc( educationwithin identified school districts, the network ofindividuals brought together would develop a strat-egy for the int egration of dance education pn)-grams in the state with the goal of instituting dancein as many school districts as possible wit Inn at hree-year period.

These strategies could address all or some of thefollowing structural possibilities: state graduationrequirements in the arts satisfied by a dance com-ponent (dance ati a (listinct subject area); danceeducation implementation via physical educationprograms; and dance education implementation asone area of study in a fine arts curriculum. Fonliswould also be placed (at policies for hiring danceeducation personnel where no state dance teachercertification exists and methods for training teach-ing personnel currently in place.

State Teacher Certification Project inDance Education.

The purpose of t he state certification projectwould be to develop a plan in order to lobhy t owardseparate/distinct teacher certification in dance.The potential participants. who would become a

state certification committee, would include inter-ested dance educators such as college/universityprofessors, local school district dance educators,companion personnel in (lramaJtheatre education,and college students in the field of danceeducation.

The plan would include the following steps:1) the development of a rationale for dance educa-tion in the state's core curriculum; 2) a review ofnational and/or statewide field test studies of dancecurriculum implementation followed by a revisionpr(Wess of state curriculum/curricular guidelinesfor the arts/dance based on field studies; ;3) theselection of a spokesperson( s) for dance educationcertification in the state; ,1) the creation of a posi-tion paper by the spokesperson(s) to be deliveredto st.at education officials; 5) the review and revi-sion of the position paper by the state certificationcommittee; and 6) the development of a strategyfor the presentation of the position paper at a certi-fication hearing with education officials at the statelevel.

As a result of this project, based on the commit-tee's rati,%nale statement and the results of thenational or statewide field studies in dance educa-tion implementation, dance would be more fullyperceived as a necessary subject area in public edu-cation. Subsequently, the need for qualified teach-ers potentially would facilitate the certification ofteachers in dance.

Similar projects have been initiated in manystates and are needed in all of the states so that thefield of dance educationespecially with regard topublic schools. but likewise, higher educat kmgrows stronger in the future.

References

Cooperman selects 2r) to serve as arts educatnin advi-sors. (1990, February 2). Th( Times. p.

Gilmore. 13. (198)). Dancing students not nipping over,job outlook. The Emerald, I Inivvrsity of Oregon.

Gingras:,o, S. 11. (1987). Dance education certification:Current status and significance. Orsigii for Arts it?[At/cot/op!, ). 11 3).

Karen Clemente teaches dance in the Department ofPhysical Education and Health Science at Eastern College,

St. Davids, Pennsylvania 19087.

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Prospects for Planned Changein Dance Education

Francine Lee Morhi

Over the past three decades, arts educators :WOscholars have used a variety of written and verbalforums to express the need for change in 5(111ails programs. The prominent recurring themeenvisions a transformat ion from t he t raditional stu-dio emphasis in arts education to a sequential,comprehensive aesthetic education, more recentlylabeled discipline-based arts education. This move-ment is founded upon the structures of arts disci-plines and contemporary visions of aesthetics andhuman cognition. Reformed curricula in the ailsalill at balancing perceptual and conceptual fundsof information, performance and technical skills,and creative and analytical facilities for all stu-dents. There are concerns for interdisciplinary artslearning and approaching instruction in a moreserious and rigonnis manner. Current dance educa-tion literature clearly demonstrates this shift awayfrom a product itm focus in curriculum thinking( (' hap ma n-Il ilse ndage r. 1989; Cote.-Laurence.1989; George, 1989; Gray, 1989; llowe. 1989;Morin. 1988; National Dance Association, 1988).

Education is continually in need of plannedchange in order to improve curriculum and instruc-tion and to respond to the reform initiatives thatemerge within the professional community.Current professional commentaries and profil"s of'dance education (4ferings suggest that change ishighly desirable, Inn continues to be an overridingproblem in the field. Sarah Ilifsendager (1990)describes present practices within American tdu-cat ion: "There are thousands of teachers in publicand private education who continue to teach danceas they were taughtas an isolated act iv0 limitedto the mastery of discrete movement skills- (p.Although there are multipl factors exerting influ-ence on the change process in any social system.this article focuses on one key factor in schooldance reform higher education.

The key entry point for educational change isteat-her preparation and the continuing educationof teachers. Reports put forward by the HolmesGroup (1986), Carnegie Thsk Force on Teaching asa Profession (1986), and the National ('ommissionfor Excellence ill Teacher Educatnin (1985) con-firm this point and hint that present mechanismsfor our professional work with teachers might beweak. Teacher educators in thc dance recognizethis problem and call ftir a reexamination of cur-rent practice (Gray, 1989; Gingrasso, 1987;Hilsendager, 1990; Mad. 1990). A representativecomment is made by James IJndercoller (1987):"Colleges and universities need to make a ctnnpleterevision of their arts education curricula. Onlythrough the training of preservice ttachers and theongoing training of inservice t tachers can realchange be effected" (p. 30).

Aking with the initial devekipment of theoreticaland practical guidelines for aesthetic arts educa-tion, the realities of daily teaching and teacher.needs would logically make it imperative t.hat highquality mechanisms for teacher education beworked out. Bernard Rosenblatt and Rene Michel-Trapaga (1975) point out, howevet, that severalyears ago teacher education in aesthe!ic educationwas either completely ignored or attempted half-heartetfly. They state: "The responsibility of educat-ing and informing teachers, administrators. andthe community ha s. been passed off from agency toagency like the proverbial waifnone claimingtotal stewardship, yet everyone expecting g.ceatresults at the end" (p. '11). Foremost in the litera-ture is the chticism that teachers have not beenhelped to change t iihnigh appropriate teacher edu-cation experiences (Cour(ney. 1979: Hamblen,1983: Karel, 1966; [ndercotler, 1987; Wilson,1989).

The importance that dance teachers themselv('s

51)

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be aesthetically sensitive products of discipline-based dance education programs at the universitylevel must be stressed. To this end, Brent Wilson(1989) criticizes higher education by stating that"the variation in quality and breadth of preparationof teachers in the arts approaches a national scan-dal" (p. :33). Judith Gray (1989) and SusanGingrasso (1987) attest to the problem of dancethat is taught by educators drawn from distinctgroupings who possess different degrees of teachertraining, expertise, and interest in the subject.These indicators point to the actuality that univer-sities and colleges in North America have not keptpace with the changes necessary to) instruct teach-ers how to use aesthetic theory to guide action inschools (11ohnes, 1986; Reimer, 1989).

A Concept

The typical undergraduate dance program stilltends to emphasize technical skills and the com-partment alization of subject matters. SarahIlilsendager (1990) describes the state of teachereducation in dance as philosophically barren andperformance-centered. She states that "withindance departnwnts the trend has shifted towardperformance, choreography, criticism, history andethnology as fields of study; teacher preparationhas not kept. pace" (p. 25). It follows then, that uni-versities turn out graduates who might have had acursory introduction to aesthetics, so perhapsbelieve in the principles of an aesthetic, discipline-based education and can speak on superficial levelsabout the notion, but are unable to teach it effec-tively because their professors fall back into tradi-tional modes of teaching in applied classes and sodo not demonstrate the concept. It is not surpris-ing, since graduates are left t.o their Own devices,that our whole concept of dance in schools is basedon performance.

A national inquiry into arts education in Canadaprovided evidence that even the certification yearthat arts teachers typically take in a faculty of edu-cation is problematic. According to RichardCourtney (1979), during this year the student haslittle opportunity for methods training in dance. Indescribing teacher preparation in American danceeducation Ililsendager ( 1990) reports t hat lessthan 7 percent of those institutes of higher educa-tion offering dance programs list pract ical teachingexperiences in public school settings. The methodscourse and st udent teaching practicum can andshould provide current reformed views for studentteachers to emulate, but in the case of dance (Aiwa-

.18

tion it seems as though they do not. Our inductionprograms produce novice teachers who enter theclassroom with a fragmented knowledge of danceas a discipline, a brief and theoretical introductionto an aesthetic education or discipline-based artseducation philosophy, and little comprehension ofhow to integrate the two in practice.

Graduate students in arts education. particularlythose who teach full-time, also express dissatisfac-tion wit.h the lack of practicality and usefulness ofcourse work in their teaching (Stencel, 1988). Agraduate degree program is often perceived as"consisting of courses that. are theoretical andabstract, or completely unrelated to individualteaching needs and professional goals" (p. 11).This perception is due to two basic problems. First,like their undergraduate counterparts, graduatestudents rarely have the opportunity to see reformideas discussed in a university seminar put intoclassroom practice. Second, the limitations ofmany graduate department offerings result in theneed for arts teachers to select courses necessaryto finish programs whether or not these courses arerelevant to their individual teaching responsibili-ties. It can be seen, then, that teacher educators inthe arts espouse aesthetic or discipline-based phi-losophies for arts educators, but either leave theseideas in a vague and unstructured form or contra-dict them by adhering to traditionalism in theirpractical work with future teachers. This hasresulted in the continual dominance of the studiomodel in school arts programs, which has set inmotion a perpetual inhibitor of necessary change.

Immediate improvement and change can only beimplemented by inservice arts teachers who are infrequent contact with large numbers of students. Itis for this reason that professional development isthat level of teacher education that tends to take onthe burden of sustaining and shaping new move-ments. It is considered by many authorities as themost crucial element in the reformation and con-tinual Unprovement of arts education (('ourtney etal., 1985; Glidden. 1989; lIoad, 1990; MartinRoss, 1988; Rtimer, 1989).

The continuing education of dance oNtchers is acrucial function of higher education and will alwaysbe needed as new philosophies and methods pert i-nem to curriculum and instruction in the field arebronight forth. Teachers require avenues of enlight-enment regarding such topics as new advances indance, new areas of specialty in dance teaching, orcontemporary issues affecting dance, the arts, andeducation. It is also important to ponder the factthat most dance teachers have a potential career

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life of more than forty years. It would be totallyunreasonable to expect that a preparation programcould possibly equip a dance educator for all thenew and changing situations that would undoubt-edly need to be confronted during that time span.In addition, some writers have collected statisticalevidence suggesting that the average age of prac-ticing arts teachers is increasing (Guskey, 1986;McLaughlin, 1988; Rosenblatt & Michel-Trapaga,1975). This only compounds the need for profes-sional development as the most appropriate meansfor renewing the expertise of dance educators andpotentially influencing change.

The impotence of much of the professionaldevelopment efforts used for teachers of the arts isattributable not so much to teachers resistance tochange as to the ineffectiveness of the modelsused. One-shot workshops, training without techni-cal assistance or follow-up, top-down plans,courses unrelated to classroom experiences, diffu-sion of products, isolationism, lack of attention tovac her perceived needs, and so on have little

impact because they are not designed to provideconditions for professional change and adult learn-ing to occur (Meyers, 1988; Morin, 1990). It isinteresting to note that many of the scholars in artseducation have been preoccupied with producingmajor learning theories for children but have notyet concentrated on producing a major statementon how arts teachers might learn and change(c(mrtney et al., ;185). Although we have a fewexploratory projects in place, there is no evidenceof any mutually shared or supported foundation forI he professional development of arts educators.

The need for research and development into thefoundati(ms of professional development of artseducators has been established by authorities suchas Kathryn Martin and Jerrold Ross (1988) andMichael Andrews (1983). Roy Edelfelt (1979),expert On professional development and arts teach-ing. addresses the issue:

The teacher involved in any type of instruction,including staff development. should have somefoundatMn for teaching, in addition to havingcompetence in the content to tw taught. By"foundation" I mean a Intsc on which instruc-t tonal behavior can bk` bUilt, Ideally a foundationconsists of notions about psychology, temperedby One's Own philosophy of education. Such afoundation should be defensible, reasonable.consistent based On solid thinking. and flexible.It should provide direction in all teaching situa-tions. It should be clear enough to provide posi-tive &feet ion and yet not be restricted by a nar-row interpretation that might dictatestereotyped thinkipg Or teaching. fp.

-19

Professi(mal development expert Michael Milian(1987) establishes the point that regardless of theapproach to our work with inservice teachers,foundational knowledge about change is also nec-essary. He said: "nntil we understand that stdevelopment is change, and that everything weknow about what change is and how it occurs iscritical to any approach, we will continue to wasteresources, to create false expectations, and to sus-tain the confusion and frustration that surroundsstaff development" (p. 214). Rita Irwin's (1988)research findings also suggest that arts educationconsultants and supervisors need knowledge ofcurriculum change strategies in planning profes-sional development experiences for teachers intheir school divisions.

A New Model for Professionals

Given that forces such as internal dissatisfaction,he socio-political mood, and climate of support for

arts education are currently mot ivating positivechange in dance education, this writer speculatesthat much of the problem of reform is due to weakmodels of teacher education at all levels. Based onthe information gathered and considered by thisauthor in a study completed in 1990, it is believedthat the success of planned change depends on pro-viding dance teachers with opportunities to learnunder the guidance of higher education leaderswho are able to provide optimal conditions forfacilitating and sustCning professional change. Apotential solution to the problem of reform at theschool level in dance education is offered in FigureI , a new model of professional development that .integrates and applies knowledge of past practice,adult learning, and the process of change.Although it is not within the scope of this paper toprovide readers with the detailed discussions con-tained in the main report., a synoptic account of thefindings can be given. Essentially, the model con-sists of a sequence of three main components,which incorporate features that were found to beconsistently associated with the potential for suc-cessful educational and teacher transformations.

Effective professional development programsare the product of meticulous and decentralizedplanning. Compmwnt 1: Caopciat ire Planning.far Chanw: Thc Conli,renrc Luperience st ressesthat important inputs are the unique orientationsthat dance educators, both as a target group and asindividuals, bring to the professi(mal developmentexperience. Good programming depends on a well-conceived plan of action emanating from the criti-

rt 9

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Figure 1. Composite illustration of a professional development model for pianned change in arts education.

COMPONENT 1COOPERATIVE PLANNING FOR CHANGE

THE CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE

1. Analysis ofGroup Orientations

2. Individual NeedsAssessment

3. Mutual Exploration of GroupNeeds and Planned Changes

Development ofKnowledge Base

1 5. Development of Group andIndividual Objectives

COMPONENT 2PREPARING FOR PLANNEC CHANGE:THE SEMINAR-BASED EXPERIENCE

1. Demystifying New Theory

2. Translating Theory to Practice

3. Transition to Skill Development

4. Transferring to IndividualClassroom Experience

COMPONENT 3OPERATIONALIZING AND MAINTAINING

PLANNED CHANGE:

THE POST-SEMINAR EXPERIENCE

1. Implementing ActionResearch Plans in Classrooms

2. Monitoring and AssessingPlanned Change

3. Reinforcing andImproving Planned Change

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cal reflection and self-direction of teacher partici-pants. Dance educators should be provided withopportunities to plan cooperatively with leaders,negotiate desired changes, articulate a concisebase of essential knowledge, and establish cleargroup and individual objectives. Motivation shouldrely on the intrinsic rewards of progress towardsuperior group achievements and individual careergoals.

The eventual generalization of desired reforms indance education demands a continuing educationexperience that goes beyond the traditional one-day workshop model. Dance teachers need inten-sive seminar training which recognizes the distinctgradations from learning new knowledge and skillsto the independent application of these as dis-played in Componvnt 2: Preparing ,fiir PlannedChange: The Seminar Experience. Strategiesshould be designed to deal with the special chal-lenges of illuminating change ideas via modelingmethodologies, modifying the habitual practiceand belief systems of participants, and solvingproblems related to the adult ego. Opportunitiesshould he offered for continuous evaluation, peersupport and dialogue, and exploring and develop-ing materials that address context-specific needs.Dance tea( hers should work under sheltered condi-tions on problems of individual concern connect-ing the seminar in meaningful ways to the realitiesof the school.

Component .3: Opera( ng andMaintaining Planned Change: The Post-Sem iiia r Experience addresses the overriding

problem of sustenance common to reform effortsin the arts. The promise of enduring change callsfor a professional development program thatencompasses a component essentially based in theschool. A period of trial and experimentation withchange ideas will facilitate the reception of criticalfeedback about student learning that is so neces-sary for teacher change. Continued on-site supportand technical assistance beyond the seminar train-ing will help dance teachers persist with changeefforts and tolerate occasional disappointments.Practitioners attempting to internalize change needto be further nourished by relevant follow-up work-shops, collaboration with peers, and appropriateforms of written cc ituunication.

This paper sought to explore the critical connec-tion between higher education and planned changein dance education. It was argued that presentmodels of teacher education are falling short ofmeeting the challenges confronted by the reforminitiatives of dance educators and their colleaguesin other arts disciplines.

The writer has suggested that the most direct andpromising route to facilitating and sustainingreform in dance education is through inserviceteachers. Since higher education is responsible foroffering programs to both prospective and practic-ing teachers, there is an obligation for leaders ofthese institutions to explore alternate, more potentprofessional development opportunities that aredesigned in light of the conditions necessary tohelp the present danc(' teaching force embracechange.

References

Andrews. M. D. (1983). Designing an arts educationcourse for elementary teachers, Jou (1. CreutBeha r ha; 1 7(3), I 75-180.

Carnegie Task Force on Teaching . a Profession (I 98(i).nal ion !)?'ept ou ; That:hers .fia: the 2 st cent ot

lyattsville, MD: Carnegie Forum on Education and theEconomy.

Chapniandlilsen(Iager, S. (198)). 1 inder the hig hop:Dance Murat ion wows towards a nen: era . Heston,\ A: National Dance Assuciation, American Alliance forleah fi, Physical Education, Recroation and Dance.

COte.Latirence, E. (1989). In pursuit of dance literacy.C-1/IPER .10i4 rnal, 5.5(-1), 2-3.

Courtn(y, k (Ed.). ( 1979). The jaw of the Int 14 re: 7'heI 1.00 (of the mot halal inquiry int() 0 rt s a ont uca-1 ion in Canada. Ottawa, ON: ('anadian Conference ofthe Arts.

Courtney. K., Booth. Emerson. J., & Kirmni('h, N.(1)85) Teacher rd urat ion n the its. Sharon, ON:Bison Books

5 I

Edelfelt, R. A. ( 197) ). Staff development and teaching inthe arts. In G.L. Knieter & .1. Stallings (Eds.), Theteach ing process and a rl s and aes1 het ics (pp.129-117). St. Louis. MO: ('EMREL.

Fullan, M. (11)87). Impienienting the implementationplan. In M.F. Wideen & I. Andrews (Eds.);tulfderc/-opment .1(11 SehMil ill1ProVelM'll : .10(11.5 (on theteacher (pp. 21:3-222). Philadelphia, PA: FahnerPress.

George, L. NI. (Ed.). (1)89), [Special issue on dance].CAIIPER Jon rn(ll, 550).

Gingrasso, S. IL (1987). Dance ethication certification:Current status and significance. Desiqm.for Arts i

ucat S9(I),Glidden, K. (1989). The K-I 2. arts agenda: Next chal-

lenges for higher oducat am. Pt's/fp/ for Arts i 11

ucat I ), I I -ItGray, .1. A. (1989). Da tire i roctirm: Science applied

to t a rt of moo ewe tot . Champaign, IL: HumanKinetics.

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Guskey, T, R. (1986). Staff developnwnt and t he processof teacher change. Edurationa/ Ixadership, 15(5),5-12.

Hamblen, K. A. (1983). An update On aesthetic educa-tion: Implications for teacher education. Thu clu'rEducation Quarterly, 1(2), 52-71.

Hilsendager, S. (199()). In transition-American danceeducation. CANPER Journ(,l, 561 I ), 24-27.

!load, S. (1990). Dance in t he ( iitext of Canadianschools. CAHPEI? Journal, 56(I ), 20-23.

Holmes Group. (1986). Tomorrow's teachers: A reportof the Holmes Group. East Lansing, MI : I folnwsGroup.

Ilowe, D. S. (1989). At t he crossroads: The NationalDance Association in the 1990's, Design .fin. Arts inEducation, 90(5), 44-47.

Irwin, R. L. (1988). The practical knowledge of a fine artssupervisor in educational change: A case study.Dissertation abstract (I T.B.( '.) CSSE News. XV( 7&8),5,

Karel, L. C. (1966). Teacher education 'n the related arts.Music Educators Journal, October, 38-41.

Martin, K. A., & Ross, J. (1988). Developing profession-als for arts education. In J. T. McLaughlin (Ed.),Thward a new era in al.'s Mutation (pp. 30-421.New York: Ainerican (')uncil for the Arts.

McLaughlin, J. (1988). Art.; educatnm and school person-nel: Renewal and retraining. Design .for Arts inrducal am, 89(3), 31-34.

Meyers, 1). E. (1988). The role of higher education in life-long arts learning. Dosifitt for Arts in Education,89(6), :37-42.

Morin, E L. (1988). Psychological and curricula ?limn-dations.for elemento ry dance education. Edina, MN:Burgess.

Morin, E L. (1990)..4 professional development model,for planned change in arts education. Ilnpublisheddoctoral dissertation, University of North Dakota.(Available from University Microfilms International).

National Commission fot Excellence in TeacherEducation. (1985). A call jar change in teacher edcat ion, Washington, DC: American Association ofColleges for Teacher Education.

National Dance Association. (1988). Dance curriculayodel in('s 11;.-12 Reston, VA: National DanceAssociation.

Reimer, B. (1989). Music education as aesthetic educa-tion: Toward the future. Music Educators Journal,75(7), 26-32.

Rosenblatt, B. S., & Michel-Trapaga, R. (1975). Throughthe teacher to the child: Aesthetic education for teach-ers. Council for Research in Mnsic EducationBulletin, 43, 36-49.

Stencel, P L. (1988). The value a nd y (?/ one).-inglichl-based eon I'M'S as components qf 11111,51CrS

degree program in music edurat ion jOr in-service/ca ch yrs: The development of I wo models.Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University ofRochester. (I1niversity Microfilms International OrderNo. 8814819).

I Tndercofler, J. G. (1987). An argument for a new collegearts education curriculum. Design .for Arts inEducat am, 88(3), 30-31.

Wilson, B. (1989). Reformation an(I responsibilities: Amenu) to members of the arts education establishment.Design jOr Arts EthleOtiOn, 90(5), 27-35,

Franc.ne Lee Morin is a member of the Paculty ofEducation at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg,

Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2.

5') rt)

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Afrocentric Forms in 20th CenturyAmerican Dance History: Transforming

Com-se Content and the CurriculumJulie A. Kerr

Denial of the Afrocentric Presencein Dance

Many approaches 10 teaching dance history andrelated coursework in higher education reflect aEurocentric bias. Often, c(turse content and themanner in which it is disseminated stiffer from theomission, unconscious or otherwise, of certain fig-ures, conditions, and events, denying the influenceof West Africa on 20th century dance. According to!Nolen Asante (1988), an advocate of multiculturalliteracy and educational reform, and chair ofAfrican-American Studies at Temple University, thecurriculum and its designers arc "trapped in theirmonocult ural paradigms" (p. 20). Ile furt herstated:

denial and Omission are two of the mostpotent forces in the arsenal of those whowould re-write the historical record to suitthe ethnocentric conventions of thetime.. . . Too often Eurocentrism hasbecome an authentic ethnocentric view ineducation. The result is that many peoplewho declare that hey arc educated areshocked to find that what they have learnedis only a part of the human reality and ise(ho:ply not synonymous with humanexperict (. (1) :?.1)

This is iii (I suggest t hat western European his-tory is invalid. Rather. t his author argues that tilliciworld persp et ives, previously denied and/or omit-ted. need to be incorporated into the curriculum.'

Similarly, teaching (lance hisiory suffers front thesante denial and/or omission of African-American(lancers and choreographers whose vont ributninsalso have shaped the develoPment of 20t h centurydance. Afrocentric forms have influenced Americiindance since the time Africans were transplanted oAnterican soil through I he transatlantic slave trade.

5:1

Robert Farris Thompson, African art hist orian(1984), stated:

Since the Atlantic slave trade, ancientAfrican organizing principles of song anddance have crossed the seas from the OldWorld to the New. There they took on newmomentum, intermingling with each ()tilerand with New World or European styles ofsinging and dance. (p. xiii)

In a recent article, Brenda Dixon (1990 [akaDixon-Stowell]) examined the magnitude of theAfrocentric basis in Ante: an dance. She stated:

What is unacknowledged is da. gerous!Reclaiming the Afrocentric tradition in theAmerican dancing body means identifying theAfrocentric heritage in American dance byblacks AND whites, and acknowledging thebroad significance of this tradition in Americanculture and Anwrican dance. WE NEED TOMAKE MAINSTREAM WHAT HAS BEENINVISIBIUZED BY THE MAINSTREAMEIJROCENTRIC HISMRICAL ERAMII?EAFRICAN.PASED INFLUENCES IN 01 TR(171:11.fRE. (p.

Dixon'.s point is well taken. The development of20th century dance history is a shared historybetween people of all colors. To deny the contribu-tions of one people only diminishes and limnseveryone's perspective and understanding of theglobal society we have become.

A Eurocentric bias also occurs on a more subtleand systemic level in overall curricular design bycompartmentalizing content that is non-WesternEuropean into separate units. Conse-uently, suchcontent is isolated and fails to become integratedinto :All interrelated and intercultural whole. Thisprocedure is referred to by James Banks, advocateof multicultural curriculum. reform, as the"Cont ribut ions Approal IC an.; was a popular

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Right: Dunham dancer SyvillaFord. From Caribe, Vol. VII, No. 3,

edited by Diane L. .lones.

method utilized in t he 19(iOs to incorporate ethniccontent into curricul(Im (Hanks, 1988).

An approach that minimizes the limitations of thecontribut ion method is 1 he "TransformativeApproach.- In t h i s approach. flanks (1988) con-tends the key issue is not the simple addition of eth-nic content. "but the infusion Of various perspec-tives. frames of reference. and content fromvarious groups that will extend students' under-standings Of the nature. development and com-plexity of U.S. society" (p.

Banks' approach can be ttpplied to the teachingof dance history. Vol example, by utilizing his perspect ivy, the work of Katherine Dunham. ArthurMitchell. or Alvin Ailey does not comprise a stipa-

Left: Harriette Ann Gray-1938,Humphrey Weidman. From Timeand the Dancing Image,Deborah Jowitt (University ofCalifornia Press, Berkeley,1988), p. 173.

I..

A.

rate unit on African-American concert dance art-ists. Rather. t hese figures and their works are inte-grated into coarse content and discussed relative tot heir European-American counterparts. In this way.students perceive 1 he contribution of .African-American artists to American concert dance asbeing equivalent to t he corn mullions of MarthaGraham, George Balanchine. and Paul Taylor.'Onsequent ly. hut It African-American and

European-American concert dance art ists areapproached relative to their movement techniquesand philosophy as well ts their social. polit ical. andhistorical context.

lii ti recent art irk'. Joan I'iso5cli-Sclir6i1cr (1991)deScrihed lic role dance educators and artists xviII

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play in revitalizing traditional approaches to dance.The outcome will ultimately broaden students def-inition of dance. She stated:

A fresh self-examination will translai.e withpower into our presence as dance artistsand educators. By examining the content ofand ways in which we teach, we stand toinvigorate ourselves, broaden the kluiwl-edge of our field and our world. and stimu-late fresh approaches to learning, and cre-ating new scholarship. Dance educatorscan address the challenges of the twenty-first century with knowledge, experience,and a heritage of diversity. We have withinour discipline the opportunity to offer stu-dents a uniquely integrated perception ofpluralism. (p. 62)

Clearly. 20th century dance is the product of aniultitude of cultural influencesincluding Asian,European, Native American, and West African.Ilowever, the Afrocentric presence has, to a greatextent, been denied, particularly in concert dance.This mindset or attitude is reflected in how we, asdance educators, perceive and teach dancebothin the classroom and studio. If we reexamine andsubsequently rechart the development Of 20th cen-tury dance history, what arises is the existence ofAfrocentric forms thianighout its evolution. Theapplication of this perspective would transcend theteaching of dance history exclusively; it also trans-fers to courses in dance appreciation. criticism,aesthetic's and philosophy, composition. and event echnique.

The Evolution of American DanceHistory from an Afrocentric Perspective

Througlunit the past century Afrocentric formshave been woven into American en Lure where theyproduced new forms. Afrocentrisms are particu-larly prevalent in both the visual and performingarts in varying degrees (Dixon. 1990).

John Golding (.1968) credits the African influ-ence in the work of such Cubist artists as Picasso,Braque, Derain, and Matisse. Ile stated that theywere undoubtedly influenced by African masks andstatues, particularly in the construction and use ofspace and in the artists' treatments of formal ele-ments of the body.' (It is worth noting that thesesame properties, at t able to an African aes-t het ic. greatly affected the modern danceaest het ie. )

When jazz music emerged, it represented thefusion of European musical traditions with WestAfrican. This occurred through the use of syncopa-

55

tion, iniprovisatbni, call and response, and poly-rhyt hmic arrangements that mark the African influ-ence in jazz (Thompson, 1984). These sameelements have continued to inform American musi-cal forms such as gospel, rhythm and blues, rock'n' roll, and, most recently, rap.

Twentieth century American dance history hasbeen influenced by Afnicentric forms. These formscan be identified by examining movement content,di oreographic theme, and aest hetic principles.The folhming section attempts to document theev(ilut ion of 20th century dance history throughselect ed examples of the Afro centric presencetherein. (There are several recent publications thataddress this in greater depth. See the selected bibli-ography Of s(nirces.)

Plantation to Street Dances

As a result of the transatlantic slave trade,African-bas( ,1 movement patterns and iwrf(wm-ance traditions were retained and diffused intoAmerican culture where they affected the deve;qp-ment of American dance. Through a complicatedprocess of cross-fertilization and secularization,plantation dances of the southern United Statesevolved into America's popular dance. As Africanand then African-American based dances, they per-meated American culture and produced such socialforms as the Charleston, the jitterbug. the lindy,and disco. Many of these dances form the basis ofjazz dance (Stearns & Stearns, 1968). An exampleof how jazz has retained elements of African-baseddance forms is through the isolation of body parts.The isolation of body parts remained one of thedefining features that links jazz to African dance.Through history, this (lenient has been retained inthe "body- of American folk (African-American)and social/popular dance through various transfor-mations leading up to jazz dance.

Today, street dancing, a contribution from ournation's inner cities. is an example of the fusion ofAfrican culture with European. In the southernUnited Stat es, buck dancing. a product of planta-tion culture, emerged among African-Amoricans.'Buck dancing was then transplanted to the indus-trial north when African-Americans left the ruralsouth in search of better job opportunities. Onceon city streets. it merged with the Irish jig andEnglish clog to produce tap. Tap combined synco-pated t ime and subtle body isolat ions characterist lcof African dance and music with qui('k l'()otworkcharacteristic of the Irish jig and English clog. Thestreet corner became a viable environment for the

5 :J

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fusion If these forms and the continual develop-ment of tap.

Rap is another form that emerged from thestreets. Because of the interrelationship betweenAfrican dance and vocal/rhythmic music, it is par-ticularly worth noting the similar interchange thatoccurs between rap vocalists and their dancers.'This interrelationship is apparent in the dancerswho often accompany many rappers. As popularforms, these dances are not only partially African-derived but also draw from a host of other danceforms. Consequently, they are constantly redefin-ing and reinterpreting themselves to produce newforms. In both of these examples, the dancers'movement repertoire resembles a mixture ofAfrican dance. the Nicolais Brothers of the 1930sand 1940s. and concert dance idioms such as jazzand ballet. The ballet vocabulary is often incorpo-rated into these dances through the use of pirou-ettes (both en (ledans and en dehors) that are per-formed fr(un a parallel position in plie. From thisperspective, the street informs the concert stage asthe concert stage informs the street.

Concert awl Popular Stage

Considered by many to be a "purely- Europeanart form, the world of classical ballet has also beeninfluenced by Afrocentric forms. Dixon (1990)noted that George Balanchine's early choreo-graphic career began on the Broadway stage wherehe came in direct contact with African-Americanpopular dances and African-American entertainersand performers such as the Nicolais Brothers andKatherine Dunham.

As a result of such experiences. Balanchineincorporated jazz-based movement into his balletvocabulary that manifested itself in the use of amobile spine and subsequently affected the place-ment of the hips. Particularly in his neoclassic bal-lets. Balanchine utilized jazz by allowing the hips togo off-center, for example. in the form of a sidelunge into a parallel seconde position initiated bythe hips. Because of the verticality of the classicalballet spine. Balanchine's displacement of the hipsdeparted dramatically fr(un that tradition. ArthurMitchell, former principal dancer with the NewYc irk City Ballet and current director of the DanceThwit "e of Harlem, stated that Balanchine was veryint :igued with jazz-based movement (Pierangeli.1989). Further, Balanchine often ventured into theNew York City night club scene during the 1930st hrough the 1950s to extract jazz-based movementmat erhd from the perforfliance5 he saw. Ile then

5()

incorporated these into his ballets. Mitchell citedsuch Balanchine works as Four Temperaments(1946) and/Won (1957) to exemplify the jazz influ-ence in his work (Pierangeli, 1989).

Another American ballet choreographer to incor-porate jazz in his ballets was Jerome Robbins.Evidence of this is in the work Fancy Free (1944)in which he not only utilized the jazz dance idiombut also musical forms such as the blues and Latin-based rhythms (Siegel, 1979). The final solo sec-tion of Fano Free was set to a Latin beat. Whilethe music is, in part, African-based, so is much ofthe movement Robbins incorporated. Many of theLatin dances, such as the rumba or the mambo, areba.sed on extensions of African rhythms and move-ment from the Caribbean. Marshall and JeanStearns (1968) noted:

Today the Latin-American dances such asthe Rumba. Conga, Samba, Mambo, ('haCha. Pachanga, and so on. which have beenimported from areas where a merging ofAfrican and European styles has alreadytaken place. show the greatest African influ-ence. both in quantity and twality. (p. 14)

Marcia Siegel (1979) described the final solo sec-tion of Fancy Free as follows: "The final solo . . . isLatin in beat. although the rhythms are again irreg-ular. . . . He (the second sailor's dance) gives anexaggeratedly sexy version of a rhumba hips sway-ingi glance tipping provocatively over his shoufder" [underline added] (p. 1:36). The use of thehips, displaced from the body's center axis in thisfashion, is characteristic of African dance and wassimply nonexistent in European-based danceforms.

In 20th century dance history. the Afrocentricpresence is quite prevalent in American moderndance. With a direct departure from the criteriathat had previously defined the European classical(lance vocabulary, the development of Americannu )(tern dance represented a new way of perceivingthe body as a medium of artistic expressiorSubsequently. this affected the body's potential f(.movement. Tiw result was the invent hm of a newmovement vocabulary that included baring t hefeet . allowing the spine to curve and become moresupple, and working closer to the ground. All tlwsecharacteristics can be linked to shnilar elements inAfrican dance.

Throughout history .Afrocentric forms lutve influ-enced Anwrican dance. In specific refereace to,Nmerican modern dance. Peter Womd (1988) sup-ported this theory when he stated:

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American modern dance, created largely in theurban North during the era of enormous socialmovement, owes more than it realizes to rootswhich are black, and southern, and ultimatelyAfrican. During the first half of the 20th century,pioneer American dancers found it both possi-ble and exciting to work closer to the ground, toplant their feet and bend their knees, to thrusttheir hips and point their elbows. And whentroubled critics explained that these "new"movements had been "discovered" becauseAmerican dancers and audience are a stepremoved from the balletic tradition of Europe,they were half right. They could have mentionedhad they realized . .. that black and white weremoving closer to the continent of Africa in bodymovement all the time (underline added]. (p. 8)

Ernestine Stodelle's (1984) description ofMartha Graham's Primitit'e Mysteries (1931) andHeretic (1929) is laden with references to Africaninfluences. Her description of the Graham works isparticularly relevant because Stodelle most likelyunintentionally credits the movement and aesthetic

inciples that became a signature of Americandance to sources outside the Western Europeanclassical dance tradition. Stodelle stated thefollowing:

Then there was the movement itself: starkly sim-ple, blunt, unadorned. Using the body as a totalinstrument was the main characteristic of thenew dance. Louis (Horst) called it a "back toprimitive urge." But he clearly differentiatedbetween a "truly primitive approach [whichwould be an affectation today" and the new aes-

Kente cloth, Ashantipeople of Ghana. FromAfrican Art in Motion,

Robert FarrisThompson (University

of California Press,Los Angeles), p.

thetic that emerged as a result of the moderndancer's appreciation of primitive forms.Asymmetry, reflective of the naiveté of primitiveart, was favored over sophisticated symme-try. . . . Whereas the primitive dancer stampedon the ground with the whole foot, or in liftArglthe knee flexed the ankle angularity at the joint,the modern dancer, without actually reproduc-ing those steps per se, uses their rough texturesand broken rhythms to express the vitality offeeling behind such movements. An inner mus-cular awareness of weight and energy is mani-fest in every step, every lift of the leg, every turnof the body. Whereas tribal man moved in repeti-tious patterns without being conscious of move-ment as pure movement form, modern dancersuse repetition knowingly, planting impressionslike seeds so that their ideas will build cumula-tively without recourse to overt or sequentialgesture. The sheer power of repetition droveHeretics message of bigotry home. Repetitionand purity of feeling also created the primitivis-tic ardor of Primitive Mysteries [underlineadded), (p. 74)4'

The previous descriptions by Wood and Stodellerepresent evidences of African based movementcontent in American modern dance. TheAfrocentric presence also manifested itself throughchoreographic theme in the works of both African-American and European-American modern danc-ers. Examples of African-American choreographersand their works include: Katherine Dunham'sLAUM (1937), Rite de Passage (1942), andShango (1945); Pearl Primus's AfricanCeremonial (1944) and The Negro Speaks of

NMI

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Rivers (1944); Alvin Alley's Revelations (1960)and Cry (1971); and Garth Pagan's From Before(1978). Among European-American choreogra-phers. some examples include: 'red Shawn's DanzaAfro-Cuba (1935); Lester Hort on's VoodooCeirmonial (1912), X(rygo (1912), and DanceCongo (1934). Helen Tamiris's Morn i nilCeremonial (1931) and front Negro Spirituals,"Go Down Moses" (1912) and "Swing Low SweetChariot" (1929); Mary O'Connell'sRitual (1951);and Twyla Tharp's Eight Jelly Rolls (1971) andSue's Leg (1975).

The Afrocentric presence in the above citedworks manifested itself choreographically in twoways. The first was through a literal translation ofAfrocentric content, for example, in Dunham'sSha Ilorton's Voodoo Cserelnon ial, and Ailey sRevelat ions. These works depicted an actual storyor narrative. In Sha w/o, for example, Dunhambased the work on the Thruba god, Shango, and atheatricalized interpretation of the ritual surround-ing this god. In works such as Fagan's Fmm BefOrcor Tharp's Sur's Leg, African and African-basedmovement content was utilized in an abstract orless literal sense. Thus, such works didn't follow astoryline. Pagan's work incorporated African andAfrican-Caribbean rhythms that were embodied bythe dancers through a multitude of polyrhythinieisolations and contractions of the torso and pelvis.Tharp drew from vernacular dancers or what Smith(1987) t:Tined a "black vernacular wellspring" of'material. For example, Thaw incorporat ed thelindy and tapsoftened through the use of soft jazzshoes and the dancers use of weight.

Influences on Modern Dance

African-based aesthetic. principles have alsoinfluenced American modern (lance. They are lesstangible and more abstract in definition and in theirmanifestation in the i(liom. Nonetheless, they havebeen woven into the modern dance aesthetic. Someexamples include: 1) how energy is utilized iii thebody; 2) use of weiOt : an(l 3) improvisation.'

The modern utilizcd energy in amanner that Cr.)m a! dance byexploring ne s.. e body. Thisexploration ano .nt potentialsand resultant kinc orm of momen-tum are exemplified in ues and philoso-pines of early modern dal._ _ Alt hough WalterSorrell's (1969) choice of the word "primitive" isdated in his descriptioni of Hanya Holm's two worksentitled Primitive Rhythm ( 1916) and restive

58

Rhythm (1916), it is suggestive of an African-based use of enera in Hohn's work.' Sorrell stated:

The first program closed wit h two dances inwhich the entire group was involved in an aban-don of motor movement, stamping, le8pil4,, andwhirling. Primit ire Rhythm was a perfect wed-ding of primitive music and movement. The usu-ally rousing effect was obtained by the thumpingof hands and feet on the floor in the excitementof the dance to supplement piano and percus-sive instruments The idea was one of per-iwt num mobile, with the whole tightly knitgroup treading continuously, with arms thrustout like rhythmic accents, finally turning into astate of ecstatic exuberance. Mini( ire Rh ',thinled to) Fest i re Rh yth ill, with overtones of a joy-ous celebration, a finale with the rich colors of aritual. (1969, pp. 76, 77)

Use of weight or responsiveness t.o the body'snatural use of weight also characterizes moderndance. The dancer is able to give into weight, intogravity, and thus, direct motion into the earth. InAfrican dance, R.E Thompson (1974) describedthis as a "get down" quality. Tlw use of weight inthis manner is distinctly different from classicalballet in which weight is directed away from theearth and into the air. AN a result, ill the moderndance idiom, the body's center of weight shiftedfrom the chest, as in ballet, to the pelvis. This isparticularly evident in Graham technique throughthe use of contraction and release of the pelvisalso characteristic of African dance. Hanya Holm(1966) made reference to this principle in herdescription of the Bennington years as the freedomto "Go down through the whole footgoing downinto the areas of the bodythere is no taboo. . . ."

An example of this principle occurs in the depth ofthe grand plies in seconde posit ion of the (lancers'side lunge in the opening section of Ailey'sRevelations (1960). Another example is Graham's

lo flu' World (IMO) in which she descendsto) the ground in a deep contract ion. In both works,the dancers must fully release into their weight andinto t he earth in order to achieve the depth of thegrand plie or contraction to) the floor.

Stearns and Stearns (1968) described the use ofimprovisation in African dance forms as follows:

African dant(' also places great importanceInprovisit,',,n, satirical and other-

wise, allowing free :Mu for individualexpression; this chi racteristic makes forflexibility and aids tia, evolution and diffu-sion of other African characterist its, p. 1 5 )

Improvisation. as described by Stearns andStearns, parallels many aspects of the modern

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Right: "Revelations"(1960), by Alvin Ailey.

From "Modern Dance IsGetting Hot," Ellen

Cohn, The New YorkTimes Magazine, April

29, 1973, p. 20.

k-

'111hik L

Alb

Its

dance aesthetic. From its inception t o the pre.sent(formic, nu)dern dance can be characterized by theconstant creation and re-creation of movement phi-losophies. movement techniques, choreographicprocess. and choreographic content. Iniprovisationhas I tine( loned as a primary vehicle in this process.The use of itnprovisat ion epitomizes t lw post-modern dance aesthetic. During the Judson andpost-Judson years. improvisation was incorporatedinto t he actual choreographic structure in that agiven set of movement t asks or nmterhils was

S.

Left: "Letter to theWorld" 1940, by MarthaGraham. From DeepSong: The Dance Storyof Martha Graham,Ernestine Stodelle(Schirnwr Books, NewYork), p. 70.

IL

explored, invented, and choreographed during t heactual performance of t he work.

Judd h Dunn describe(l t his as follows:"Improvisation as I see it means composing andperfornnng simultaneously" (Brown, 197). p. 139).In effect choreography took on a reflexive elementin that priperties of the medimu and its own con-

ruct ion, or its seams, were allowed to show. Sally'Janes (1987) described this when she stated thatt he ti.sk of t he chiireographer was to acknowledgehe medium's materials iind reveal the dancer's

G3

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essential qualities in the process. An example rep-resentative of this improvisatory element is YvonneRainer's work "Some Dumghts an Improvisation"(196,1). In this work Rainer's taped voice posedquestions about choreographic process an(1 thenature of "spontaneous determination" of move-ment design while she improvised (Banes, 1987).

Creating a Context for Change

What follows are some suggestions to assistdance educators who wish to incorporate Afro-cent ric content into existing dance history course-work. All sources cited appear at the end of thissection.

I. Reconstruct your course syllabus to includethe contributions of African-American dancers andartists. Develop this in such a way that is taughtsimultaneously with European-American cont ribu-iions. In this way students will not perceiveAfrocentric content as a separate entity but ratheras equal in magnitude and influence to European-Ameri,an (lancers and artists.

2. Define dance as human behavior and relativeto its cultural context. This will break down catego-ries and fixed definitions of dance. When dance issituated in its cultural context, students will be bet-ter enabled to see dance relative t.o its social, polit-ical, CCOnomic, aesthetic, and religious dimen-sions. An excelknt source is To Dance Is liumanby Judith Lynne Hanna.

3. Include works that address African art andaesthetics. Identify and define for your students I heterm "black aesthetic" and its impact on the devel-opment of American dance. Discuss with studentsthe cultural basis of aesthetic standards and valuesand how they shape and inform artistic process andproduct , for example. African-American orEuropean-Anted( a.t. Identify the black aestheticand discuss how it has been woven into the fabricof American dance relative to a European danceaesthetic. Sonw excellent sources include: Hash ofthe Spirit, African Art in Motion, and AnAesthetic of the Cool: West .African Dance byRobert Farris Thompson.

.1 Include film and video tape materials that pro-vide students with numerous examples of Africanand African-American dance performance. Thiswill facilitate awareness of the contributions ofAfrican and African-American dancers andchoreographers.

5. Incorporate an experiential component intothe course. This will enliven historical content and

60

function to personalize and maximize students'learning experiences. Some possibilities include:guest speakers/dancers who could teach studentsshort movement sequences to acquaint them with aparticular dance period or genre; attending a vari-ety of dance performances by both Western andnon-Western dance companies; and have studentsresearch, choreograph, and teach a short move-ment sequence reflective of a particular period orgenre. As a result students will become more sensi-I've to the differences between the European dancevocabulary and those derived from West African orother world dance forms.

Include such sources as I3lack Dance byLynne Fauley Emery, The Black Tradition inAmerican Dance by Richard Long, and The 13IackTradition in American Modern Dance publishedby the American College Dance Festival. Thesesmirces will help provide the missing pages ofdance history. Create a context in your classroomthat equitably ident ifies and discusses the contribu-tions of African-American (lancers and choreogra-phers. Equity does not mean diminishingEuropean-American contributions. Equity asksonly that credit be given where credit is due; other-wise we run the risk of undermining what we haveset out to rectify.

7. Discuss the interrelati(Inship between popu-lar and concert dance as a means to break downpreconceived, finite definitions of what constitutesdance. An excellent source is the text -Jazz Danceby Marshall and Jean Stearns. Another source is anarticle in Katherine Dunham: Reflections on theSocial and Political Contexts of Afro-AntericattDance entitled "Folk Art and 'IIigh' Art" by JoyceAschenbrenner (1980). Engage students in discus-sion that asks them to reexamine terms, or better.labels, such as:

a. "ethnic dance"b. "high as opposed to low art"c. "fine" as opposed to "folk art-d. "social" as opposed to "art dance.-8. Identify those movement traits aim aesthetic

principles that characterize West African andAfrican-American dance relative to the Europeanand European-American dance vocabulary. Thiswill sensitize and help students identify howAfrocentric forms have influenced the evolution ofAmerican dance history. What follows are someident ifiable t raits characterizing t he manifest at ionsof Afrocentric fouris in American dance." I !St' t hem()illy as guidelines or as a "l('ns" through which to)recognize the presence of these forms in dancenmvement content. They are as follows:

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a. lower center of weight accompimied bymovement directed toward the earth

b. knees that function as springsU. improvisationas part of either the cluireo-

graphic process or performance contextd. contraction and release of the pelvise. embodiment of polyrhythntie structures in

the spine, torso, shoulders, and pelvisf. the bare, full surface of the foot..

Selected Biblhvivphy qf'Sources

Listed below are sources that represent theAfrocentric presence in American dance. They willbe valuable additions to dance history courses andothe r t heory courses t hat ack nowledge theAfrocentric presence in American dance.

Adanwzyk, A. (1989). Black dance: An annwated bibli-ography. Now York: Garland.

American Dance Festival. (1988, June). The bhwk t kWh.-t ion in American modern dance. Durham, NC:American Dance Festival Publication.

Aschenbrenner. .1. (1980). Katherine Dunham:Reflections On the social and political contexts of Afro-American dance. CORD Dance Rewarch A n nnal, XII.

Regho, F (1985). Mack dance continuum: ROlectionsOn the heritage connection between African danceand Afro-American jazz &ince. PhD dissertation,New York University.

Brooklyn Academy of Music and State Iiniversity of NewYork (1983, April 21-24). Mock dance in America.Conference publication compiled in conjunction withthe Black Dance America concert.

Dixon, B. (1990, February 13). Cultural identity andsociopolitical Oppression: Tlw Mrocentric basisof American concert dance! The Facial .11 Herald.po.

Dixon-Stowell. B. (1983. Spring). Between two eras:'Norton and Margot Afro-American entertainmentworld. CHIM Dance RI,search n rnal, 15 (2),II-20,

Emery. L. F (1988). Mack dance: Eroin 19 to today.Princeton, N.1: Princeton,

Friedland, L. (1983, Spring). Disco: Afro-American ver-nacular iwrformance. CORD nce 1?esea1c11Jolirmil, /5 (2), 27-35.

Goines, M. B. (1971-72). African retentions in the danceof the Americas. ( '(H?/) Dance Re.sca rch Monograph.1, 209-229.

Hanna. .1. L. (1979). 'L'o dotici, is hrouair .4 theory (1'win-rovh(il Hmlitollii«ithm. Ansi in: University ofTexas,

Hazzard-Gordon, (1990). Atibos nu, isedanue forimitions Flu llro-lmerican cul-

ture. Philiulelphia. PA: Temple I fliver-oty,Long. I?. (1989). The black traditioil If American

dance. New York: Ur/mill.Nettleford, R. (198.1). Carib(' interview with Rex

Nett leford. ABIBE, 7. / 2, 2.1-38.A. (1989, June). Blacks enrich modern dance.

;American Visions. pp. 21-29.

Szwed, & Marks, M. (1988, Summer). The Afro-American transformation of European set dances andsuites. Research Journal, 20 (I), 29-36.

Thompson. U. F. (1984). Fla.sh of the spirit: African andAfro-American art and ph ilo.soph y. New York:Vintage Books.

Thompson, H. F. (1980). An aesthetic of the cool: WestAfrican dance. In Errol IIill(Ed.), The theatre (!lblack.4mericans (pp. 99-111). Englewood Cliffs. NJ:Prentice Hall.

Thompson. U. E (I 974). African art iii motion: Iconaml act. Los Angelo's, Berkeley, Lindon: Ilniversity ofCalifornia.

Tucker, I. (1983). The role of Afro-.41ncricans in dancein the United States from starer?, throlmh 1983: .Aslide presentation. PhD dissertation, New York

Multicultural Literacy in 20th CenturyAmerican Dance History

The enduring presence and richness of WestAfrican cultural influences in American societyhave significantly contributed to the evolution ofAmerican dance. African sources in America haveprovided a wellspring of material that has con-stantly enriched dance forms in this count.ry rang-ing from folk and vernacular to concert dance.Throughout history, because of the persistence andstrength of this source, West African influenceshave had a dramatic impact on the development ofAmerican dance.

In its early history the lJnited States was foundedby a composite of peoples, most predominantly ofAfrican and European descent. Thus, Americans, ofboth African-American and European-Americandescent, share a comimm history. This very ele-ment makes this country unique, and t.he same fac-tor has produced a remarkable dance hist ory.There are several possible reasons why this mayhave occurred. One inny be becaust of t.he distinctdifferences between African and European culture:another, because of the circumstances and condi-tions. however unfortunate, that have fosteredtheir initial union.

By applying such met hods as Banks's"Transformative Approach," dance history can betransformed. The examples presented in this paperrepresent only a small portion of the Afrocentricpresence in 201.11 century dance. However. they setthe tone for change to occur in our thinking.Subsequently. it is hoped that this paper will helpcause dance educators to reevaluate their curricu-lums and, as a result, incorporate Afrocentric con-tent where it has previously lwen omitted.

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The potential role dance educators will play inthis transformation process is tremendous.Previous definitions of dance need to be challengedbeyond those framed solely by a proscenium stageand expanded to include other world views. If wedo not we run the risk of even further marginalizingdance and diminishing any hope of bringing newinformation, vigor, and insight into our field,(Frosch-S(hröder, 1991). We, as dance educators,hold the key to this transformation process. Ourimpact will be felt through input and action on cur-riculum committees and, more importantly per-haps, through our daily interactions with studentsin the studio. classroom, or on a campusstreetcorner.

The implications of expanding our definition ofdance apply not only to dance educators but todance critics. scholars, and performers alike.Collectively we can no longer deny Lne impact ofAfrican culture on American dance by attributingthe origins Of dance solely to EIJI' OpVall sources.Such a monocultural perspective is biased, reduc-tive. and inconsistent with the nature of this coun-try's composition and historical development.Continued efforts must be made to incorporate thisperspective into dance curriculums and thusbroaden tlw understanding and scope of the originsof American dance.

Endnotes

1. It is worth noting the differences between the terms-denial" iind -omission." In this context, denial refers to aconscious falsification Of history while omission refers tonegligence or ignorance, perhaps unwitting. which isreflect ed in cert a in inst it ut ional or st met uralpreconcept ions.

Por example. in Picasso's painted work, LesDemoiselles (1.4figiwn (1907), the influence of Africanmasks is apparent. Golding stated:

The abrupt changes of style in the Drmoisc1/c,,,are due to t he fact that while he was working onit Picasso came into contact with Negro art . .

the head at the left can be accounted for by acharacteristic ft nm of Negro mask, found on theIvory Coast. .. It was only in the series ofpaintings I hat followed Denwiselles that hebegan to grasp t he intellectual and aestheticprinciple's of part icular types of masks and torelate' Negro cult ure more thoroughly to WestArt. ( pp. 55-57)

3. Buck dancing was a product of plantathm cultureand was performed only by men. It was also performed inhard soled shoes on wooden floors and represents theearly beginning of what wimld later become tap dance.See 131ack Dance by Lyntu' Pauley Emery and JazzDonee by Marshall and Jean Stearns for additiimal infor-mation about the origins and offshoots that enlergedfrom buck dancing.

4. Akpabot (198(i) reinforces these parallels hetweenthe two form.s even further in his following analysis ofMrican music:

The idea of viewing a percussive instrumentas having high. low or medium time is bor-rowed frenn African speech which is inflec-tionary in character: and African musicalinstrumental music borrows much fromvocal music which in turn is tied to speechmelody and speech rhythm . . . Speech.melody, rhythm, and dance are usuallyinterrelated in African music.... t hisinterrelationship makes it possible for adancer to take his cue from the rhythmicinstruments and for a melody to be fash-ioned out of a sentence. (p. 1)

Most notably this is identifiable in the subtle con-tractions that occur in the rib cage. shimIders, and upperspine. Anothc,m identifiable trait is the use of weight thatis often directed into the earth as opposed to away fromit

(3. A portion of Stodelle's previous st atement is untrue'.Non-Western and/or African dance forms incorporatedrepetition on a very conscious level and were very awareof formal elements in choreography. African dance. likeall dance forms, is governed by canons that determineaesthetic' standards and values: included in these canonsis t use of repetition. In addition. ironically. inStodelle's analogy to modern dancers "planting impres-sions like' seeds.- she' was unknowingly perhaps referringto an African basis to the movement because' much of thethematic content ot traditional African dance is based onagrarian motifs, which incorporatethe full, flat surface ofthe foot in a stomping or planting action.

T. For a complete listing and definition of theseAfrican-based aesthetic principles see Julie A. Kerr( 1 tl90). PoraUcts of. .41?icciti-hcised Moucmcnt Traits(Ind Acsthrt Principh,s in Selcuted am plcsAmerican Mnth't-i: Dancr. PhD dissert at ion, Templel'inversit y,

8. Twai excelk'nt source's that discuss African-basedenergy and its manifestation in art and dance are:..1fricatt Aut in Motion: Iron mid Act . by Robert MarisThompson and Wellspring: On thr Myth (slid rrc iJ

(.11/011C, by Robert Plant Armstrong.9. These movement characteristics are derived from

Dance (1968) by Stearns and Stearns and theauthor's personal experiences in modern. .African. and.1frican-Caribbean dance classes

t; t;

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References

Akpabot, S. E. (1986). Foundations of Niq'ii(I hf radi-Inmal music. Ibadan, Nigeria: Spectrum.

Asante, M. (1988, fall). The case for multi-cultural liter-acy. The Temple Reviele, pp. 20-23.

Banes, S. (1987). Terpsichow siwakers: Post m(nl-ern dance Middletown, CT Wesleyan University.

Banks, J. A. (1988, spring). Approaches to multiculturalcurriculum reform. Multicultural Leader, 1 (2), 1-4.

Brown. 1. M. (1979). Du, vision (4' lmoorn datiec.Princeton, N.1: Princeton.

Dixon, B. (1990, February 13). Cultural identity and soci-opolitical oppression: Tlw Afrocentric basis ofAmerican concert dance! The Facult y Herald (pnb-lished by Temple University). pp. 4-6.

Frosch-Schroder, .1. (1991, March). A global view: Danceappreciation for t.he 2Ist century. J014171(11 qf PhySillaEthiCatiMI, M'Crellt loll', and MInCe, 61-66.

Golding, J. (19(8). Cubism: history and analysis1907-1914. Bosum, MA: Boston Book and Art Shop.

Holm, H. (Speaker). (1$)66 ) . Da nee: Fmir pioneers(Film). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University/NationalEducation Television.

Pierangeli, ( '. ( It)89, August). Personal commtmicationwith Pierangeli, Depart me nt of Dan ct, TempleIlniversity, Philadelphia, PA.

Siegel, M. B. ( 1979). The .shapes r change: linaiics ofAnwrican dance. New York: Avon.

Smith, E. (1987, February 14). Jazz dance on tapand social: Films from the prival, collection ErnieSmith (Lecture/Film Presentation). Steppii,i1 out:131ack American dance during the !prat iipatNational Museum of American flistory, SmithsotnanInstitution, Washington, RC., Fenruary 14, 1 9 :7.

Sorrell, W. (1969). Minya Holm: The biographii glairartist. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan I1niversity.

Stearns, M., & Stearns, .1. (19(8). Jazz damICO: The tart,/of A merfran vermicular dant New York: Schirmer.

Stockily, E. (1984). Deep Scan/. The dance of MurthaGraham. New York: Schirmer.

Thompson, R. E (1974). African art in motion: iconand act. Los Angeles, CA: Ilniversity of California.

Thompson, R. F. (1984). Push ofthe :Vika ti andAfro-American art and ph ilosoph q. New York:Vintage.

Woo(I, I'. (1988, June). "Gimme de L neclione bent- :African body language and the evoluthm of Americandance forms. In Du, black tradition in ,1merica11modern Durham, NC: American Dance Fest ivalPublication.

Julie A. Kerr is coordinator of the dance minor program in thePhysical Education Department at Mankato State University,

Mankato, Minnesota 56002-8400.

f;7

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Dance MATERIAL(Dance, Music, and Art Training and

Education Resulting In Aesthetic Literacy)

John R. Crawford

Dance as an art form is related to the arts ofmusic, painting, and theatre. The dancer learns vis-ual and spatial forms and designs as well as musicalcounts, timing, and phrases. Thus, the dancerlearns to perceive in visual, aural. and kinestheticways. These modes of perception comprise specificareas 'if knowing within the human being. HowardGardner (1983) states that human beings havepotential in seven areas. Music. visual-spatialaspects, and body-kinesthetic aspects comprisethree of the seven areas of human potential. Astudy of the art forms of dance, music, and paint ingcan effectively con.tribute to learning within theseareas.

In particular, dance in education is able to facili-tate aesthetic perception, which includes relatships within form and design. In the creation ofdance, t he student acquires an understanding ofthe organizational process of the artist. "Teachersgradually introduce elements of form (unity, har-mony, cunt Fast , et('.) and students attempt tO incor-porat e these elements into their compositionalwork" (National Dance Association, 1988, p, 13).The abilities to think abstractly and to create con-cretely are both necessary to understand the form-ing process.

Concepts in the more recently published litera-ture often refer to the fields of aesthetics and aes-thetic edueat ion aml support the idea that aestheticliteracy may be developed through the study of sev-eral art forms. Indeed, the aim of aesthetic educa-tion is the development of an individual's capacityto perceive, create, study, and evaluate art works ina variety of media. A study of interrelations amongthe arts in particular focuses on aspects of compo-sit ic-1, the composi,ional process, principles oforganization used by the artist , and theories wit bin

6,1

t he field of aesthetics including both similaritiesand differences within the arts.

The field of aesthetics oftc a focuses on relation-ships among the arts and posits theories as to pos-sible commonalities. Although the arts may berelated on either a forr 1 or an ontological basis,dance, music, and painting all consist of organiza-tional factors, and in every instance of art thereexists a certain manner in which the totality isst rout ured, "The art forms are similarly con-st ructed . . they are languages or symbol systems,aesthetically articulated and historically deter-mined" (Karpati & Abonyi, 1987, p. 102). A study oft he organizational principles within the arts engen-ders fuller comprehension of individual art formsand thus multiplies the possibilities of artistic'expression.

Within the past two decades research in aesthet-ics and aesthetic education has revealed a need forworkable teaciting methods in the comparison ofart forms. Theory that supports practice is advo-cated by educators. New curricular models andimplement at it ms are requested to provide teachersviable ways in which to present comparisonsamong arts. According to the Getty Center forEducation in the Arts, "This means that universityscholars will twed to work closely with curriculumspecialists and teachers to develop programsinformed by t he theory and practice of aesthetics,art criticism, history and production" (GettyCenter, 1985, p. (S ).

Wit Ii such curricular materials, teachers are ableto communicate ideas about art to students,Teachers can also more effectively ctmvey the vari-ous roles and applications of art to their students,The arts constitute modes of communication thatstudents can decipher as audience members and

E;S

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utilize as creators. The arts as a basic means ofcommunication can be used to engender self-ex-pression and creativity.

In order to transform aspects of experience thatare part of the creative process into externalizedform, the artist utilizes principles of organization.The artist orders, arranges, and organizes thematerial of the art form. A relationship betweenemotional feeling and ordered design may occur aspart of the rtist's compositional process.

Principles of organization used by the artist donot explain what artistic creation is or how it hap-pens, Rather, principles of organization illuminateaspects of cause and effect utilized by the artist. Inother words, the artist achieves a certain resultthrough a certain organization of compositionalelements. Whereas these principles do not dictatespecific rules for good composition, they do serveas guidelines for the artist.

Dance MATERIAL (Dance, Music, and ArtTraining an(1 Education Resulting In AestheticLiteracy) was designed to identify, describe, andcompare principles of organization that seem to beconsiiitently used by the artist in dance, music, andpainting. The significant literature regarding prin-ciples of organization in the arts was analyzed andas a result cf this research, a synthesis of contentar, as was developed that interrelates these organi-zational principles and suggests a basis for curricu-him developnwnt, incorporating dance as the dis-seminator of the organizational principles.

Lance MATERIAL is a curricular model whichnploys dance as the educational focus in order to

teach aspects of unity, variety, contrast, balance,and their related components as used by the chore-ographer, composer, and painter in the process ofcomposition. The content areas of this curricularmodel consist of the following headings, which arediscusspd in detail: coherence within the threearts; Jynarnism within the arts; unity vari-ety; wpetition and contrast; rhythm; emergenceand recilicnce (i. c., figure and groun(1 ); balance.including symmetry and asymmetry; and develop-ment, including transitions and flow to climax.Dance serves as the educational focus in a compar-ison of these organizationaI principles withil1dance, music, and painting. Additionally, DanceMXIERIAL suggests a method of (caching majorprinciples ot organization as used by the choreog-rapher, composr, and painter.

Dance MATERIAL is designed as a basis for acoursi, of study in dance as an art form, withomphasis on dance co-.nposition. Wit hin highereducatiw.-1. murses focusing tlw basic lir der-

standing of aesthetics in the arts are increasing,and often such a course is offered as an electivewithin the basic liberal arts requirements of theuniversity. Introductory dance courses designed forthe general university student can benefit byincluding the content areas within this curricularmodel. Additionally, the content areas within DanceMATERIAL are applicable to units of instructionwithin college level dance composition courses.

Study of the content areas within DanceMATERIAL contributes to the individual's acquisi-tion of information regarding choreographicchoices and decisions, contributes to the student'sacquisition of information regarding aestheticjudgment and justification, and relates the processof composition in dance to similar compositionalproces ! s in music and painting.

Dance MATERIAL presents specific principles oforganization that are similar and comparable in thecreation of dance, music, and painting, and whichcan be taught using dance as an educational focus.Through an analysis of the choreographer's use ofthese compositional principles, one is able to com-prehend the process of organization interrelated inthe three arts. The content areas, based on aes-thetic principles discussed by Thomasine Kushner(1983), Karl Aschenbrenner (1985), and AlmaHawkins (1988), wnong others, begin with principles of organization in relation to dance. Ne)t,dance is interrelated with the discipline of musicand, finally, dance and music are interrelated withpainting. Curricular development therefore pro-gresses from dance (movenwnt), to dance andmusic (movement and sound), to dance and musicand painting (movement and sound and sight).

Content Area Summary

The following is a brief summary of the eightprinciples of organization that were synthesizedfrom an analysis of the relev literature in aes-thetic's, aesthetic educal ion, antJ mce, music, andpainting composition. These principles comprisecontent areas hat can serve as the substantiveinformation within a currk.ulum in aest het ic educa-tion: coherence, dynamism. unity and variety, repe-tition and contrast , rhythm, emergence and re-cedence, balance, and devehanhent.

Coherence

Coherence in art refers to the product of whole-ness or consistency exhibited by Ow art work. In

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addition to the unification of constituent parts, allparts interrelate with all other parts. In an art workthat exhibits coherence, nothing external to thework is needed for completion. The work exhibitsan organic wholeness (Aschenbrenner, 1985;13roudy, 1972; Kushner, 1983; Weiss, 1961). Asdefined by Aschenbrenner, coherence is "theunique way in which elements belong to the artwork and justify their place in it" (p. 7). Ile statesthat the artist in any medium works toward unifica-tion and coherence of specific elements, repetition,and development (p. 93). The concept that form orcoherence exists in the arts can therefore heapplied to all the arts.

Choreographer Doris Humphrey (1959) was inagreement with the concept of cohereiwe when shestated that. con'inuity is paramount to form indance. In her view, not hing should threaten thecohesiveness of tlw dan(e (p. 1 49). Lynne AnneBlom and Tarin Chaplin (1982) ids() noted that nomatter imw wide tlw spectrum of varieiy and con-trast used by the choreographer, those elementsmust exist within the principle of wholeness whichbinds the dance together (p. 109).

Dynamism

The theory of dynannsin is based cm the supposi-t ion timt energy underlies all phenomena.Aestheticians such Aschenbrenner (1985), WA.Ball (1988), A. Hill (1968), Timmas Munro (1970),and Elizabeth Watts (1977) are among those whohave described the concept of movement as aninterrelation among the arts.

Dance theoretician Rudolph Laban (1971) con-sidered movement as a basis for the creation ofdance, painting, awl music. "Movement . . . is pres-ent also in the playing of instruments, in paintingpictures, and in all artistic. ictivity." Ile continuedto state that the significance of movement in thearts is varied due to tiw wide range of movementexpression (pp.119-100). In his view, human nmve-ment serves as a common denominator for the (Te-at ion of t he various arts.

Effort, which consists of the motion factors ofweight, time, space, and flow, is both visible andaudible. The effects of effort can be heard in theproduction Of speech or song. Even if the effortaction is not seen, it can be imagined and visualizedwhen the resultant sound k heard ( Laban, 1971, p.

Laban noted that if one watches a musicianplay an instrument one can see and register theeffort of t he performance. Even if sound is muheard, the effcift and rhythm can be discerned by

John Crawford, author, instructs modern dance stu-dents in the dance program at Kent State University,

where the eight principles of organization hedescribes make up the substantive information

within a curriculum in aesthetic education, Photoby University Photographers.

watching the movement of the performer (Labatt &Lawrence, 1947, p. xiv).

Laban considered the painter's use of effort andmovement at the time of ereaticm to be still visiblein the resultant art work, even thcmgh the workitself remained static. Movement and energy existin static works of art. (such as painting) as well asdynamic ones (such as dance). In consideration oft he art ist Laban (1971) wrote:

The illoveniellis he has used in drawing, paint-ing or modelling have given character to his cre-ations, and they ro- nain fixed in the still-visiblestroks of his pencil, brush, or chisel. The activ-ity of his mind is revealed in the form he hasgiven to his material. (1). 9)

Unity and Variety

tInity in dance attracts and hokls the viewer'sattention. Hawkins (1988) claimed that "the mostessential attribute of a well-fornwd dance is unityor wholeness" (p. 88). When a dance possessesunity, each part contributes to the whole.Subsequently, the whole should be comprised oforganic form and not arbitrary t'orm. When visibleform is evolved from internal responses, thoughts.ideas, or feelings, real unity emerges in the artwork. "From a choreographic standpoint, unitymeans scicrt Pig, Ii ui it ing, and Pm/ ii imthrtinfi (p.89).

Variety must exist within t he unified dance.Variety consists of the :lynamic tensions betweenthe organintion of forces within the dance. Thisresults in contrasts that serve to differentiatebetwe,,m patterns, rhyt hms, and dynamics (i. e., theentire spectrum of the organization of forces). Theinterplay of organizational forces. however, nmstalso be kept in balance. Balance consists of thecontrolled relationship Ingween parts. The creato )r.or choreographer, controls these relationships inorder to produce a unified and coherent workdeveloped organically through the expansion andmanipulation of the basic dance idea. If the iispect

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4;..:1-

_waif

116._

of balance is neglected, t he work may become dis-torted or incoherent. If t he aspect of variety isabsent. t he dance may lack diversification and on-trast and may become repetitive and monotonous.

1?cpc/1lion (110

Repetition is used in order to unify elementswit hin the art work. Repent ion is indispensable inall I he arts and occurs visually as well as aurally.The funct ion of repetition is similar in both spatialand temporal art forms, even thinigh the manifest a-I ion of repel it ion differs in space and t ime

(Aschenbrenner, 11)85).In a consideration of repot it ion in visual art

Nellie Arnol(l ( )76) stated I hat t he regular repel i-

(i7

tion of a form contributes to mUty wit.hin an artwork. Rhythm in painting results from the repeti-tion of forms. Repetition of the !iame sequence offorms, colors, lines, or sounds "-Ininds viewers orlisteners that they have sec! .Nird that portionof t he art work before" (p.

Ideas are conveyed and cmpi.ized thniugh t heuse of repel II i01). The meiminp, or intent of a workis also conveyed through t he creator's selectionand manipulation of repeating elements or themes.Differences exist between repel it ion in dance,music, and painting, however. Repet it ion in visualart C011sititti of repeated identicals, whereas inmusic repetition is a motif which occurs more Illallom.e, Either manifestation of repetition can exist indance oepending on t he number of perforniers. If a

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soloist repeats a movement phrase or shape, therepetition is a singular motif that occurs more thanonce. If a group of dancers executes the samenuwement simultaneously, the repetition consistsof multiplicity of ident leak (Aschenbrenner, 1985).

Contrast exists in the arts in order to differenti-ate between extremes. Blom and Chaplin (1982)noted the difierence between variety and contrast.Variety consists of :cn infinite spectrum of diversifi-cations within :411 art work. Contrast, however, iscomprised of differences that. are more extreme.Variety may include transitions and gradients con-necting parts of elements. Contrast deals with thecomparison of Opposites whereas variety mayinclude a broader range of difkrentiat ions.

Riot hnt

The clement of rhythm as a visual, aural. and kin-esthetic manifestation in all t he arts has beenexpounded throughout the years by both theoreti-cians and educators. Dance educator MargaretH. Doubler considered rhythm to be manifested pri-marily through kinesthetic perception. InII'Doubler's perspective, rhythm can be mani-fested and sensed visibly, audibly, and tactually, butit is first perceived kinesthetically. II'Doubler(1940) cited rhythm as the basic and fundamentalart form. She considored the study of rhythm t.o beessential to all art forms. The art form of danceespecially, however, depended on rhythm due to itskinesthetic basis of perception. Doris Humphrey(1959) in her famous book on dance compositionexpounded that rhythm "might be compared to theambience of existence" (p. 104). Slw stated thatrhythm, which organizes our spatial, temporal. anddynamic existence, would not have developed as ithas in music and visual art had it not developed pri-marily through moveinent.

Rhythmic organization within dance pnivides aframework that can contribute to the conveyanceof aesthetic. intent. Like 1I'1)oubler. Hawkins(1988) maintains that rhythm is first perceived askinesthetic awareness. after which the percipientequates rhythmic structure with musical symbolsand notation. 'Hie kinesthesia created by the visibleand audible manifestations of rhythm causes ten-sions t hat pull the observer toward the discovery ofmeaning in the dance. Rhyt hm. which may be evenor uneven, produces changes in energy and feelingresponse. Even rhyt Inns, like symmet rical balmwe .usually promote a sense of continuity. stasis. rest .

and sometimes monotony, Uneven rhythms, likeasymmetrical balance, may solicit a sense of move-

liS

silent, dynamics, and change. The subsequentmeaning of a dance is affected by one's feelingresponses to the various aspects of rhythm and itsstructure.

Rhythm in painting is similar to rhythm in danceand music. The difference lies in the fact thatrhythm in painting is a function of spatial organiza-tion. Rhythm in music is a function of temporalorganization. Rhythm in dance is both visible andaudible and emerges from a kinesthetic (or motor)source.

Emergence and Recodence

The concept of emergence and recedence of ele-ments within a work of art is analogous t.o the con-cept of figure and ground. Aschenbrenner (1985)wrote extensively on the concept and stated thatthe artist in any medium makes use of the figure-ground principle in order to focus the attentUm ofthe apprehender and emphasize important aspectsof the art work. Ile wrote:

Sceptics onen scoff at the idea that there is anycommon order that underlies musical composi-tion, pictorial and sculptural design, dramaticand narrative form, the several arts. in short.Clearly, they have not looked very hard. or hardenough. The application of the figure-gnitindprinciple. mit only to music but to other arts aswell. is so completely fitting and natural thatwhat is surprising is only that so little appeal toit has been made. (p. 15:3)

As examples. Aschenbrenner notes that the painterfurthers emergence by providing differences insize, color, and shape. The musician is able to fur-ther emergence thnough the contrast of high andhav voices and thrmigh the use of timbre. The cho-reographer is(ilates im)vement that is highlightedwithin a phrase or utilizes a soloist who emergesfrom a group.

Balance

Balance is termed as the compromise betweenparts. The artist attempts to achieve this compro-mise or synthesis in order to create a coherentorganizatim in which the parts and the whole co-exist and do not destroy each other. Balance isachieved in dance through design in t lw shape oft he body or movement. iii t he use of the dancespace. and in the movement itself. Ilw relationshipof the body to gravity through the vertical. diago-nal, and horizontal planes constitutes an aspect ofspatial balance. As Laban noted. movement wit hmthe vertical plane is predominantly soln1 or stable.

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The horizontal axis or plane also suggests stability.Labile movement occurs between the vertical andhorizontal planes. This diagonal movement isreplete with dynamism due to the increase of ten-sion as the body moves out of either the vertical orhorizontal plane. The most urgent sense of move-ment is perceive(l at the point of greatestimbalance.

It is a choice of the artist t() present a pattern ofmovement, sound, or shape as either synunetricalor asymmetrical. Symmetry, which exists as anidentical resemblance between the parts of a pat-tern, produces an image of minimum tension.Asymmetry, which consi ,ts of an inequalitybetween the parts of a pattern, produces an imageof maxinnim tension. Balance is then the coherentrelationship between minimum and maximum ten-sions in an art work.

Del'elOpMetit

Development in dance. music, and painting isenhaneed by transitions, or gradients. and the flowto the climax (or cliniaxes) within the piece.

Development in dance is synonymous with continu-ity. The dance piece is perceived as a happening, anevent which unfolds through space and time.Inherent meaning within a dance is revealedthrough its unique and individual order and flow.The development of the work contributes to theunity and coherence of the piece.

Development in music and painting occurs inanalogous ways. Theme development in paintinginvolves elements that are comparable. I.1nlike thepainter, the musician has no visible shape withwhich to compose, yet the composer does establishregularit ies early in the work. The first notes of acomposition establish a key signature and a timesignature, which serve as a frame of reference forthe piece. The minimal requirements for theme inmusic would then be a series of contrasts in pitchand a series of contrasts in time. Thematic devekm-ment in music then ebbs and flows from this frameof reference as does development in painting.

Transitions act as bridges between parts bindingtogether the disparate aspects of the art work.Transitions develop from one element or sequenceof a work and evolve int() another element or

A modern dance class at Kent Stat e University. Photo by Unirersity Photographers.

4 -4aaili#

,

1.41/

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sequence. In dance, the transition develops fr(mtone movement idea and leads to t.he next. The indi-vidual work determines the exact way in which itsparts are related. Transition differs from contrast .

in t hat a transition must consist of several steps orintervals that bridge different parts of the art work.Contrast consists of sharply defined opposites.Elements within a work opposing one another pro-vide contrast. Transitions blend together elementsand contribute to the development and flow of thework.

Climax is the result of a developmental progres-sion. In danc and music climax is the inevitableresult of the development of a section or an entireart work. The art ist. consciously or subconsciouslyprepares for the climax and builds toward it. Itexists as "the accumulated high point of the piece"(Blom & ('haplin, 1982). A climax is often theresult of a crescendo and is usually followed by res-olution of some kind. In dance, long choreogra-phies can possess secondary or complementary cli-maxes used to fort her the development whichhuilds to a large climax. Climo.xes occur as part ofthe development of a piece.

Studying the Organizational Principles

1:)ance MATERIAL was designed to interrelateeight selected organizational principles used in the

461sit

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creation of dance, music, and painting. Within thecurricular model, each principle of organization isconsidered in relation to each art form. As thefocus of the model, organizational principles arest tidied first in dance, and dance is considered first,in relation t,o the other two arts. Coherence is theaspect that integrates and connects all parts of anart work in order to produce a holistic entity and isincluded as an integrator of the other principles oforganization utilized. The concept of dynamism, ormovement in the arts, connects the creation ofdance, music, and painting through movement andthus becomes an additional component of the con-tent area summary.

As a basis for curriculum development, it is sug-gested that each organizational pril ciple be stud-ied first in relation to dance, then in relation tomusic, and third in relation to painting. In this waythe art forms maintain autonomy, and significantdifferem s as well as commonalities may be dis-cussed. The teaching of the eight organizationalprinciples incorporates dance as an educationalfocus. Therefore, any of the aspects are first taughtthrough the medium of dance. Aspects are nexttaught through dance in relation to music, andfinally, through dance in relation to music and inrelation to painting. The development of a curricu-him based on the eight content areas can representthis progression from dance to music to paint ing.

Lynn Deeringexplains bodymechanics as part ofthe overall dance pro-gram at Kent StateUniversity. Photo byUniversityPhotographers.

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In order to teach the comparison and interrelat-edness of coherence, dynamism, unity, variety, rep-etition, contrast, rhythm, emergence and re-cedence, balance (which inclu(Ies bothsymmetrical and asymmetrical balance), and devel-opment (which includes transitions and flow to cli-max), an individual principle of organization maybe considered. Within a resultant curriculum theorganizational principle under investigation wouldprogress through its application :n dance, music,and painting respectively. As a result. of thissequence each organizational principle would forma component in the total configuration of the cur-riculum. Each organizational pi :nciple exists inrelation to all others and thus reihforces the con-cept of coherence or organic wholeness in the arts.Both the individual principle and the mamwr inwhich it is interrelated in the three arts are studied.

Et11 mp1es qf Imp le»ient at imi

Tlw implementation of the content areas withinDance MATERIAL includes the active participationof the student its the creator of dance, music. andpainting. An example of a possible implementationcould evolve as follows: The instructor could pre-sent and discuss the concept of emergence andrecedence (figure and ground). Students wouldexplore the concept through the medium of dance.The choreographer can emphasize the movementsof oiw dancer and cause other movement t.o recede.to receive less focus. The choreographer may cre-ate a solo or duet, which emerges as a focal point ,while the movement of the other (lancers recedes tobecome background.

Once the students comprehend the concept ofemergence and recedence in its manifestation indance, t he concept can be applied to music.Individuals or groups of dancers could be com-pared to hulividual sounds or gnmps of notes. The

composer's manipulation of notes could be com-pared to the choreographer's manipulation ofbodies. Once this connection has been discussedand understood, students could investigate theconcept of figure and ground in painting and relatethe painter's choice of focal points and relation-ships of figure and ground to the similar processundergone by the choreographer and composer.

Both similarities and differences occurring in thethree arts media could be investigated and dis-cussed. This interrelated perspective presents thearts as independent forms that may be compared.Much can be learned by observing how each art .form is signifWant in its own regard and how eachorganizational principle manifests itself differentlyin each art.

Dance MATERIAL is designed as a basis for acourse of study in dance as an art form, specificallyfocusing on dance composition. The curricularmodel interrelates the composition process in thethree art types and fosters the development of crea-tivity, coLaboration, and aesthetic education. Forexample, the dancer benefits from a greater aware-ness of rhythm, nmsic, panern, and linear design.Possibilities of movement are expanded andenhanced. A more comp1Thensive awareness of thebody as a medium of visual, aural, and kinestheticexpression results. The choreographer is able tobetter understand and utilize music and visualdesign in his/her creations. The teacher is able to(Law from richer visual, aural, and kinestheticsources in order to present learning ex)eriencesfor students. The individual develops a greaterunderst and ing of art hist ory, includ i ng dance,music, and painting in other epochs and cultures. Astudy of the organization of form develops criticalthinking skills and gives one a point of departure inorder to view dance in historic, social, and culturalcontexts. As a medium of expression, the study ofdance, music, and painting Offers the individual ainultitude of outlets.

References

Arnold, N. D. (1976). Thc intcyrigatcd a Os ill hysurc.'Pcureiritai and creat ital. St. Louis. MO: C. !Mosbyt'ompany.

Aschenbrenner. K. (1985). Thc com'cpt qicata-trtavart. Dordrecht, Holland: If Heide! Publishing Co,

W A. (1988. April). Expressing the inexpressible:Developing an test heti( v)cabulary. Alu.sic Edta'(s tar'sJolt 111(11. 53--:)(i,

Blom, 1.. & Chaplin, I,. (1982). The I'd limit(' (Itchat eaftropli i'ittihurgh. PA: I7niversity ofPittsburgh Press,

7 1

Broudy. 11.S. (197::!). Eil/irditetwd chcrislii tar An essat,ii arstiwt cdurct am. Urbana, IL: University of

Illinois Press.Gardner, II. (198;0. Frames of mind: Da' lia'ara

intt'lli.actice.s_ New York: Basic Books, IncPublishers.

Getty Center for Education in the Arts. (1985). lkyatul(7'1'0 Thr 111(ICC Jur (111 i II AttleliCtl'SNew Ytak: .i. Paul Getty Trust,

Hawkins. A. (1988). Crtat i thrmadt arc.Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book ( pany.

r--

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If Doubler, M. (1940). Dance: A creative art experi-ence. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Hill, A. (Ed.) (1968). DATA: Directions in art, theoryand aesthetics. London: Faber & Faber.

Humphrey, D. (1959). The art (f making dances. NewYork: Rinehart & Co., Inc.

Karpati, A. & Abonyi, V. (1987). Interdisciplinarity inaesthetic education: Ideas, results, prospects. Journalof-Aesthetic Education, 21 (3).

Kushner, T K. (1983). The atuitomy of art: Problems inthe description and evaluation of works of art. St.Louis, MO: Warren II. Green, Inc.

Laban, R. V (1971). The mastery of movement (3rd ed.,rev. Lisa Ullmann). Boston, MA: Plays, Inc.

Laban, R. V, & Lawrence, F C. (1947). Effint London:MacDonald & Evans.

Munro, T. (1970). Form and style in tlw arts: An intro-duction to aesthetic morphology. Cleveland, OH:Press of Case Western Reserve University.

National Dance Association. (1988). Dance curriculaguidelines K-12. Reston, VA: National DanceAssociation.

Watts, E. (1977). Towards dunce aml art: A study ofrelationships between two art fiurnis. London: LepusBooks.

Weiss, P (1961). Nine basic arts. Carbondale, IL:Southern Illinois 1.Iniversity Press.

John R. Crawford is in the Dance Unit of theSchool of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance,

Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.

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College/AdultBeginners

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Developing Skills in Dance: Considerationsfor Teaching Adult Beginners

Carol A. Wood and Susan Gillis-Kruman

Where do successful strategies for teachingdance technique originate? The process of develop-ing skill in nuivement requires decishm making onthe part of the teacher. Teachers' decisions may bebased on the opinion of the authorities in the field,on tradition, or on the insight that comes fromobservajon and critical analysis. The purpose ofthis paper is to suggest practical strategies for theteaching of dance. The concepts that will he pre-sent.ed have been drawn primarily from the body oftheoretical and research informtition from the dis-cipline of motor control and learning.

In any movement, the learner plans the move-ment based upon an action goal. For any movementrelated activities, e.g., basketball or football, thegoal of the movement is related to the outcomerather than the quality of the movement itself.From this perspective, dance as nuwement is basedon a different set of criteria for successful perfGrm-ance. Not only is the successful tr ical execut onof a movement considered but also how the move-ment is performed in terms of space, time, andenergy. Dance movement is internally organized.Tlw outcome is tied to the individuality of the per-former. It is this uniqueness that makes dance anaest hetic exiw hence. The individnal riot onlyshapes the movement, but makes aesthetic choicesabout how to use movement qualities to createdynamic and articulate nuivement that expressesthe inner organization and intent of the performer.

Criteria for suc('essful movement performan('emay include: 1) clarity of the movement articula-tion: 2) fluidity/ease of execution; 3) awareness oftime or temporal change; 4) ability to denumstratespat.ial intent; :)) use of body focus/projection, i.e..the ability of the dancer to demonstrate appr (gni-ate intensity (focus) with intent; () ability to (1is-play a dynamic range: 7) correct movementsequence and exe(ution; and 8) adherence to therhythmic structure of the nnisic.

Many characteristics of dance movement qu:rlityemerge only after many hours of training.Therefore, the primary focus of this paper is topresent instructor strategies that will enhance thebeginning dancer's ability to articulate the move-ment as well as its fundamental qualitative compo-nents, perform the movement sequence correctly,and adhere to the rhythmic structure of the move-ment. These teaching strategies are based on theskill level/experience of the class are designed tobe used for teaching in the studio setting.

Learning Characteristics of Beginners

The task of learning a movement is complicatedby the inability of t.he beginner to manageablyreduce the quantity of information needed to per-form the movement. Maximum attention demandsare placed on the information processing system ofthe learner because beginners do not have theexperience to act6urately pinpoint essential infor-mation. Characteristics of the beginning dancerthat increase the difficulty of learning nnwementare 1) lack of knowledge about what elements ofthe movement to focus on. 2) hmger time to moni-tor perceptual input from the visual system and thebody, and 3) difficulty in performing simultaneousmovement (Spaeth-Arnold, 1981).

During the initial stages of learning a factor thatmust be considered within any teaching setting is(114 beginners have extremely limited ('apacitiesfor attending to infornmtion (Gentile, 1972; Fitts &Posner. 1967). For example, when teaching a pile,many pieces of information may be generated bythe instructor. Factors for performing a plie withaesthetic quality are numerous and might includethe position of the pelvis, alignment of the knees,the relationship of the shoulders and the pelvis,imsitioning of the rib ...age, activation of abdominal

"18

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muscles, head position, heels in contact or not incontact with the floor, coordination of arm andbending kee, and coordination of movement tomusic.

When structuring teaching for any beginner, theinstructor must remember that beginners are easilyoverwhelmed by the amount of information thatmust be remembered for successful performance.lkginning students are not able to adequatelyfocus attention on ;Ile relevant aspects of the move-meat or the critical cues embedded in the teachers'movement. instructions. In addition, the student'sability to pay attention to several sources of infor-mation (e.g., the position of the legs, arms, tempo,quality, etc.) is severely limited. And the student'smemory capacity for movement directions pre-sented by the instructor is restricted due to short .

term memory limitations (see Miller, 1956). Thisimplies that during early learning, instructions andmovement cues from the teacher to the studentmust be brief. To overcome these problems and aidsuccessful student learning, several strategies maybe implemented by the instructor,

Teacher Implemented Strategies

The teacher's responsibilities during the initialstage of learning are numerous. Due to t.he limitedprocessing ability of beginners, abundant verbal-izat km about the movement is not desired and mayactually delay the learning process by cogfusingthe learner. The teacher should attempt to set upt.he learning environment in a way that is most con-ducive to the learner.

The first task the teacher faces is describing thegoal of the act.ion (Gentile, 1972). For example, inthe pile movement previously described, one goalof t he movement is related specifically to bodyalignment. Another subgoal of a pile that truly notbe readily observable to the learner is the Nile ofplie in preparation and landing for jumds. Once thelearner has "gotten the idea'' of plie, the learner willapproximate a response based on the demonstra-tion by the instructor and past movement experi-ences. Subsequent attempts at plie allow thelearner to refine the response and eventually a pliewith correct form is performed.

The second task facing the teacher is structuringthe practice environment so that consistent move-ment patterns are established. Alt Innigh variationsof nny\ ement (position or speed) may vary, dance isa movement form requiring that certain lines of thebody remain consistent. It is ',he devekpment of

the consistent movement patterns and the imple-mentation of those movement patterns into move-ment variations that are critical to the (lancer'ssuccess,

Rehearsal is defined as a repetitiem of individualnmvements and movement sequence S. The organi-zation of rehearsal or practice may take manyforms. Typical of dance classes, rehearsal of move-ments is rote as in a ballet barre or stylizedwarm-up. Dance practice organization should hebased on achieving the correct form of the move-ment and using those movements in conjunctionwith other movements.

Rehearsal should be structured so that the quali-ties of the movement are developed in a way thatcan be repeated in many settings and combina-tions. An illustration of this effect is a beginningstudent performing tendu at the barre and at cen-ter. Although the pattern of the tendu should beidentical in both situations, moving to center Oftencauses the beginner to produce a very differenttendu pattern. In each case, the teacher must allowpractice of the movement. Variations of consistentpatterns that are desirable require the instructionto be designed so that the student practices all ofthe desired variations (Gentile, 1972: Spaeth-Arnold, 1981).

Clarifying the goal of the task t.hrough modelingand demonstration and structuring class practicedoes not necessarily mean that the learner willattend to the specific characteristics of the move-ment that are critical. The teacher niest also usestrategies to focus the attention of the learner onthe task (tilianeman. 197:3). As a part of the learn-ing process, a beginning student must be able todistinguish the difference between relevant andirrelevant informal itni that is critical to skilledperformance.

Cues and Mwieling

The teacher's identification of critical elementsor cues used to focus t he attention of t he learner onthe relevant information about the movementshoulo, '-.1e used to circumvent conumm errors of themovement. flow many cues or critical elemmossluadd an instructor use? The number of pieces ofinformation is dependent on the skill level of thestudent. As the skill level of the &nicer increasesthe number critical elements may be increaseddue to the individual's increasin;", efficiency in stor-ing information. hir the novice. however. informat ion amounts should be limited to one or two cucs.hir example, when teaching plie, one might \ er-

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The teacher mustuse a variety of

teaching strategiesand structure thelearning environ-ment to facilitatelearning. Photo of

instructor GaelStepanek and stu-dents at TeachersCollege, Columbia

University byetto M. Berk.

bally cuo on the posithin of the pelvis aini the rela-tionship of the knees to the feet. More infornmtionmight confuse the issue. Ilowever, after severalpractice attempts imire information may be given.At the novice level, brevity of information is criticalto the learning.

For most teaching, instructors use a nuidel todemonstrate the movement. Modeling is the visualdenumstrathm of skill. The elements of the actionare seen directly by the learner. The model can bethe teacher, a video tape, or student. Studies onmodeling tend to suggest several implications forinstruction. First, learners who receive verbalinstructions wit hout a visual demonst rat ion requirehmger practice to acquire appropriate imivementquality (Mc( 'ullagh, Steihl, & Weiss, 1990.) Second.the timeliness of the demonstration is important.The nnist. effective use of nuideling for studentlearning of movement occurs when the demonstra-tion is presented before the movement attempt.Increases in effectiveness can be gained by nuidcl-ing again (luring the practiee phase of movementlearning (Landers, 1975). Third. the skill level (il'the nuidel and the correctness of the demonstra-tion are critical factors that will influence thelearner. The best possible sit mit i(m is for a skilledteacher to be a model. If that t an option, usinga student peer would be the next best situation( Landers & Landers, 1973; Mc('ullagh. 1987),

The teacher must understand that processingdemands are very high during early learning andadding nonessential information demands to thelearner can be harmful. In many studios, visualinformation from mirrors adds to the processinghiad of the beginners. At first , watching the imagemay disrupt the nuivement quality and rhythm that

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1

have been previously developed. This disruptionoccurs because attention tends to be automaticallydrawn to a highly meaningful source, the individu-als image. Many beginners will develop a strategythat shifts the gaze from the mirror to the floor sothat concem ration can be focused on the move-ment. Eventually the movement has been practicedsufficiently to allow the beginner to watch her/hisimage and correct t he moveim nt during itsexecution.

Without realizing the potency of the mirror to thebeginner, the teacher may be adding unnecessarydemands to the task. For this reason the instructormay want to begin mirror work with static move-ment that is low attention demanding (e.g.. a singlemovement such as plie, tendu, or a contraction)and progress to dynamic nioveinents which arehigh attention demanding (e.g., across the floorimivement such as leaps, turns. and triplets,)

Teachers may focus the attention of the learneron the appropriate features oi he task by applyingverbal labels and imagery techniques. The numberof cues or stimuli that ar' verbalized to a studentcan be reduced by these techniques, I *els are ver-bal (i)nintands used by the teacher t, lie subjectson rhythm, body relationships, or movementsequence (Shea. 1977: llo & Shea, 1978; Magill &

Lee. 1987). For example, when teaching a will debras in ballet class t he i re;tructor. rather thancounting the positions (cl. the port de bras, (e.g.,1st. 2nd, :3rd. etc.) may label the spatial positionsfor t he movement (e.g., front, high side, low. etc.),The instructor. by verbalizing the positions of theanus in time with the music, can give the counts ofthe movement in synchrony with the body posi-tions. Using 'oice inflection to highlight the critical

Li 0

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beats of the movement. is also helpful. For example,in teaching a modern dance triplet, the instructormight say "DOWN, up, up" or "ONE, two, three,"accenting the downbeat of the music and initiationof a weight shift. The goal of teacher labeling is tocount and voice inflect on the beats while reinforc-ing specific dance vocabulary or movement quality

Imagery is a technique whereby a picture of arelated concept that describes an aspect of themovement, such as quality, or a representation ofsome action, shape. and/or feerng is presented tothe student. Images allow individuals to draw frompreviously acquired knowledge so that a linking ofmovement and image concepts can be used (Ilall &Buckholz, 1983). For example, when teaching aplie, certain images may be used to reinforceproper alignment. One image might be of a spinesliding down a fireman's pole. This image shouldaid the student in understanding the relationship ofthe alignment to the downward movement of thepile. This image gives the quality of the movement(sliding or fluid) and the visual image of an elon-gated, vertical spine. Through experience, teachersfind various images that evoke the best physicalresponse from their students. Many images may beused to enhance proper quality and shape ofnmvernenl.

Omsolidat iiuj

The beginner's ability to "chunk" or consolidateinformation will increase as practice continues.Discrete nmvements and movement sequences willbe joined together to form longer phrases or com-binations specific to the dance technique (Chase &Simon. 1973; St arkes, Deakin, Limiley, & Crisp,1987). A beginner in any dance form. typically, hasdifficulty performing arm and leg movementssimultaneously. Minimal articulation of the torso isseen durii.g early practice. As practice begins, thelearner beconies more familiar with arm awl legcoonlination and the ()arse shape of the imive-mem emerges. Subsequent practice leads to refine-ment in movement articulation and body position-ing in conjunction with the coordnutt ion of he armand leg.

For example. many beginning ballet :tudentshave difficulty executing tendu in conjunction withport de bras. The port de bras is particularly diffi-cult because ina beginners do not have a goodidea of the path the moving arm, which is mov-ing in a different dlane from the moving leg. Also, ifthe path of the arm extends heyond the peripheralview of the student the student will not be able to

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visually monitor the movement. The instructor mayalso use a verbal cue to encourage students todirect focus on the quality of the port de bras move-ment, e.g., smooth and flowing, versus the qualityof the leg movement, e.g., direct and percussive orvice versa, depending on the errors made.

Feedback

Tlw final goal for productive teaching of begin-ners is the instructor's role in providing feedbackabout movements. Following initial attempts at anew activity the learner must use feedback toestablish tlw effectiveness of the movement pat-tern (Mart eniuk, 197,;). During early learning thebeginning dancer will tend to rely heavily on visualinformation to guide and modify the movement(Robb, 1968). As skill develops, kinesthetie/propri-oceptive information plays an increasing role inmovement correction (Fleishman & Rich, 1963).The teacher supplements the learner's internalinformation sources by providing augmented infor-mation about some quality of the movement (e.g.,"feel the lengthening and lifting of the torso asyou . . ."). During early learning, the learner maynot be able to adequately immitor all the internaland external sources of information that provideinformation about the movement. The teacher'srole is twofold. First he/she must guide the learnerin developing his/her internal error detection pro-cess. And two, the teacher must provide informa-tion that is not readily available to the learner.

For example, a beginning student when per-forming a grande battement at the barre may tendto use visual feedback early in the learning to guidethe leg to its proper spatial position and ensure thatit returns to fifth position on movement comple-tion. Early learners appear to be unaware of theposititm of the trunk and pelvis during the move-ment and the rotation of the standing leg and ele-vated leg is usually lost. By providing verbal feed-back, teachers can focus attention on theinadequacies of the task. Guidance by the teacherthat aids the learner in developing a "correct .sensa-t ion" of a movement might be, for example, verbal-izing "level hips, rotated thighs, activated abdomi-nal muscles, or move as if you're reaching to thesky or spiraling upward. or contracting andexpanding with each breath . . .- will serve toimprove the movement form and quality.

The primary consideration for t he feedback .however, is related to the information demandsplaced mi the subject . Providing too much informa-t ion in the feedback message, as in oververbali/a-

S

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non, may caust the beginner to attend to a non-critical portion of the message. In the statement"You neglected to align your pelvis correctly, youhad no turn-out., the movement was jerky, you facedthe wrong way and you should have begun on counttwo," the beginner might only attend to the factthat. she/he began on the wrong count and disre-gard the remainder of the feedback,

('oincidentally. information that is highly precisemay also interlere with learning (Rogers, 1974;Magill & Wood, 19M). Care should alo be takenthat the feedback messages are spaced across theinstruction ( ',avery, 1962; Schmid'. Young,Swintic n, & Shapiro. 1989). A teacher who providesfeedlia-k. following each movement attempt maycause toe learner to rely too heavily on teacher

information as opposed to relying on the At Atent'sown internal, proprioceptive sense. If this were thecase and the teacher information was withdrawn.performance of the movement may be degraded.

We have attenti,ted to present a variety of teach-ing strategies that can be easily implemented intostudio instruction. Although the focus of this arti-cle was teaching adult beginners, many of the santestrategies may be applied to teaching students ofvarying skill level. To facilitate dance developmentin the studio, the teacher must understand the con-straints of the activity being taught and the plocess

the learner. It is the ambition of the teacher tohelp the student "learn how to learn." To aid in theproce, the teacher must consciously structurethe learning environment to facilitate learning.

References

Chase. WG Simon. H.A. (1973). rerl'eptiou in t'bIOSS.itirc Psychology, 4,55-81,

Fitts. PM., & Posner, M.I. (1967). Mina?? ped.orKla ?UV.Belmont. CA: Brooks/Cole.

E.A. & Rich, S. (1963). Role of kinestheticand spatial visual abilities in perceptual-motor learn-ing. Jourian E.uperimental Psychology, 66,6-II.

Gentile. A.M. (1972). A working model of skill acquisi-tion with application to teachMg. Quest . Monograph17,3-23.

Hall, & Buckholz, E. (1982-8:3). Imagery and therecall of nuivement patterns. Imaginal ion, Coan it ionand Personality, 2. 251-260.

lo, L. & Shea1.11. (1978). Levels of processing and thecoding of position cues in motor short-term memory.Journal of Motor Beha rim; 10, 113-121.

Khaneman, D. (1973). Attention (111(1 EnglewtiodCliffs, NJ; Prentice-I lall.

Landers. D.M. (1975). Observational learning of a motorskill: Temporal spacing of demonstrations and audi-ence presence. ../onrual of Motor Behavior, 7,

281-287.Landers, & Landers. D.M. (1973). Teacher versus

peer models: Effect of model's presence and perform-ance level on motor behavior. Jot/vital 0 MotorBehar ior 5, 129-139.

Lavery. LI. (1962). Retent ion of simple motor skill as afunction of type of kno..ykdge of results. CanadianJournal of Psychology, 16. 300-311.

Nlagill, HA., & Lee, T.D. (1987). Verbal label effects onresponse accuracy and organization for learning limbposit lolling movements. Jot/road of liii wanMmvment wiics, 13. 285-308.

& Wood, C.A. (1986). Knowledge of resultsprecision as a learning variab!e in motor skill acquisi-

hon. Research QuarterLoOr Ei cruise awl Sport, 54.346-351.

Marteniuk, R.G. (1976). Information processing inmotor skills. New York: Bolt, Rinehart and Winston.

McCullagh, P (1987). Model similarity effects on motorperformance. ,Joii rk1 al 1.i.1 Sp(111.ti PS,11010(Vi9,249-260.

McCullagh, Steih11., & Weiss, M.R. (1990)Developmental modeling effects on thy quantitativeand qualitative aspects of motor performance.Research Quarterly .for Euerci.se and Sport, 61 ,344-350.

Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number siwen phis orminus two: Some limits on our capacity for processii.:'information. Psyclmlogn'al Review, 6.). 81-97.

Robb, NI. (1968). Feedback and skill learning. ResearchQua rterly37, :393-405.

Rogers, C.A. (1974). Feedback precision and post-feedback interval duration. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology, 102. 604-608,

Schmidt. H.A., Young, D.E., Swinnen, S., & Shapiro, D.( .

(1989). Summary knowledge of results for skill acqui-sition: Support for the guidance hypothesis. A111110Hj. Experimental Psy(liology: Learning, ilfentary,and COf in it irm, 15, 325-359.

Shea, J.13. (1977). Effects of labelling on motor short-term memory. Journal of Elperimental Psychology:Human Learning and Memory5,179-I87.

Spaeth-Arnold. R.K. (198( ). Developing sport skills: Adynamic ipt erplay of task, learner, and teacher. Motor

Thcorii into Practice. Monograph 2,1-81.Starkes1.L.. Deakin-1.M., Lindley, S & Crisp. F (1987).

Motor versus verbal recall of ballet sequences by ytningexpert dancers. Journal of .tiport Psychology, 9.

Carol A. Wood and Susan Gillis-Kruman are in the Departmentof Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance,

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261.

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Student as Teacher, Teacher as StudentGail Lee Abrams

As a college dance professor for the past 15years, I have often been confronted with questionsabout the va!idity of dance as a field of study at thepostsecondary level. College administrators, fac-ulty ccIleagues, students, parents, and even we, asdancers ourselves, ask about the value of dance ineducation, the practicality of dance as a possiblecareer choice, and the impact dance can have inpersona'. growth. Although I have become prac-ticed at amwering these questions to most people'ssatisfaction, they have raised other questions abouthow I might better accomplish my goals as ateacher of movement and convey to my studentsjust how rich a contribution dance can make tothc:r lives.

The Motivation

Many people who have not studied dance assumethat it is a very specific, self-contained disciplinethat may not be particularly applicable within thebroader context of a college education. Whatmakes dance so p9tentia1ly effective as a compo-nent of higher education is its interactive, partici-patory, experiential approach. Although possible, itis certainly not easy to get through a dance classwithout truly paying attention and actively gettinginvolved. Since so many college classes are taughtin a lecture format, in which students can merelysit, take notes, and decline to participate, a danceclass can serve as a tremendously challenging,recuperative, and stimulating ( Terience calling onthe physical and mental cap, nilities 4 the studentin a totally unfamiliar way.

In striving to achieve this goal of total involve-nwnt, I have been (-valuating many of my ownteaching methods and hal, discovered the value ofincorporating "self-teacei ./," techniques into myclasses. A few years ago, noticed that some of mystudents were t reating my dance technique course

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as simply another academic class; they were lazyand seemed to be "sleep-dancing" through classesat times. Many of them expected to be spoon-fedthe material, just as they were in more traditionalclasses. The syndrome of "show me the movement,and I'll repeat it back" was surfacing more andmore, and interactions between students andteacher, and between stude:its themselves, wereoften mechanical and impersonal.

It also seemed that when students did try to learnmovement phrases, they did not really see whatwas important in the movement. Their concern wasfor the steps, the counts, that is, the quantitativerather than the qualitative essence of the move-ment. Consequently, their own versions of themovement often tended to be mechanical andexternally motivated rather than felt from and con-nected to internal motivation and kinesthetic sen-sation. In addition, I wanted to more effectively tapthe creative potential of all of my students, espe-cially those who were not as technically skilled butwho might have wonderful, creative gifts. I beganto look for more ways to clarify, and to teach stu-dents to clarify, concepts about movement andwhat it communicates.

It s(!enu'd that the best way to solve these prob-lems was to involve students more, not only in thelearning process, but also in the l('achin!) pro-cess. This had always been a significant part of mycomposition ':lasses, but I had applied it in mytechnique classes less often and more haphazardly.Although I sometimes had students heip each otherwith movement phrases by learning the oppositeside in pairs or by observing and correcting eacliother, and although we often did improvisation andshort composition studies, these never seemedfully integrated into my teaching process in a waythat really math, a difference. I had always felt thatas the teacher, I should be responsible for all, ormost, of tIu, teaching. Once I began to exiwrimentwith different ways of having students t each them-

c., 41.4

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selves and each other. I realized that more produc-tive work was being accomplished, students werelearning more, and I was learning more and teach-ing better.

The Methods

There is nothing magical about the specific tech-niques I have been using, except that they work:they help students understand more about move-ment, their own learning processes, and them-selves. Many of the examples I will give are proba-bly things that many dance instructors already doin their classes. If so, perhaps this will simply pro-vide a new perspective on ways in which they canbe effective; if not, I hope they will prove helpful.

Perhaps the most common self-teaching tech-nique is having students coach each other in pairs,after having learned a movement phrase in tech-nique class. The observer gives feedback aboutwhat she has seen and what she believes could beworked on, both quantitatively and qualitatively.The coaching process also includes discussionabout how the mover feels when doing the move-ment, both on a physical and an expressive level.When the roles are reversed, both students realizethat although they are doing the same basic move-ment phrase, each puts her own imprint on themovement and claims it as her own, because shehas discovered her own personal connection to it.By watC;ing each other, students improve theirobservational skills; they have to define their ownconcept. of the movement in terms of motivation,shape, quality, timing, initiation, phrasing, etc.

In developing images for herself and her partner,the student becomes accountable for her ownmovement and the choices she makes. She moreonsciously recognizes her own tendencies and

preferences and gains concdence in her ability toobserve, evaluate, and help .nother. While workingas partners, students challenge each other to justifya.ill clarify what they are doing.

Another exercise in observation and clarificationinvolves showing a movement phrase (usually not amunted phrase) and having the students repeatwhat they have seen after only one viewing.Obviously, they can't really repeat the phrase accu-rately; the point of the exercise k to find out whataspects of the movement have made the greatestinitial impression. Students contince to work onwhat they cemember of the phrase until they haveclarified and developed it into their own phrase."Ilirough this evolutionary process. erten vcrsion

8 l

becomes something quite different from the origi-nal; however, there is also a unity because each ver-sion has sprung from the same source. Playing withthe various phrases in duets, trios, etc. can yieldfascinating results and allows students to work oncomposition, improvisation, and tech.tiquesimultaneously.

While observing and guiding the studeit...-' work-ing processes, I discover more .tbout eac! indivithi-al's own learning methods. The more I understandhow and what each student sees and does not see,and what each student perceives as being impor-tant in learning a phrase, the better equipped I amto give constructive feedback to that student. I canspeak to her using her own language, and I canintroduce her to new concepts from the startingpoint, of things she already understands.

Another way of approaching this is by having stu-dents dialogue with themselves while dancing aphrase. I ask each dancer to literally talk to herselfout loud; she describes what she is doing, how sheis doing it, what she likes and doesn't like about themovement., how she feels when doing it, imagesthat occur to her, etc. In this manner, the studentconsciously hooks into what she is doing andbecomes more fully aware of the physical and men-tal connections. I also ask each student to identifythe moment or moments in the phrase that sheloves dancing the most, and to perform those withthe fullest energy and commitment possible. Thenshe is asked to allow that energy and joy to extenditself through the movement that occurs before andafter her favorite moment(s), so that eventually theentire phrase is infused with the same life she gavet he kolated moment.. This not only results ingreater enjoyment and fuller performance, it alsogives her a greater understanding of kinestheticconnections and movement transitions within adance phrase.

Asking students to choreograph and teach theirown sequences to the class is an effective "seff-teaching" method. In most classes, some studentswill jump at the opportunity to lead class, whileothers are terrified at the prospect of such respon-sibility. Once conviiwed to try it, they generally findit much mow fun but also more diffk.ult than theyexpected. As they see their classmates try to repro-duce their movenwnt, the "teachers" learn wherethey have been unclear, in either time structure ornwvement quality, initiation, phrasing, orsequence. Their own classmates challenge them tobeconw more art ii..ulate a.s t hey ask for exactness inthe teacher's performance or verbal description oftlw movement . By Observing areas in which tlw u-

sti

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dents have difficulty communicating to each other,I learn what concepts I nee(i (k) focus on more fullywithin a particular class.

One of the most glaring problems to surface dur-ing this exercise has been in the ; .ea of rhythmicstructure. Students are invariably unable to do themovement. the same way twioe because they do notunderstand how to count their own phrases. I havebeen dismayed to see this occur even in moreadvanced classes. This has alerted me to the needfor more emphasis on rhythmic analysis and musictraining in my classes. whk...h.I accomplish withDalcroze Eurythmics exercises as well as consulta-tion and tean -teaching witl, my accompanist.

During technique and improvisation classes, theself-teaching method may also take form throughthe development of a ritual. To promote groupunity, I often use this in a "disconnected" class, inwhich people do not seem to be relating to eachother as classmates or as frionds. We decide on aparticular concept around which to design a ritual:it may be an idea I suggest, or it may be somethingrelated to the season, or perhaps a political orsocial issue. The class brainstorms ideas verbally,trWs to find some organization or structure fromthose ideas, and then breaks into groups. Eachgroup develops its own part of the ritual, and atleast some part of the ritual brings everyonetogether at the beginning, end, or both. SeveralrAearsals precede the final performance.Discussion about the ritual itself as an effectivecommunication of the chosen concept, anti aboutthe dynamics of group process, concludes theclass.

In minposit ion class, an excellent assignment inwhich students teach each other involves randompairing of classmates who will each (Trate a move-ment study for the other. They frankly discuss theirown technical and choreographic strengt hs, prefer-ences, and weaknesses and give feedback to theirpartner on the same issues. In creating study forthe partner, each choreographer attempts to incor-porate both people's assets into one dance, inorder to capitalize on positiv ? features and mini-mize negative ()nes. By blending both styles, each ismoving in an unfamiliar way and attempting to giveup crutches anti discover new ways of dancing.Each is also learning to recognize what is good andvaluable about her own movement style, which isvital since students often experience extrenw inse-curity and doubt abouf, their own creative abilities.While watching the final studies in class, it k amaz-ing to see how much each choreograp.) r hasgrown and how successfully each ha.s been able to

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solve the problem. Through this assignment, thestudents usually achieve a new level of objectivitythat greatly enhances and improves their subse-quent work.

In addition, I require composition students toschedule "labs" with each other each week (rotat-ing partners throughout the semester) in order toget and give feedback on a more individual basisbefore showing their work to a larger audience inclass. This enables students to refine their workone step further before showing, and gives themmore practice in critiquing each other. Conse-quently, they have more confidence in their abilityto talk about movement in greater depth, and theircomments quickly progress past the level of "It wasreally gool (but I don't know why)."

Studews tie their experiences together throughjournal writing, a vital component of the sells-teach-ing process. By recording experiences, reactions,observations, and insights about events lwcurringin and out of class, students articulate, verbalize,and bring to the conscious level many ideas andconnections of which they might otherwise beunaware. This written diary provides them with achronological record of their growth and develop-ment, which can be a valuable resource not onlyduring the semester but later on as well. By readingand commenting on the journal at mid-semester, Ican encourage students who are on the right trackand challenge those who are not to dig deeper orcon:;ider other possibilities.

At the end of the semester, all students arerequired to re-read their z.-ntire journal and write aconcluding entry, which may be a summation offeelings about the course and their progress, analtered response to something they wrote earlier inth semester, or any other thoughts that mayemerge as a result of re reading. This processserves as a synthesis of everything that hasoccui red throughout the semester. Through read-ing tile journals, it is clear that students recognizenot only how much they have progressed in theirdaoye lives, btit also how applicable their experi-ence is to) their personal and academic lives.

The Benefits

Although limn of t he advantages of self-teachingare discussed above, a few others should be nwn-honed. Initially, began to use self-teaching tech-niques nmre frequently during a semester in whichI was teaching over seven hours of dance in one day(fortunately, not every day!). Fear of burnout and ;t

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neck Mjury that semester forced me to find ways ofconducting a full class while protecting myself andnot cheating my stud ats. Later on, teachingthrough a pregnancy helped me test and refineother ways of using students to teach each other. Ifound this to be a tremendous energy-saver, and myteaching style and enthusiasm were quiterejuvenated.

Having students work with each other also freedmy eyes so that I could observe more and give morethorough feedback to individuals in the class. Asmany of us do, I suffered from the "super-teachersyndrome": I must see everything that is going onin the room. I must be able to help evo ryone atonce, and I must know all the am. ers. Studentscan, with the right guidance, find the answers forthemselves, and often there are severe' n'opriatesolutions to a particular problem. lising students tohelp each other gives rise to many possibilitiesteachers may not see themselves.

Having students coach each other helped solvethe problem of what to do with the rest of the classwhen I was giving corrections or feedback to oneparticular student. Occupying the rest of the classin pairs or groups prevented me from losing theattention of the class or stopping its momentum,while promoting class unity and mutual supportrelationships at the same time. Equalization of skilllevel among class members also occurred, as eachrecognized her ability to help another regardless ofher technical ability.

For example, one student may not be as techni-cally advanced as another, but she may be an excel-lent obseuver, give articulate feedback, or have t re-

mendous creative skills. Thus, students gainconfidence in themselves through awareness oftheir own special abilities, and they gain respect foreach other's individual contributions. In addition,respect for their teacher, and for the process ofteaching, is enham ed.

Dance is often assumed to be a nonverbal disci-pline that is experienced solely through the body.This concept must be dispelled, and use of thesetechniques is one way to do Asking students toarticulate their body experiences makes light bulbsgo on for them in a way that is new and revealing.By consciously thinking through and verbalizingwhat they feel and see, concepts hit honw morequickly and become better integrated, and the stu-dent is much more likely to apply her new-foundknowledge to her dancing and choreography.

The study of dance can have tremendous impacton the college student by helping to facilitate prob-lem-finding and problem-solving. It also fostersrecognition of learning processes, working pro-cesses, and studying processes, as well as aware-ness of how one functions within a group andwithin interpersonal relationships. These charac-teristics establish dance as a rejuvenator andbuilder of the individual, who is then better able toapproach the rest of the curriculum wit h the samesense of connection, vision, and creative insight.

The concept of "student as teacher, teacher asst udent" can further facilitate significant, inte-grated, active learning among students, while max-imizing our energy, efficiency, and effectiveness asteachers. As teachers, we must each remain theobserver, 1 he seekerthe student.

Gail Lee Abrams teaches in the Dance Department,Scripps College, Claremont, California 91711.

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Ballet I Curricular Designin Higher Education

Carol J. Soleau

Ballet I curricular design must relate to the con-text in which the course is taught.. In some institu-tions, dance classes are offered by dance or finearts departments. Auditions are held to determineplacement, and tlw Ballet I curriculum is de;:ignedto span one or ideally two semesters. In other insti-tutions, dance classes are elective ,..hoices within aphysical education service program. No auditionsare held for placement, and therefore the clientelewill differ significantly in ability and motivation.Within a typical ten-week quarter system. classeswill meet twice a week for an lunir or less.

There may be administrative pressure foraccountability and the course must incorporate itsustificat on into the curriculum. Furthermore,sinco many service programs are supported by afee structure for survival in higher education. anentripreneurial system is emerging as standardpractice. Popularity, not content determineswhet ki'r a class is taught or not. The courses whichsurvive must be an enjoyable experience for thestudents. Such factors create a particular challengefor ballet educators. because the content is tradi-tionally taught in a slow refftitive maniwr within aformal working atmosphore that can hardly bedescribed tS

The curricular concepts that follow were devel-oped to tuldress the particular situation describedabove. They can idso be applied in classes that aresubject to less restrictive conditiony.

The initial challenge is to dtnet mine those con-tent areas that must be taught. reatizing that manystudents will only take one course in ballet.Students' expectations can In.,. ....fine the goals.For instance. it is safe to as'-al., ...tht young adultstaking I Lllit for the first t. not realisticallypur.,uing a career in the field. ,i.isons for takingsuch a ctitirse would more likely include improving

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their physical well-being, including strength, flexi-bility, balance, and coordination; enhancing theirperformance level in another sport or physicalactivity; peer recommendations; or fulfilling achildhood fantasy or fascination with the art form.

Though student expectations should not dictatethe goals, they do support the premise that balletcan be accessible to a broad population rather thanto a chosen few. It is uorealistic to expect to pro-duce highly skilled technicians, because the iwr-

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Carol Soleau, author, in "Some Other Time," 1990.Photo from Oregon State 1' drersity, Corrallis.

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formance standard takes years of intense trainingto achieve. Rather, it seems prudent to introducethe technique as part of a tradition including a richhistorical background and unique aesthetic proper-ties. Teaching a diverse population clarifies the pri-mary focus. It. is to foster an appreciation of the artform and to cultivate the joy of dancing.

The specific technical skills introduced are deter-mined by observing novices, identifying founda-tional ability competence, utilizing the traditionalballet barre format, and recognizing that Ballet I

students can experience the plea:sure of dancing.To facilitate teaching, attention is given to accom-mdating diverse learning styles and to grouping

steps into similar shapes. Complex skills are builtadhering to the desired timing rather than brokendown into parts. Limb preference and directionalpreference are discouraged in a lfort to symmet-rically train the body. Skills are taught by directingattention to the placement of the entire body, notby "teaching the feet first."

Though there are other areas that could enhanceefficient presentatain of material, this paper will!Mut itself to those lescribed above. The applica-tkin of select ed motor learning research findingsand personal experi, nce have contributed to thedevelopment of these concepts.

Class Structure

Each clw.,s follows a similar format that becomesfamiliar to the students. The class begins in thecenter with a warm-up, followed by floorwork, theham', the center, sequences across the floor, and acenter fhior chising The warm-up, than., and harrytake approximately 37 minutes; the center, acrossthe floor work, and closing take 2:3 minutes. Eachclass include,: the skills that will be intrmhiced, theskills that e previously been introduced andare pract iced, brief anecdot es about dance ort,e meaning of the vocabulary, and travelingsequencest hat satisfy the students' need for physi-cal exertion.

The separate sect k ms of the class not only keepIhe students from becoming discouraged in onearea. hut make the luau. feel longer than it is. Thestudents are mentally and physically active due tothe [iris,. pace and the number of skills that afs.practiced in each class. These skills are often sim-ply variations of one skill, whici, provides the stu-dents with the opportunity to build upon their pre-vious experience. Ideally, this format promote.slearning and ensures it sense of accomplishment.

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Observation of Novices

Sometimes it is difficult to know where to beginwhen confronted with a large class ofadult novices.Sonie have had previous experience and sinne havenever entered a dance studio) before. Though thelist could be endless, I have identified seven areasthat seem to pose frequent problems for the begin-ning level student. These are:

An understanding of alignment, placeinent,and initiating movement from the center oft he body.

2. Coordination of body parts to achieve move-merit efficiency and enjoyment.

:3. The use of breath.4. The timing of movement,5. Outward rotation of the hip joint that affects

overall alignment, particularly the pelvis.knees, and feet.

P. The shape of the pointed foot and weightbearing foot,

7. The use of straight and bent knees in bothweight bearing and nonweight bearingexercises.

These concepts are interrelated and occurrepeatedly in each class. Several areas need Munediate attention, for some students have a precon-ceived picture ot' the ballet aesthetic. For example,they will try to force a turn out of the feet that doesnot reflect the true outward rotation capability ofthe hip joint. This stance distorts the Ikkly and isdetrimental to the knees and feet. There is also atendency to minimize the pile in order to appear todefy gravity Time needs to be spent on clarifyingthe adults capabilities, noting individual differ-ences in flexibility ranges and strength capacities,and insisting t hat our current kaiiwledge of thebody can prevent injuries.

Utilizing Foundational Abilities

In order to keep stud', its from being over-whelmed by t specifi y of ballet technique,early classes con. motor capabilit thatthey already pw;s:-ss, such as valking, skipping .and running boil ?rAard and backward. This sup-port Richard 11L, i989) findings that founda-t kmal wahilie the performance of com-plex motor sk i !.4, reports that Edwin Fleishmau(1978, 1982) con,wcted research that resulted ininitially identifying I I perceptual-motor abilitiesand 9 physical proficiency abilities. 'Me percep-tual-motor abilities, which particuLrly pertain to

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ballet, include multilimb coordination and controlprecision. The physical proficiency abilities, whichcan be described as physical fitness abilities,include static and dynamic strength and 9exibility.

Ba-sed on Fleishman's research, bah A. curriculacould utilize this knowledge to maximize teachingefficiency. It would be pointless and unsafe to teachgrand fouette en tournant in the first class, whereasa grand jete would be at ceptable because it is anextension of running, a foundational motor ability.Saute attitude en avant could be introduced afterpracticing skipping, arabesque sautee after prac-ticing hopping. Though the execution limy not beperfect , students realize that many complex move-ments are built upon skills that they have alreadymastered.

The Barre

The ballet barre is the staple for students of alllevels. It must be modified for beginners to ensuresafe and correct technical practices. The premise isto warm up the body slowly and thoroughly begin-ning with large muscle groups and graduating toexercises that rc wire more flexihility, strength,and qiiekhess.

A typical beginning barre fcrmat inuludes: pliestendus, degages, rond de jambes, tclagiosequences. frappes, and grand bat t ements. Theexercises are introduced throughout the quarterand can be modified for novices. For example.grand plie can be eliminated if safety is a concern.The imporLint point is to prepar- students fordancing.

"The harry is not a separate entity Once the stu-dents have an understanding of plies. temhis. anddegages in combinations, they possess the funda-mental skills for many variations of elevations mdtraveling steps.

Traveling vs. Center Floor Combinations

Charly. ail basic technical skills eannot he taughtat the beginning level and choices have to lw made.I choose to focus on preparations for large travel-ing movement combinat ions (grand allegro) rat herthan sustained movement coinbinations (adage) orqui(k center floor elevations (petit allegro) basedupon observing the ahiliti s of the majority ofbeginma-s.

Adage requires a strong center. flexibility,strength, balance. concentration. Petit allegrorequires speed and articulate legs and feet.

Sti

Traveling combinations, on the other hand, allowthe students to experience the exhilaration of danc-ing in spite of their limited technical backgrounds.

I also curtail the practice of turning skills tothree or four minutes in every lesson to slowlydevelop "spotting" techniques, because there is awide difference in proficiency levels among begin-ners in executing this particular skill. Those wholike to turn practice constantly on their own. Thosewho don't, complain of dizziness and disorientationand easily get. discouraged. Since the course mightbe students' only exposure to ballet, an effort ismade to minimize frustration caused by introduc-ing skills that are enjoyed by only a portion of theclass.

Different Learning Styles

Another area that can expedite learning is theuse of imagery, particularly kinetic imagery.Though it has become common practice in teach-ing dance, it is clear that images must be meaning-ful to tlw learner. In fact, imagery may producenegative results aniong some learners, whorespond better to verbal explanations and visualmodeling practices. In order to reach the broadestpopuhit ion. I experiment with a variety ofapproaches. Demonstration is the most popularmet hod of teaching. This can be accompanied witha straightforward verbal explanation as well as withseveral carefully chosen images.

For instance. in teaching battement tenduquatrime devant, I give the following explanation."Keepilw both legs straight, slide the gesture legforwan. hug with the heel until it has to lift offthe fklor. Begin to arch the foot through the instep

ball of the foot until the toes are stretched, andare not weight bearing. To return, shde the

hail back leading with the toes. Relax the toes andthe hall of t he foot until the heel is r4,,leased ontothe floor and continue sliding the '.00t back to theoriginal posit ion.-

For some, the following images might help toprmluce the desi:.ed result. "Feel yourself lifted ciutof the Icgs from deep inside the pelvic region. Agentle hirce propels tlw leg hirward from behindthe buttocks smoothly sending energy down andforward, encasing the back of the leg, Brushthrough fte floor as if it was covered with powder.feeling as if the foot could travel t hm mgh the flooruntil it is fully extended. Draw the leg back fromdeep inside the abdominals. again brushingthrough powder until the starting position isreached.- 1 'sefel information is impart( .1 i both

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explanations, and the different cues may reach alarger proportion of the Hass.

Grouping '_echnical Steps by Shapes

Another principle that seems to facilitate learn-ing among beginners is to group the teaching oftechnical steps into similar shapes of the body as awhole. This is based on the theory that beginninglevel students have difficulty in coordinating bentvs. straight leg combinations. For example. theplacement of sur le cou de pied will be taught in thesame class as frappes, jetés dessus and dessous,and finally, skipping with the foot in a reasonableproximity of the stir le cou de pied position. Sur lecou de pieci and battement retire are practicedbefore pas de chat is introduced, and glissade der-riere is taught in the same class with grand jete A lasemn&. Glissade and pas de chat are never taughtin the same class. The starting and ending pointsare the same, but the intent and desired shape ofthe legs during the execution are quite different. Icombine glissade and assemble together, which isless confwing and easier for beginners to grasp.

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Alternative Teaching Methods

A common practice among dance teachers is to"break down" complex steps or patterns, allowingthe student to experience a degree of success inearly stages of practice. My premise is to "build"complex movements, adhering to the timing of theultimate goal.

For instance, I introduce assembles as follows. Atthe barre the tendus are (count 1) plie, (counttendu, (count 3) plié, (count 4) and straight.Degagés will be taught as plié for 2, brush both legsstraight for 2, in first and in 3rd position A laseconde. The timing will then be taught as "and l'(plie brush close plié). After several other exercisesto warm up the feet, assemble dessus i3 practicedfacing the barre in 3rd position. Immediately fol-lowing, assemble dessous is practiced. Later bothare rehearsed in the center. In the following class,the &gage conthination will be practiced en Croixin preparation for assembles en avant and en arri-ere, giving the students the kinesthetie feeling fort he many variations of assenthles, b. it these will notbe further developed at the beginning level.

Lesa R. kbroadhead instrut.s ballet students in the dance program at Kent State University's School ofPhysical Education, Recreation and Dance. Photo by University Photographers.

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The choice to introduce assemble dessus anddessous together is a conscious one. Ballet is sup-posed to be sym.netrically practiced, and in manycases it is not. Typically, the left hand is placed onthe barre first, followed by the right hand. Turnstend to be taught to the right first, followed by theleft. Assemble dessus is taught first, as is jete des-sus, and glissade derriere. My premise is to try tominimize preferred limb preference and preferreddirectional preference by practicing both equally.Though fewer steps will be taught at the beginninglevel, ideally, the students will be more .,abituallybalanced in their approach to the art form.

Finally, I never teach "the feet first." Demonstra-tions include attention to the placement of theentire body. Students can immediately observe thefinal expected execution. The initial port de brasmay be simple, but it must be modeled. The con-cept of "putting it. all together at the end" wastestime. The students must reprocess the information.Also, teaching in parts requires altering the tintingof the breath and the overall timing of coordinatingthe body linths.

Cultural Components

Though much of the course is devoted to acquir-ing technical proficiency, I also allow time forincluding the cultural, historical, and aestheticaspects of the art form. All the terms are intro-duced in French and the class is provided with writ-ten English translations of the terms. The studentsare required to take a vocabulary quiz during thesixth week, rather than at the end of the term whenthey will no longer be using the information.

I encourage the class to attend a live ballet per-forniance. If this is not possible, films are t-thownoutside of class time. Students are provided withwritten guidelines to aid their critical assessment ofthe performance they observed. Pictures of well-known ballet art kts and choreographers arc sharedwith the class, as well as short explanations of the

history of selected ballets. The students particu-larly enjoy Sandra Noll Hammond's (1982) descrip-tion of a 19th century ballet barre. They are inter-ested in the progression of the art form. Thetechnical skills they learn, combined with theirbrief exposure to ballet's past as well as its present ,

instill in the students a respect for the difficulty ofthe medium, as well as an appreciation of its evolu-tion through time.

Summary

The curricular design that has been introducedgrew out of the necessity to survive within a systemthat values the popularity of a course more than itscontent. The fact that it must be aimed at a diversepopulation, must be taught within a strict. timelimit, and must satisfy the needs of the students,mandates that priorities are established. The chal-lenge is to maintain the integrity of the course.Identifying and utilizing foundational abilities,grouping technical steps by shapes, and employingalternative teaching methods aid in teaching effi-ciency. Structuring the class into many segments,as well as utilizing the barre as the means toachieve freedom of movement, ensures that aitajority of the students will experience a level of

success. Introducing students to the rich culturalhistory of the art form helps to keep its traditionsalive.

The fac: that the course must be designed toappeal to a broad population has also producedpositive results. Many students will experience anintroduction to ballet who may not have taken thecourse because of its elitist reputation, or its gen-der biased history. Some of these students will bemotivated to further their studies. They will knowwhat to expect and will be physically and mentallyprepared lc improve their technical movenwntvocabulary. Most important, ballet curriculum willsurvive in higher education, for students havelearned through experience to appreciate its value.

ReferencesFleishman, E.A. (1978). I .I ing individual diftvretteos

to tho dimensions of human tasks. Er(nnimnics ,21,1007-1019.

Fleishman, E.A. (.1982). Systems for deserilniq, humantasks. American Psychologist, .?1,821-8:),1.

Hammond. S.N. (1982). Ballet: gond Me ba.sieN PalaAlto, ('A: Mayfield PuNishing Co.

Magill, B.A. (1989). Motor learning concepts andapplications. Dubuque. IA: Win. (', Brown Pubhshers.

Carol J. Soleau teaches dance in the College of Health midHuman Performance, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331.

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Servhig a Broad Dance Communityin Higher Education

Eleanor Weisman

The development of dance curriculum at the uni-versity level is most, frequently focused on thedance major. Dance educators face the challenge oftraining future dance performers, teachers, andchoreographers. However, there is another aspectof dance education to be addressed, the role thatdance can play in the general education of all col-lege students. Besides the specialization of thedance major, a general study of dance would be abenefioial component of higher studies just asEnglish composition and the sciences are part ofevery student's education.

Many state education departments and arts coun-cils are developing arts curricula that addres!; theissue of providing arts education for all stuilents inthe lower grades. The Wisconsin Department ofPublic Instruction states:

All peciple 11 ET t he ginded comprehensiveexperience of dance as a fi ne art in their lives.The dance experience for most people sin add bea joyous one, with emphasis on the processrather than on the product professnmal dancersstress. Dance is mit just for the elite who canafford expensive study in private studios.Everpme slumld know the joy of nuiving freely.and unsellconscioasly so as to reveal a uniquepersonality.. . .

As the demand for educational excellencegrows around the ciumtry, teaching the easilytransmitted forms of dance will no kinger be suf-ficient. Educators will have to expand their ownpotential in order to expand that of their stu-dents as well. (Bryant-Weiler, &

Nirschl. I 98S, p. 2)

We higher education dance educators must alsoexpand .nir curricular objectives to include thegeneral stmlent pc imitation in appropriate danceprogranis.

As we move into the 21st century. we recognizet he in qui:lance of the physical, mental, elnOtional,and spiritual aspects of I lw human individual. The

physical fitness craze has been running strong formany years now, and many univeffity students taketime out of their class schedules to exercise at theirschool's physical education center. This is defi-nitely a step in the right direction, but an exerciseregime does not necessarily provide the same bene-fits that a dance experience can--most importantly,the joy of self-expression through movement.

Educational theorist. Howard Gardner (1983)writes of seven human intelligences in his bookFt (Imes (if Mind: linguistic, logical/mathematical,spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersinal,and intrapersonal. The specialization that occurs inhigher education usually focuses on the linguisticand t.he logical/mathematical intelligences. Manycollege students find themselves under stress andintense pressure from this concentration on spe-cific learning styles. Student at the University ofSouth Dakota have asked me to present Yoga andstress release programs because they need recu-peration front their high-paced lifestyles instead offocusing on only two of the intelligences, highereducat km must celebrate the wholeness of t hehuman being. Dance and movement educat it m is anexploration of our kinesthetic intelligence that alsodevelops our other six intelligences, and as suchcould be a foundation of a liberal arts education.

Dance classes can be designed quite nat urally toaddress all the intelligences and to challenge stu-dents at all levels. A dance session might use verbalintages for movement motivation and place thent ina structured sequence (linguistic intelligence). Thesequence comld be performed to different pieces ofmusic or with the dancers creatiqg their ownaccompanying sounds (musical intelligence ). ,

logical/ntathematical experienco can be exelonby setting specific rhyt hntic counts, then cuttingt he count s in half, dmibling them, etc. Spatial rea-soning can be challenged by changing the direc-

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tions, levels, and facings of the sequence as well asby creating group formations, Group work alsodevelops interpersonal intelligence, while theencouragement of each student to commit to themovement and to make it his/her own self-ex-pression can foster the intrapersonal.

Exploration of one's self and one's relationshipswith others becomes increasingly more valuable(and often more (lifficult) as a person matures.College students frequently tell me they find danceclasses based on concept ual experiences to betherapeutic. Certainly most c()Ilege students willcognitively grasp basic concepts easily, but physi-cally is another matter. As their physical abilityincreases. older students can explore more com-plex spatial pulls, including off-vertical movement .more complex use of niovement and languagethrough poetry. and movement and music throughcanons. rounds. accumulatiens, etc. For a collegestudent who is a beginning dancer, classes that arechallenging conceptually as well as physically maybe much nuire rewarding than a dance class thatfocuses on inntat ion and earning steps. In essence,dance is a way for a stui 'ent to better understandand express him/herself, to better communicatewith others, and to better funct ion in and with theenvironnient.

If dance is defined as the artist ic or creativeaspect of movement. then (lance education is amethod to teach creative thinking through our kin-esthetic intelligence. This type of education neednot stop at t he lower grades hut can continuethnnighout higher education. Students of businessmanagement. for example, learn skills of negotia-tion and team-building. Those same skills are usediumverhally in group dance improvisation. Dance/movement training based on group improvisationcan provide instruction ill communication throughmirroring, syncronicity, eye contact . touch. spatialarrangement and patterns. order of moving, andindividual expression. as well as leading andfollowing

The deNelopment of nonverbal communicationshIls leads tu self-confidence, respect for theuniqueness of the individual, am] successful team-work or ensemble. Dance improvisation exercisesrelate to t he skills taught for conflict resolution. Weall need to he able to express ourselves, to listen toothers, and to celebrate our differences inn] oursimilarities. When we are able to) do so in the move-ment space of a dance studio, we may also find iteasier in the political, social. and businessenviromments.

Dance is a way to cross cultural harriers. We can

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learn about people with very different backgroundsby a dance class session exploring anIrish jig or an African welcome dance. We use theseObjectives as reasons why dance education is sovaluable in grades K-12; they are even more acutelytrue for older students who will soon be our policymakers.

If we look at primary cultures with tribal societyorganization, we see that dance was often a com-munal activity. Members of all ages would performin ritual and festive dances. We learn from thesesocieties that dance is not necessarily only a per-forming art, but has value as a participating art. InHist 0 ry the Dance in Art and Education.dance scholars Richard Kraus. Sarah Chapman-Ililsendager. and Brenna Dixon (1991) state."Among lineage-based cultures. then, one of thegreat purposes of dance has been to establishsocial unity and provide a means of collectivestrength and purpose" (p. 19). From the Lakotawacipi (powwow) to the European folk dance gath-ering, dance events provide safe environments forcommunity interaction. Phy.iical, social, and evenspiritual needs can be met through community(lance.

More recently, in the first halt' of this cc nt ury inEurope, Rudolf Laban developed what he called"dance for the layman." Ile choreographed largegroup pieces and coined the term "movement .choir" to describe them. The dancers were lay peo-ple with little or nu (lance training. Vera Maletic( 1987) writes of Laban's ideas in 13ml y-Space-E.garssion:

Labatt conceived of movement choirs as amedium providing an experience of togeth-erness. as community through dance:'Thousands of people can now experiencethe benefit of the rhyt Inn and flow of dance.Inn only as spectators but also an activeplayers in the joy of mot ing.- However, In'emphasized that besides the shared experi-ence of lite joyful movement f he crucialtask of the movement choirs was to maul-tain a sense of humanity in a dignified form.Ile saw choral movement not as one of theWally ways to achieve hody-mind educationhut as the only possible wayfor adults andchildren alike. I p. 1-- 1 TO

If our education system is to address the educationof the "whole person," then certainly dance,Thove-ment must be part of the learning process.

When our higher education student body studiesdance with this participatory aspect , then' will also)be a greater !wed for more technically trained per-formers and teachers. Again quoting from Malet lc:

(1 ')I. IL)

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Dance curriculum at the higher education level must be broad enough toserve the community as well as the individual student. Performance of

So leau's "Black Widow," 1991, Oregon State University photo.

Lakin also realized that lay participation inthese movement choirs led to greatet apprecia-tion of theatre dance, so his promotion of thedanCe form enabled him to solve several peda-gogical problems at "One (p. 14-15)

We increase our audience for dance performancewhen we expose nonskilled movers to participationin (lance thnnigh their own experience of it. Ourdance curriculum at the higher education levelmust be broad emnigh to serve t he community amlthe needs of the individual who is not a trained(lancer. Inn rather a well-rounded individual.

One Approach to Community Education

. he only dance faculty Inrson in the TheatreDepartment of the University of South Dakota. Ifounded the USD Moving Co. with community ser-vice in mind. I teach large, beginning-level classes

to students with little or no previous dance back-gruind and realize that involving as many studentsas possible in positive dance experiences is myg! sal. I int naluce technique thr(mgh the body thera-pies, specifically Bart cnieff Fundamentals ofMovement" and Body-Mind Cent eringl", while con-centrating on improvisational skills, As I am also acertified movenwnt analyst. I use Laban movementanalysis to create a full range of movement experi-ences, and I borrow Laban's idea of movementchoirs to struct tire large group improvisationalpieces.

Tile I til) Moving (o. came Mr) existence in thespring of 1990. Its purpose is to provide a formatfor dancing together. Membership is open n) theentire university communitystudents, faculty,and staff. Movirs need not have dance experiencenor he enndled in dance classes. We provide a ser-vice to the University by performing at variousfunctions. For example. 18 of us (including three

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faculty nwmbers) performed on Earth Day 1990.The phih)sophy of the c(unpany is reflected in ourwork. We value teamwork and the worth of the indi-vidual within the group. At our first concert per-formances, audiences were surprised by the indi-vidualism and freedom in the movement and by thelarge number of perfornwrs. The responses soonbecame "that looks like fun; I'd like to do it, too."Dance class enrollment3 and the number of partici-pants in the USD Moving co. continue to grow(from :15 studeAts in fall 1989 to over (i0 in spring1991). It is obvimis that there is an interest in and aneed for this type :4 dance activity. In fact, studentsfrequently give up free Hine on Saturdays andSundays to meet to dance together and rehearse.

Besides developing a dance ,..urriculum for thetalent ed and select grmip of skilled (lancers and

dance teachers, we must also create a darwe curric-ulum that is an enabling experience for all stu-dents. This could be a participatory DanceAppreciation course similar to Music or ArtAppreciation courses already offered at many uni-versities. Naima Prevots offers a Dance and Societycourse at the American University in Washington,D.C. I suggest that similar courses with a basis indance as a parti(ipating art be developed.

Perhaps we dance educators will rally to proni()tebodily/kinesthetic intelligence courses as part ofthe core requirements for all students. Dance is anactivity that touches many aspects of being human,not just the physical. By creating a holistic dancecurriculum for a broad population of higher educa-tion students, we will better educate citizens for theglobal environnwnt of the 2Ist century.

References

Bryant-Weiler, V, Mills-Maas1., & Nirschl, E. ( 1 f)88). A<void(' to) clor)icullon planniny in dance. Madison,WI: Wisconsin Dept.( Public Instruction.

Girdner. II. ( 1983). Frames al' tnind. New York: 13as1cInc.

Kraus. R., eliapman-Hilsendger, S. & Dixon. B. (19)History qf the dance in art and education.EnglewInni Cliffs. N.1: Prentice Hall.

Maletic, V (1987). Hady-space-e.rpression. Berlin:Mouton de Grnyler.

Eleanor Weisman, formerly in the Theatre Departmentat the University of South Dakota, is now a doctoral candidate

in the Dance Department at. the Ohio State University,Columbus, Ohio 43202.

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for Desca form need not have subjective signifi-cance. In section one of the essay. Desca assertsher most basic rule for choreographing: all danceshave a beginning, middle, and end. She suggests anABA or ABC schema. Desca (1952, March) sug-gests that One choose movements that end in bigsuch as "running, hopping, skipping, jumping, slid-ing, leaping, turning" (p. 29). She says that if a stu-dent chooses t' .ree itiq words and works outsmooth transitions between the aoions he/she willmake a dance. There is no importance placed uponsubjective content, until the very end of her essay,where she suggests stereotypical moods, such asgay or solemn, or character studies. She offers theexample of character study done on Paul Bunyan.Des (i'. advises one "might use striding, chopping(of wood) and pulling (of trees), all done in a veryexaggerated manner, as would be fitting for A numof his exaggerated size" (p. :30). Desca's approachsuggests a nonthreatennig formula that emphasizesthe objective a aI ignores subjective memiing.

Continuing in this Objective vein. but on an emi-nently more sophisticated level, is DorisHumphrey's book. The Art (Y. Muking Dunrcs,imblished in 1959. The book is a clear testimony tocraft. outlining four basic elements of choreogra-phy as "design, dynamics, rhythm, and mot vat ion"(p, 16). IIer approach places motivation last. Thefollowing are Humphrey's directions for isolatingthe craft concept of space designs:

To realize these ideas, the student is asked tohring im mkt, tiesigns for the single body. Thatis, he is to prepare several synunetricals andasymmetricals, both in oppositions and succes-

97

sions which do not move ill space or(except for the simplest transitions from one tothc it het ) and are not motivated, but are merelyexercises for the manipulation of !hie, in orderto become familiar with the ideas of their orga-nization. (I). 59)

There are several philosophical implications inHumphrey's statenwnt: craft can be experiencedobjectively and is best, initially, taught objectively:there is, consequently, a right and a wrong way toexplore an element of craft; and by studying objec-tive choreographic craft, students will, on theirown, grasp the connections hotween craft and themaking of meaningful art.

The teaching and writings of Robert Ellis Dunnduring the early 1960s, inunediately following thepublication of Humphrey's book, exemplify therevolt against such craft-orient NI approaches tochoreography. His students comprised the newavant-garde and were called the Judson DanceTheatre. "In general, the students who attendedI Pinn's (gasses were dissatisfied with composi-tion courses: these, they felt, were too structuredfor genuine innovative exploration" (McDonagh.1970, p. 77). Dium specifically did not want to rep-licate the mistakes he felt other chorecgraphyteachers made: "I had seen both Doris [Humphrey'and Louis 'Horst 1 give recipes for things, which Ithought were very stultifying" (Dunn in McDonagh.1970. p. 79). Instead he tried to impleinent teach-ing methods that encouraged individual and uniquechoreographic development in his students.

Dunn specifically promoted class discussionswhile not evaluating or judging the st udents'

993FST COPY AVAILABLE

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ment of creative workplay. From this philosophi-cal base Trexler forms her assignments to help ini-tiate her students into the experience of creativeplay. She sees the teacher's role as designing aplace for his/her students to start their own subjec-tive processes, instead of handing out formulae.From this vantage point a future choreographerhas the basic tool of play to begin his/her own jour-ney to discover and explore form.

The 1980s have continued to bring a greaterxploration of the elation between craft. and pro-

cess. Insightful examples are the books by LynneAnne Blom and L. Tarin Chaplin, The hallway Actof Choreography (1982) and The ItIMIleni OfMmwinent (1988). For these teachers the avenueto understanding choreography is the tool ofimprovisation. Through this process students areprovided the opportunity to discover the relevanceof choreographic concepts by direct manipulationof the mediummovement. Implied in Blom andChaplin's methods is the notion that students gainaccess to the understanding of dance-making vs aninner-directed activity by experiencing conceptst In ough improvisation, And craft is not taught asobjective truths, but as elements of choreographyto he explored.

Penelope Ilanstein (1986) in her doctoral disser-tation. On flu, Nature of the Alt Making inDance: An Artistic Moccss Skills Model .fOr theTeaching of Chwvography, suggests a completephilosophical rethinking. Her concern is not withobjective craft, but with objective skills that allowindividuals to subjectively engage in process. Suchskills as "thinking, perceiving, and forming.' (p.150) are applied to basic activities involved in cho-reographing such as idea finding, problem finding.idea shaping/forming, idea transforming, and solu-tion finding. In Ilanstein's work. process. with itsultimate connection to craft. becomes explicitwithin the choreography classninn.

My own research (Press. 1990) centers on a psy-choanalytic understanding of the choreographicprocess from the perspective of the self andhealthy narcissism. More specifically. I have soughta theoretical nuldel for creativity frtan t he works ofHeinz Kohut (1971. 1977. 1978. 1981 1987). con-sidered the father of psychoanalytically informedself-psychology. Kohut's writings concern narcis-sism, one's relation to self. in p.:thology and lwalth.Kohut argues. in contrast to Freud. that narcissisinis not something to overcome. hut something thatgoes through teinpering transformations, which. inhealth. cominually form our ideals drive our ambi-tions. titcl to piirtakc in r leaningful fulfil-hug act ivit

Photo of Providence College Dance Co. by Alan Bean.

Kohut cites five examples of mature healthytransformations of narcissism: creativity, empathy,the ability to accept one's eventual death . humor,and wisdom. Kohut believes that creative engage-ment must come from a healthy aspect of the self,Additionally, he firmly states that there exist inher-ent psyc'-ilogical stresses in the creative process,that these are not Ktlailogical in nature, and thatthere are significant avenues available for artists tocope with tly.se psychologic..1 risks.

I have u, 1 a Kohutian model for creativity toexamine Inc writinms of several modern choreogra-phers to illuminat:, the role and needs of the selftind attemlent Osks to the self that are involvedin (tic choreographic process. Such a theoreticalunderstanding of process provides the basis for aneducational envirolment that respects, and isatt tined to respond to, subjective creativity. A

vocabulary for classroom discussion of process,and not .just craft , is supplied.

Applying these insights to understanding thepsychodynamics of the choreography classroom, Ihave examined the educational milieu, the roles ofthe peer group and teacher, the use of dialogue andimprovisation. the place of the teaching of choreo-graphic form, and t he importance of phase-appropriate teacher responsls. In conclusion Iassert that the relational aspects of the choreogra-phy classthe student's relation to self, to theteacher, to the peer group. and to the emerging artwork: and the teacher's relation to self, to the indi-vidual student, the group. and the choreographic

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processsignificantly promote or Inuit an evolu-tion of the creative process.

Additionally, these insights have led me to agreater appreciation of craft. Craft now has itsniche, its home, in a subjective, meaningful relationto process. Significantly, such work is complemen-tary to the work of individuals like Blom, Chaplin,and Ilanstein, who are also searching for betterways to integrate process and craft.

To approach the question of the integration ofprocess and craft, or lack of' it, in the teaching ofchoreography, one must first become aware thathis/her teaching methods do represent a philos()-

phy concerning this issue. Teaclnng methods doimply answers to such questions as: What. is craft?What is creativity? What can be taught about them?And the implied answers to these questions expressphilosophical beliefs about the individual's invtive-ment in creative work. Perhaps most importantly, aphilosophical examination of one's teaching met h-ods opens t he door for teaching itself to bec(nne anu ffe enriching and vital creative process for theteacher. Without such personal creative involve-ment in teaching, the teaching of a creative formloses its dynamic potential and succumbs to roteand recipe.

References

Blom, L.. & Chaplin, L. (1982). The intimate act qf cho-reography. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Blom, L.. & Chaplin, L. (1988). The moment of move-ment: Dance improvisat nat. Pittsburgh: I Iniversityof Pittsburgh Press.

Coleman, M. (1949, November). On the teaching of cho-reography: Interview v.ath Louis Il(u-st . natal'Observer, pp. 128-130.

Coleman, M. (1950, December). On the teaching of cho-reography: Interview with Alwin Nikolais. Da neeObserver, pp. 1.18-150.

Coleman, M. (1952, April). On the teaching of choreogra-phy: Interview with Jean Er(lman. Dance Obsevrer,pp. 52-53.

1)esca, E. (1952, March). I 1 OW t compose a dance. partI. Mimi' Magazine, p. 29.

Desca, E. (1952, May). How to compose a dance. part II.Donee Maf,olzioc, p. 30.

Dumt, .I. (1967. Novemthl)..ludith lmnn and the endlessquest. Dance Magazine, pp. 48-51, titi-07.

Erdman, .1. (1948, April). Young (lancers state theirviews: As told to Joseph Campbell. Dance Observer,pp. 40-41.

Hanstein, P (1980/1987). On the nature of art making indance: An artistic process skills model for the teachingof choreography. Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State

Tniversity. Dissertation Abstrmis Intermllamal, 47,:3640A-364 1A.

I I awk ins, A. (19(4). (*real ing throngh do two.Englewmul Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hawkins, A. (1982). Modern &awe in highet eanca-I ion. New York: CORD.

Ilorst, L. (1954). Louis Ilorst coosiders the question.bnpu/se, pp. 1-0.

Humphrey, D. (1959). The art al making (lances. NewYork: Grove Press.

Kohut, II. (1971). The analysis eq' the self. 1 systcrialt ic

approach ta the psychoanalytic Itratment al narcis-sistic persanality diNarders. Madison, CT:International Universities Press.

Kohut, H. (1.177). The restomlion al the self New York:International Universities Press.

Kohut, IL (1978). The sea rch,fOr the selj; Selef.ted writ-ingS al Heinz Kohut: 19:50-1978 (Vols. 1-2), POrnstein. Ed. New York: Internationai I IniversitiesPress,

Kohut. H. (198.1). Haw does analysis curer' A. Goldlwrg& P E. Stepansky, Eds, Chicago: University of ChicagoPress,

Kohut, II. (1987), The Kohut seminars att self psychol-ogy and psychotherapy with adolescents and youngadul(s, M. Elson, Ed. New York: Norton.

McDonagh, I). (1970). The rise and fall and rise atmodern dance. New York: Outerbridge & Dienstfrey.

Nadel. M. II. (1978). The process of creating a dance. InM. H. Nadel & C. N. Miller (Eds.), The dapwe c.uperi-ence; Readings in dance appreciat inn (pp. 71-81).New York: I Iniverse Books.

Nunn. M. (1982). A method to the madn(ss: A basic sys-tem of dance composition. Dance Dweller Now, 4(.1),I 2-1.1.

Press, (' . (1990). Heinz Kohut's psychoanalytic theoriesof the self and creativity: Implications for the choreo-graphic process in modern dance. Dowtoral disserta-tion, Columbia I Iniversity. Teachers College.

Sarason, S. (1990). The challenge of art to psychobum.New Ilaven. Yale I Iniversity.

Smith, P (1';90). Killing the spirit: Higher Murat ian inAptieriCO. New York: Viking Penguin.

Tobias, 1'. (1985, April). A conversation with Paul Taylorand George Meet. Dance Magazine, pp. 51-00.

Trexler, A. (1981). Making and (lancing improvisationalgames, Cataact Qmirterly, (l(1/4 ), 11-1) .

Winnicott, I). W (1982). Playing and tealitu. New Yor::Methuen.

Carol M. Press is an artist-in-residence for the Santa BarbaraCounty Schools, Santa Barbara, California 93105.

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Observation and Criticismin the Choreography Class

Moving beyond "I don't know if it's art, but I know what I like."

Larry Lavender

In the -Evaluations" sect nni of her book DanceCompositionA Pmcticol Guide Teachers(1976, pp. 92-98). Jacqueline M. Smith lists over50 questions one might ask about a dance. Thesequestions have to do with the dance as a whole, themovements, the emotional content., the action.effort space. staging, music, performance. etc.They are all good questions. But immediately fol-lowing this list Smith tells us:

Inextricably bound with intellectual reflectkman any level are the feelings of pleasure that anaesthetic work of art evokes in an onlooker.Each person experiences this pleasure in vary-ing ways and in different degrees, butin judg-ing artit is the fundamental criterion. Aboveall, therefore, the most important question toask the viewer and tlw composer in relat am tohis own work, is whether or not the work waspleasing. Did you like it? If the answer is yes.there is, perhaps. no need for further evaluilion,except that it can become a useful learnic.g pro-cess to understand why it was appreciateo. If theiinswer is no. then probably reasons for its "fail-ure" , be found by asking sonic of the ques-ti('ns. p. 98)

Smith is correct that asking her questions can beceIuIl Larning process and can lead to the dis-

coveu of why and how a dance succeeds or fails,but I think sh is mistaken on several very impor-tant counts. rirst. pleasure is mit the fundamentalcriterion in j idging art. nor is "Did you like it'?" themost impw.tant question to ask viewers or compos-ers. Finvily, whether the answer to that question isyes or no, there is need for further inquiry in orderto just ify one's answer.

Smith appears not to recognize that in additionto the practice of producing small dances, or-studies.- there are two other distinct practices in

C,

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which choreography students must gain profi-ciency. The first is observation: open-minded, pre-reflective looking at dances and dancing. Thispractice must be taken seriously in order forSmith's questions to be of any use when reflectingupon a dance. The second practice is criticism:art iculating am' justifying judgments of t he workspresented to and observed by the class. The pri-mary educational imperative for teaching observa-tion and crit idsm to choreography st udents is t.hatin a class of, say, ten students, each must act as anobserver/critic nine times for every one time his orher own work is presented.

Ifowever. choreography teachers ordinarilydevote great aminints of class time to expliiringmovement and producing studies, leaving littletime for the specific development of observationand critical skills. 1;ndoutitedly there are many rea-sons for this. Many teachers may not realize howgood observation and criticism inform creativity.Teachers may assume that these skills are second-ary or develop sufficiently by themselves as stu-dents produce and discuss studies. Or there may bewide acceptance of the "Did y(ni like it?" principleof evaluation, coupled with uncertainty about howstudents might learn to be good observer/critics.None of these reasons justifies failing to move stu-dents beyond noting the kind and degree of plea-sure they feel and stating whether or m)t they "like"a particular work.

Choreography students can learn to be goodiiliservers through the discipline of mentally set-ting aside artistic prejudices and personal feelingsin order to fully see/experience and describe thedance presented. This means t. hat both practicaland conceptual knowledge, as well as what Bert ram

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essup (1960, p. 5.1) terms "felt-appreciation," arenot permitted to condition observation.

Students can develop skills in the practice of crit-icism by first being taught to listen to and choosecarefully the words and statements of ordinary dis-ctiurse about dance and the other arts, 'Throughdisciplined observation and careful use of orthnarylanguage students can learn to provide good rea-sons for the aesthetic judgments they make abouttheir own creative work and that of others. Surelythis will enrich the students creative effortswhich is the primary objective of the choreographyclassanti enhance their overall fitness as danceprofessionals.

I have been referring to the use of ordinary lan-guage. Let me demonstrate how ordinary language

mdit ions both observation ant' emit icism.Inuigine a choreography class. A student shi,ws a

dance and awaits comments. The teacher asks thegroup. "What did you see in the dance?" or Stnith'squestion, "Did you like it?" The two quest hms differgreatly in terms of the context they set for discus-sion. The first question calls for language describ-ing the dance and implies tlw need for sharp obser-vation. The second question asks only for anexplanation or account of what the students thinkor feel. If teachers hahitually open discussion withthe second question. the students' observationskills become dulled and narrowed by the blindersof likes and dislikes.

I submit. contrary to Smith. that a precise andcogent answer to the first question is of considera-bly greater educational value than u /Jr/ possibleanswer to t ix second.

Suppose one of the students. Tom. says. "I likedit. it was very good. It made me feei happy."Responses like this are typical even when theteacher has asked, "What did you see?" Many teach-ers might not recognize that their question has mitbeen answered or will choose to ignore it. loinmight be invited to elaborate on his response. Iledoes so by giving a more detailed account of thefeelings he gained frtnn the piece.

What has It an accomplished? Ile has stated anaesthetic judgment (that :he piece is a good taw)and given an explanationor psychologicalreportof his lytppy feelings or emot hills. If thisproves ace.ptable to the teacher, other studentsmay join in with psychological reports of their feel-ings. Acconling to Smith this is satisfactory whenthe students' comments amount to praise. I arguethat it is wholly unsatisfactory to "evaluate" thedance by offering psychological reports. lessup(19(P) speaks to this point:

I

Inadequate respoffe may also be described asfailure to respond to the work as object and touse it rat Ler as a trigger to set off memories.feelings, and sentiments which are related to t lwobject only by psychological privacies or eccen-tricities of the individual beholder. In that casethe taste is directee. not upon the object butupon the recalled and outside incidents andinterests of the beholder's life. t p. 58)

Now suppose Tom says. "Oh. I hated that dance!It was dull. I was totally bored." Again he offers noinformation al.Anit the dance but he makes a judg-ment that it was dull and reports his boredom asproof of this claim. !fere is where Smith. to hercredit, would begin asking Toni questions about

dance. Apparently Smith would recognize thatfurther inquiry is needed because Tom's boredomis a "psychological privacy or eccentricity." But ifan account of Tom.s boredom calls forth Smith'squestions. so slit add an account of his pleasure. Inboth instances Tom's claims are about himself, notthe dance.

Any passerby can wat eh a dance and answer thequestion. "Did you like it?" The question nearlyalways elicits passionate responses. If the teacheris seduced by this and forgets to bring the discus-sion back to the dance. it is unfortunate for Toni ifhe intends his educational experiences to enablehim to articulate responses that are more sophisti-cated and relevant than those of any passerby. It isalso unroll unate for t he choreographer. who recog-nizes that his or her dance is being praised or den-igrated on the strength of Tom's claims of happi-ness or boredom. The choreographer needs tolearn which specific aspects of the dance havebrought forth a particular judgment from oneobserver/critic. Tom needs to learn how to trans-form his self-reflexive responses into critical state-ments that may be valuable to his colleagues.Neither of these needs can be satisfied until Tomlearns to provido good reasons to justify hisjudgments.

Let me offer assurances to choreography teach-ers who may reetiil at the idea of their classes drill-ing away from specifics of choreography andbecoming bogged down in language analysis. Nosuch drifting is necessary or imminent. To &ter-mitic if a reason is a good justification for a judg-ment is not a matter of convoluted jargon orkligt hy and confusing talk. Reasons are good whent hey specify somet hing in particular about thedance that can be verified either by seeing thedance again. or upon reflection. As David Eckel.(1967) writes, "Thus. justification is terminallynonlinguistic: and the crucial critenon of the sue-

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cess of written and oral criticism is apparently itsreferential adequacy, its abilP.y to make in someway more adequate One's perception of what isthere" (1). 7).

This means that rather t han drifting away fromimportant choreographic issues, the (WW1 leatiMISpprMiCh anchors the discussi( n firmly in t he

illiniediate Vicinity of these issues as they pertain tothe dance under consulenition. Thus languageanalysis alone does not tell us a reason is good, butit (hws tell us right off the bat if what we are hear-ing from Tom is a reason or a report ot. feelings.

Suppose Tom says, "I didn't like it. I though, itwas dull. The movement was too slow and faced theback too much. I felt bored." flere we have a judg-ment with reasons and a psychological report. Theclass must check t he referential adequacy of Tom'sreasons to determine if they are good Ones. What isimportant to the class is not that Tom is bored butthat he judges the dance to be dull because of itsspeed and Ow perfornwr's facing.

Now the teacher can maximize the educationalvalue of the discussion by inviting class membersto consider t heir own observations of the dance inorder to support or dispute Toill's ju(Igment. This iswhat Alan Torilley ( U)79), in t he tyrant ion ofImmanuel Kant, describe. as testing critical claimsto see if they can he corroboorted through directinspection of, Or reflection upon, the art work illquestion. While aesthetic judgments are not opento conf rmat (tr(le/false) tests, they are none-t flyless testable On the basis of their acceptanceirliong independent judgers. Ilappily, the impossi-bility of objectively verifying critical claims needtiot force us to embrace Smith's "Did you like it'?" as

t he primary question of criticism. There is fertileground between scientific verification and unbri-dled relativism,

Perhaps a student disagrees wit h 'Font anddescribes aspects of t he dance ill order to claimt hat it is successful. Ot hers may corroborat e Tom'sclaim that the dance fails. and t he teacher can askt hem (mi(1 Toni) to suggest how the dance could beimproved. All the students are certain to benefitfrom t his kind of discussion.

We can see that judgments justified by good rea-sons generate discussion valuable to) t he choreog-rapher. Psychological reports provide no claimsinviting debate. If someone says "I like it" andanother says "I don't like it." t lie two claims areequally t rue and thew is no disagreement. The dif-ficulty with psychological reports is that we cannotknow whet her or to what degree they derive fromthe dance or from factors in the personality of t he

observer, While it may lw interesting to conductpsychological inquiry int.() the causes of feelings,the choreography teacher is not a psychologist.,and criticism requires good reasons that referdirectly to t he work in question. Psychologicalreports have criti('al value only when the teacher is

willing to) help the student discover and articulatothe reasons for the judgment implied by his or herremarks.

Some educators will disagree, claiming that psy-chological reports should be allowed and encour-ged as vehicles through which students may dis-

cover valuable information about themselves. Thisargument holds t hat discouraging explanat ions and

acConnts of feelings is tantainotnit to cutting stu-dents off from vital aspects of their personal innerreality. Such protests are well-intentioned butmist aken.

When a student's dance is about to be presented,the rest of the class assembles 01 order to practiceobservat ion and criticism. After the dance isshown, gently steering critical discussions awayfrom explanations of feeling-states and toward thereasons for t he judgments implied by such explmia-tions is not detrimental. What is detrimental is toallow students to practice Observation gearedtoward feeling-level responses as if such responsesare t he basis of crniciSni. DireCting discussiontoward the justificat )ry level of judgnwnts is pre-cisely how the proper relationship between obser-vation. criticism, and feeling-level responses is dis-covered. Of course feelings are iint)ort ant , butaccounts of feelings must not become a substitutefor criticism. Similarly, in discussing the practice ofcreating dances, the value of the choreographer'sfeelings and inner inclinations can best be ascer-tained by trying to discover their influence uponcreative choices and decisions.

liowever, many teachers are likely to defend psy-chological reports as a sufficient critical response.Let me briefly sketch out two habits of mind thatmay account for this. hrst although most artistsand critics have discarded t he Greek theory of artas mimesis or representation in favor of a theory ()I'art as subjective expression, art. (especially dance,beca(lse the Ullman body is its instrument) remainsburdened by a central probleni inherited from t hemimetic t heory. This problem is t he assumptionthat the work of art, by definition), says or meowssomething in particular. consequently, discussionsof art teml bcgill With t he psychological ques-tion, "What saying?" or "What do('s it illean?"The only way Ion) t hulks he can answer Wit ilauthority, apparently, is wit li an account of what the

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work says or means to him. Thus self-reflexiveinterpretations, when delivered ;.is explanations offeeling-responses, subjugate observation anddescription in discourse about art.

Further muddying the waters is the more generalproblem of ambiguity in speech. Arnold Isenberg(1949) notes that in everyday conversation the dis-tinction is seldom made between explaining,juslifying out critical responses to art (or to any-thing). The chief reason for this is that "some state-ments about the object will necessarily figure bothin the explanation and the critical defense of any

reaction to it:* (p. 660). Isenberg urges that a care-ful distinction be made in critical language betweenthe purpose of criticism and that of psychology.The first step for teachers in making this distinc-tion is to continually remind students that observa-tions governed by feeling-responses pro(luce&script it)ns and judgments that are inadequate ifthey focus upon the critic's feelings instead of thework of art.

The second habit of mind that I believe accountsfor the seeming importance and finality of feeling-responses to art is the hedonistic criterion or phi-

Va.

Larry Lavender,author, rehearsesLara Lyddon in"Brush the Neck andShiver," 1987, NewYork University.

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losophy of art such as found in George Santayana'sThe Sense qf Wauty (1 8f)(1). Santayana makes ast rung case for the pleasure principle as a theory ofart. The crux of this theory is that the good mutbeautiful (in nature and art) give pleasure while thebad and ugly bring forth displeasure. Since we per-u..ive through our senses, what better baromensrcan there be for judging the value of art but thepleasure/pain response? We have seen that Smithembraces this view in principle. An example of this,,iew put into critical practice is a passage (writtennearly 100 years after The Sense of Beau( y) from arecent New Fork Tinws article by Anna Kisselgoff( )90). Discussing the rise to fame of choreogra-pher Mark Morris, Kisselgoff writes:

At his woNt. his step-for-note bias .an drive anaudience into glazed-eye agony . . Bka at hisbest and he is getting better--he can make thepublic Overlook the choreography's formalunderpinnings and sweep the entire house into aglorious groundswell of happiness. (p. 11)

Comments like these justify the judgments"worst" aml "bet ter"--wit h accounts of I he alkgedfeeling st at cs of the audience. Choreograph('rs fol-h)wing this lead often find themselves sacrificingambiguity. mystery, risk. and innovation in a des-perate effort to make their audience "feel good."

But feeling good is an object ive and a valuewhose arena is more that of entertainment thanartunless we consider these arenas as absolutelyidentical. If this is tlw ease, Suzi Gablik's lamentthat "art's value tends to be defined, not by its spir-itual, intellectual, or emotional content, but by itseconomic wort h" ( I f)8.1, p. 39) is a sad statemem oilfact. and all artistic activity and all art criticism isproiwrly subsumed by hedAnism,

I believe educat ors must avoid acceding to hedo-nistic habits of mind that reduce art to a fetish orcomnhality of pleasul ehowever natural and ordi-nary it may have become to t hink of art this way.Hedonism takes us no further than the feeling-re-sponse level. the very point at WhiCh we must teachstudents to beqin the practice of criticism.Moreover, unless educators strenuously avoid bas-ing udgments about art upon on .11 single theory orset of values. they risk entrapping students in shrilland fruitless attempts to defend the objective trut hor falseness of critical claims.

If we recognize t hat choreography studentsslanild practice disciplined observation leading toserious crit ica1 discourse about dance and theot her arts. the next step is to teach them how.David Eckel. (1980, pp. 14-1(i) articulates a proce-dure grounded in Ilusserhan phenoincnoh)gy for

I Or)

conducting aest hetic inquiry in the classroom orstudio sett ing.

Ecker's procedure is as follows: Everyoneobserws the performance attentively, ignoring allextraneous stimuli. This is TIME I. Duriug TIME Iobservers are expected to sot aside feeling-responses, theories, and all terms and presupposi-tions of value which precondition and prejudiceobservation. This setting t.sidewhk.h is the disci-plino of t he practice of observat ionpreventsobservers from nwnt ally interrupting the flow oftlw dance and fragmentizing its inherent totality.

TIME 2 is a four or five minute lwriod of reflec-tion during which the observers jot down what ha:-.been observed during TIME 1. This dovetails nicelywith Ow practice of keeping a class journal thatmany teachers ask of their students. l'eachers willfind that TIME 2 notes become more descriptivelyrich and less self-reflexive as students learn disci-plined observation. During TIME :3 . observationsare shared and the range of differences of percep-tion and of judgment of the dance ;s discovered.Judgments are articulated and justified duringTINIE 3 discussion. 13y rooting TIME 3 discvssionin TINIE observations, which themselves arerooted in the TIME I experience, the discussionstands a good chalwe of remaining focused on rele-vant points concerning the dance. Of cimrse, theteacher must occasionally steer the discussion toassure relevancy.

Ecker's procedure car be introduced andemployed whlunit disrupting the manner in whichchoreography classes ordinarily view and evaluatewo rks. l'eacherti lived Ilot al(er I heir met hods ofpresenting improvisations or creative assignments.and no unwelcome jargon or extensive t raining inphenomenoloa is required.

David Ecker and Eugene Kaelin's "ladder" of aes-thetic inquiry (1)72. p. 267) facilitates TIME :i dis-cussion by schematizing Ow level of discourse onwhich relevant comments Occur (see Figure I 1.

Ecker and Kaehn place the object/event--in ourcase i dance stntlyat t he foundation I t heirladder:

META.THEORY

THEORY

META-CRITICISM

CRITICISM

OBJECT/EVENTAesthetic Experience

Figure 1. Ecker/Kaelin ladder of aesthetic inquiry.

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Accordingly, it is upon reflection ()I the TIME Iexperience ()I' I he Object/event Hutt the oh:pryer/critic begins to formulate aest hetic udgintsitts.Evaluative remarks referring directly 10 I he dancest tidy are on t he I ung crif Mir example, anobser..er might say, "Thts ending of the dance ismuch too abrupt." Another observer might reply. "Ithink t lutt to clutractcrims t he ending as too abruptis a mistake because. . . ." Remarks of this kind thatdispute (or support ) crit k.al claims are termedItiehr-criticisni, Discussions of creat lyeapproaches or principles of %Attie that may accountfor I In. various critical and nusta-crit ical statementsfall on the level of tin'01,11. For example, "'Me mostsuccessful dances communicate something veryclearly to the audience." In responsts to tltis witsmight say, -lite notion that a dance must 'commu-nicate' soinct [Ong is un!enable because. .

Remarks such as these I hat assess some aspect ()I'one or more theories arts termed meta-thooret 1r111remarks. There is no rung on the ladder for psycho-logical reports.

Although the rungs ()I' the ladder ;ire distinct, allteachers can ;it test that student discussions arelikely to be fluid, and individual statements con-taining ideas corresponding to more than one rung

are likely to emerge, Of cmirse, it would be absurdto interrupt a discussion to note the position on theladder occupied by ea hi statenwnt. But intruiduc-ing students to I he ladder can help them 10 diSCOVer110W Ille various kinds of statements one makesabout art differ front one another, and In )%14+ eachkind of statement operates Ill a discussion of a par-ticular work of art. As students become familiarwith thus levels of ;test hot ic impiiry, their criticalstatements should become more acute alid theirdisctission as a whole !wire focused. If a partici!! .rstatement is ambigua ins or confusing. pausing tonote which rung tins statement ostensibly occupiescan be useful.

I! is not particularly difficult to devise cb.keogra-phy assignments. There are lull iks full of them. Noris it difficult to base judgments of a dance uponpersonal feelings. Rut chtireography students arcentitled I() Haire than Mere exposUre Io IlleIliellls of dance craft and the fveling-responses ofthusly teachers and peers. Students deserve trainingin &Neil/lined ObsCrvill ion and critical discourse inorder 10 develop as choreographers and as articu-late sptikospersons fcr the dance. he choreogra-phy class, whit its steady supply of student-createddahces. is the Ideal arena in which to center suchtraining.

References

l.i'ki'i Ii. \v, ( 19(i7). ustifying aesi hon. judgments 1ftEd '<cut

E(kel', I). ( 1)80). Int roduct ion Institut ing qualitativeevaluation in the arts. In IL W. Eckerrum'crdiwts Firq S:11111111'1' 111.'41.01h' nilchutlitut ire Evultutt it, the .-%tts (pp. 1--11). NewYork: New York Pniversity Division of Arts and ArtsEducation.

Eeker, & 1<aelin. E. E. ( 197:_!). The limits of aes-t het k: inquiry: A guide to educational research./'ii i/o.sop/i nu/ !?v di ii v I 11.4 i( Ucscvluch,71st Yearbook. Part I , pp. :!58---:t8ti.

Gablik, S. 198.11. //u.S medrett ism 1(tiled.' New York:Thames ;Ind Iludson.

Iscnhcrg. A (19 I1)1. ()Meal cM11111lIniCahun In \V. l.

kennick (Ed.), .1ft vim! ph ilf).svvidtli, :!nd ed. (pp.tY.-)S-litiSL New York: St. Martin's Press.

.h'ssuiii l 19601. Taste and judgnient in aesthetic expe-rience. The .11mettal vii 11Ntliet iv s U 1 ..1t t1 9( I )

( P)tiO. Nos:ember I I I. I)ivining the mys-tique of Niark Niorris. ,Vcr< Yurk p. I 1.

(i. ( I 89(1). Thc Ne%. York:Charles Serilmer's Sons.

Smith, .1. NI. (197ti), /twice evittiovNit imp; pract icurl(1,11(1c "Hu ft (I( hers. London: A & Black.

Tortne:..A. ( 19;9). Critical judgments. In NV. E. KeimickArt (HO ph ilu.s(vphrt. :.).1k1 ed. (pp. 6:).0---G101.

Nesv York: St. Maiiin's Picss.

Larry Lavender teaches dance in theCommunications Arts Department, at New York Universit3,

New York, New York 10003.

I th)

irs

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Faculty Issues

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Tenure and Promotion of Dance FacultyJessica Wood

The t (Imre debate rages on within academic cir-cles. There are valid concerns as to why tenureshould be abolished or why tenure should remain.Proponents of the abolition of tenure have offerednumerous alternatives, some of which are interest-ing and iTedible. Those in favor of retaining tenureardently defend its import as a safeguard to aca-demic freedom, job security, and institutional sta-bility and as a means of ensuring quality faculty.

However interesting this debate may be anddespite one's personal views, most faculty findthemselves in a position whereby the earning oftenure is critical to their career in academe. If ten-ure is denied, the "up and out" clause forces thenonreiwwal of that faculty member's contract. Ajunior faculty member who does not understand theconcept of tenure or promotion is ill-equipped tomake a viable application for a change in status(Hanstein, 1990). In view of the significance of ten-ure, a closer look at the institution of tenure is

warranted.Academic tenure is "an arrangement under

which faculty appointments in an institution ofhigher education are continued until retirement, forage or physical disability, subject to chsmissa; foradequate cause or unavoidable termination onaccount of financial exigency or change of institu-tional program- (Keast & Macy, 1973, p. 256). Anytenured faculty member is guaranteed, by the priv-ilege of tenure. the right to the legal action of (hieprocess in a dismissal for cause. Due process miltenure protect the academic freedom of the

The award of tenure is a decision about thefuture quality, content, and direction of the educa-tamal program in tandem with the prevailing eco-nomic and budgetary considerations (Keast &Macy, 1973). The decision to grant tenure is basednot only (m the excellence and promise of the can-didate hut also on other institutional concerns.Granting of tenure has serious financial implica-tions. It can commit institutional resources for sal-

' 09

ary and benefits that could exceed $600,000 over a30-year period (Seldin, 1980). A denial of tenurecould occur not because of reservations concern-ing the candidate, but rather on the basis of theneeds of the academic program or fiscal priorities(Kirsch ling, 1978). Theoretically, separation froman institution as a result of denial of tenure carriesno professional stigma (Keast & Macy, 1973).

The tenure review process characteristicallyinvolves a pyramid of reviewing committees. Theprocess begins in the academic department withpeer and departmental chair review and evaluationof the candidate. If the department finds the candi-date worthy of tenure (or promotion), the candi-date's document i.s forwarded to the dean of theappropriate college for review and evaluation. Theprocedure continues on to a campus-wide tenurereview committee, the president, and finatly theboard of trustees for official approval. At each step,the decision to grant or deny tenure is made and anegative decision at. any level will terminate theprocess and result in a denial of tenure. By far themost crucial decision is that of the campus-widetenure review committee. Because of the long-termcommitment of institutional resources, tenure deci-sions are subject. to a more strenuous, thorough,and critical review than are other personneldecisions.

It is at this level of evahiatam t.hat the applica-tions of dance faculty are often subject to misun-derstanding h.ised on ignorance of the discipline,devaluation of evidence of merit, and consequen-tially the denial of tenure. This disturbing factpoints to the imperative need for dance faculty tobecome involved in institutional governancethrough membership on varied campus-wide com-mittees. It is only as a fully participating affiliate ofsuch institutional mechanisms that the dance fac-ulty can begin to make instrumental changes thatwill facilitate their success in gaining tenure and/orpromotion.

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Generally, the tenure or promotion decision isbased on three areas of endeavor: teaching, schol-arship, and service. The granting of tenure is con-tingent upon proof of excellence in all three areasaed evidence of intent to continue working at ahigh level of quality. The burden of proof' of excel-lence is the responsibility of the candidate 'heweight or value of each component may varydepending upon the mission of the institution, themission of the academic department, and the roleof the candidate within the department. Specificcriteria for tenure and/or pronmtion are best deter-mined by the faculty of each academic departmentby clearly defining the institutional criteria as theyrelate to the standards of each discipline.

"While dance as a field of study has become anaccepted part of academics, considerations forretention, promotion and tenure of dance facultyhave not taken into account the nature of the disci-pline" (Real, Rosenberg, & Sandback, 1986, p. 15).To do this "the general categories of teaching,scholarship and service should be more narrowlydefined by the dance faculty the academic com-ponent level" (Ilanstein, 1990, p. 3).

At nwst universities and colleges, scholarshiphas emerged as the leading criterion for awardingtenure and promotion (Real, Rosenberg, &Sandback, 1986). Scholarship is most widely con-sidered to be manifested by research and publica-tions. This interpretation of scholarship is too lim-iting in scope for any institution in which artmaking is an integral part of any of its disciplines.The creation and performance of dance is centralto the discipline and therefore, it must be consid-ered z vital part of the evaluation of dance facultyfor tenure and/or promotion. The Association forTheater in Higher Education in their "Guidelinesfor Evaluating Teacher/Artists for Promot.ion andTenure" states that "all faculty who have publk per-formance responsibilities should be evaluated, atleast in part, on their level of achievement in tlwscresponsibilities" (1987, p. 39).

To actively lobby for the inclusion of creativeendeavors in the definition of scholarship, t he(lance faculty must bccome involved in campus-wide committees that deal with such issues. As acommittee member, the dance representative willbe in place to initiate change and to educate theother faculty about the field of dance. Most facultyfr(nn other areas will have little prior knowledge orexperience of dance. This is a difficult, delicate,and possibly politically explosive assigmnent.Therefore, it might best be undertaken by a dancefaculty member with tenure.

10

It is possible that art making has been omittedfrom scholarship because of the difficulty in evalu-ating the work. The other scholarship componentsof research and publication have established meth-ods of documentation that are relatively noncon-t.'oversial and are generally accepted. The docu-mentation and evaluation of creative endeavorsand the articulation ot' the basis for evaluation isthe responsibility of the dance faculty and t hedance chair (ATIIE, 1987).

Documenting Orally(' l'(fl

Documentation of artistic accomplishmentsshould include a vmeotape of the performance.Incorporation of the entire body of work in thevideo portion is beyond the scope of the tenure/pronmtion committee's responsibility to reviewsuch massive information. "Ivo or three works rep-resentative of the body of dances are suggested.Committee members NA Ill be familiar with theamount of time, energy, and effort it takes to writean article or book, but they will have little or noinformation about the choreographic process. Ift he committee views only the perfornlance, theproduct might appear effortless (Real, Rosenberg,& Sandback, 1986).

To guard against this perception, the documen-tary video might also include segments of the cho-reographer in the process of creating the move-ment vocabulary for the dance and rehearsals atthe beginning, mid-point, and near the end of therehearsal period. Needless to say, the video must beof high quality. Depending on the length of thework, a dance might be equated with an article or abook.

Articles vary in value as evidence of scholarship.An article published in a juried ournal is weightedmore than one published in a nonjuried journal.This distinction can be translated to creativeendeavors to differentiate between on-campus per-romances and off-campus performances. Contri-butions to on-campus performances have mei it:however, contributions to off-campus perform-ances will undoubtedly be considered stronger evi-dence of accomplishment in creative endeavors.Works that are performed by invitation or in ajuried concert will be held in higher regard.

To augment the weight of on-canipus perform-ances, an outside adj,idicat or can be invited toreview and evaluate the artistic merit Of a specificwork or works. Tlw dance department shouldassemble a list of dance knowledgeable people int he geographic area from which the clhireographer

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C11( H )SV clii adjudicator. If bildgeNtry consid-eration permits, an adjudicator, possibly with pro-fessional credentials from outside the geographicarea, would be brought to campus to review andevaluate the choreographer's work. A staltdardizedform for evaluat km is suggested. Any narrative theadjudicator might wish to add to the evaluationshould be attached to the form. The sante evalua-tive form should be completed by the dance depart-limn chair and selected dance faculty.

A list of organizations t hat offer opportunities tohave choreography adjudicated and selected forperformance within the geographic area of' theinstitution and nation-wide should be compiled bythe dance faculty. Submitting choreographies tothese organizations on an annual or bianimal basis

is recommended. Choreographies accepted forperformance sponsored by these organizations

he equated with a juried article. Any chore-ography should be considered juried when anotherinstitution, dance company, or reputable Organiza-tion accepts the work for performance.

The promotion/tenure documentation shouldinclude a video tape, evaluation by the adjudicator.chairperson, and peers, and a written statem('ntthat the choreographer prepares including infor-mation that will

) Provide adequate informatiIm alum( thework: title, number of dancers. length of thework, musi(' .

2 ) Indicate under what circumstances the workwas choreographed or performed: Was it aninvited perforManCe, an adjudicated per.formance, or an off-campus concert pni-(Need by yourself or a group of fellow artistswith or without external funding.

:3) Provide a statement of your artistic inten-tion. purpose, (ir vision.

.1) If a self-evahiation is appropriate, discussbriefly how a particular work resulted in sig-nificant growth for yon as an artist, discussaudience reactimi, . . .

Include review of critic's . .

Ilanstein, 1990, pp. 7-81

Even when a pro ivision is in place to include cre-ative endeavors as a part of scholarship. publica-t ions often must be included in the scholarshipportfolio if dance faculty are to be successful ill t hepromotion/tenure process (Real. Rosenberg, &Sandback, I 98G ). The need for publications ismore critical for the dance faculty who hold Phl )degrees than for those who Inild MFA degrees.

The teaching component involved in the tenure/promotion review process needs to be clearly delin-eated in regards to the structure of the discipline.For example. the teaching methodology of a tech-

5 )

nique class is different frinn the teaching met hod-ology of a choreogcaphy or academic class. Mostuniversities and colleges use standardized studentevaluations that may not be applicable or appropri-ate for use in determining the teaching qualifica-tion of dance faculty. l'he dance faculty and dancechair are encouraged to create, or adapt, a studentevaluation instrument that will measure the abilityof the instructor for each category of class taughtin the department.

Evallud Maching Po:fiwnuitirc

The two basic purposes of faculty teaching evalu-ations are to intprove faculty performance (a forin-ative function) and to assist in making equitableand effect ive aca0emic perminnel decisions (a stim-ulative functi,m) (Miller, 1987). Any evaluationinstrument should "seek information which can beutilized in a formative and summative manner"(Seldin, 1980). Within the instrument, quest kins toelicit information for both functions should beincluded.

Peer evaluat HI of teacher competency by class-room visitation is part of the contprehensive reviewof any faculty for prinnot ion/t enure. l'his method ofevaluation is most effective when it "involvesfriendliness and interest as well as critical andinstructional purpose" (Seldin, 1980, p. 08). Theobserver is best prepared wit en supplied inadvance of the visitation with a course outline andan outline of the material for that day. A pre-obser-vation discussion allows the faculty member who isbeing evaluated antple opportunity to prepare thevisiting faculty nnrnher to view the class. A post-observaft)n discussion would facilitate the oppor-tunity to st ,re the insights of the visiting facultywith the faculty member who is being observed. Astandard peer evaluation instrument will ensure1 hat all faculty are as.sessed On the sante criteria. Inaddition to these evaluations of teaching. it is help-ful to include in the promotion/tenure documentcourse syllabi that contain a course outline, objec-tives, met hods of student assessment, and courseassignments (I lanst('in, 1990).

The service component is divided into service tothe institution and service to the profession.Membership On departmental and institutionalcommittees or the faculty senate and variedrecruitment act ivities are all aspects of inst uttut ionalservice. Leadership roles in professii mat organiza-tions, participation on 1 he board of a dance com-pany, production organization, or ;ills council par-ticipation are avenues for service to t he profession.

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In general, the service component of die promo-tion/tenure triad is similar to the service compo-nent in other disciplines. Therefore, it needs littletranslation to those outside the field.

'rule American Association of UniversityProfessors suggests that a pretenure faculty mem-ber should come up for tenure after a probationaryperiod of not more than seven years of full tnneelnployment at the university of college. Thepretenure years are most constructively regardedby the institution and faculty member as years ofdevelopment of the teacher/artist/scholar and not.merely an extended period of screening (Smith &associates, 1973). In some instances, credit foryears of service at a previous institution (or a previ-ous award of tenure) may shorten the pret enureperiod. Each faculty member on pretenure status"must be informed of the standards and proceduresemployed in making decisions about reappoint-ment or tenure" (Bledso, 1988, p. 9).

An annual of end of semester review of the workand progress of a probationary faculty should beconducted by the dance department chair. Theannual review process is initiated by the chair, whoevaluates in writing the faculty member in terms oftea,..hing effectiveness. scholarly/creative endeav-ors, personal growth, and institutional and profes-sional sxrvice. This evaluation is then given to theevaluated faculty member to read and to assess. Aconference is then set to discuss the specifics ofthe critique. Afterwards, the faculty member mayrespond, in writing, to any aspect of the content ofthe evaluat i ui. Both statements become part of thepersonnel file (Georgia State I..Tuiversity FacultyHandbook. 1989). This system guarantees theawareness and involvement of the faculty memherin his or her progress toward promotnin/t enurelong before the seven year deadline.

If. during the annual review, an area of weaknessor conc:rn is pointed out, a four-step guide tostrengthen or correct the weakness is then sug-gested. hrst. the probable (wise must be deter-mined and described: second, possible solutionsare presented; t bird. implementation of the sug-gested s()Int ions are determined and rated for pos-sible success; and fourth, the results are describeilat a later date. Because each of the four steps iswritten, the procedure deals with concrete mattersspecifically and constructively, It is then the facultymember's responsillity to implement the improve-ment plan (Karman, 19(i9).

A statement of the pretenure faculty's role in thedepartment and the expectations of his or her rolewill clarify the status of each area of evaluation in

112

the annual review (Hanstein, 1990). A written "jot)description" summarizes the role, responsibilities,and the priority of each area of assessment. Theprocess of delineation of role, annual review, andfour-step improvement plan are all "mile markers"on the road to promotion/tenure. Do not allowthem to be passed over. Insist. on each one.

The same criteria are generally utilized for pro-nmtion and tenure. "Promotion criteria focus moreon the merit of the instructor's professional andscholarly contributions and promise, the criteriafor tenure focus More on the long-term worth ofthe instructor to the university" (Miller, 1987,

92). Promotion through the ranks of instructor,assistant professor, associate professor, and pro-fessor varies at each university. It is contingentupon not only the above-mentioned criteria butalso years of service in the rank and academiccredent lats.

1Vmnen Farulty Farr Negatitv Factais

The fact that the majority of dam.e faculty arewomen can be arid probably is a negative factor inthe application for promotion/tenure. Althoughwomen have increased in number as undergradu-ates and PhDs since 1964, "women remain dispro-portionately underrepresented in the tenure ranksof academe. In 1988-89. only 49% of female facultyheld tenure, compared to 71% of male faculty"(Vanden & Fishbein, 1989). More women are beinghired. but at lower ranks, and they are promoted ata slower rate than their male counterparts. Whenhired, women are further handicapped in their pro-gress toward promotion/tenure in that their teach-ing loads are heavier than their male counterparts.In addition. t heir course load is generally com-prised of lower level courses. The teaching of grad-uate students and reseanii are !mire highly valuedact ivit ies in consideration for advalwement of (en-tire. III colkailld ion with lower rank and a less desir-able excessive teaching load, the scholarship afemale faculty produces is often downgraded."Numerous studies have shown that articles attrib-uted to women are given lower 'grPdes than identi-cal articles at t ribut ed to men" (Vanden & Fishbein.1989).

For wo mien dance faculty, this poses a doublebind. First, the scholarship in the form of creativeendeavors is still considered less important thanraditional scholarship of a written nature. Second,

the gender of the candidate affects negatively theevaluation I )1 her work. Consequently, dance workof a feminist unit ure or choreographic material on

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female themes would probably be a poor choice todocunwnt as evidence of scholarship. This sad factserves to illuminate the magnitude of the work leftto do to facilitate the understanding and reap-praisal of the discipline of dance and the status ofwomen in the university.

Women's professional service is often judged dif-ferently from that of men's and it may even gounrecognized. Service to any woman's organiza-tion, whether on- or off-campus, is subject to deval-uation through the claim that such involvement ispolitical activity. Conversely, men's involvement ingroups such as the aycees is likely to be consid-ered valuable service (Vanden & Fishbein, 1989).

Not only do women faculty have to face prejudicein every area of evaluation for promotion/tenure,they will also he negatively affected by the "tenurecrunch.- The "tenure crunch" refers to the largenumber of faculty tenured in the 1950s and 1960s,which resulted in many departments and instan-t ions being top-heavy with tenured facultymostlymen. Therefore, the number of tenure appoint-mews is reduced by the enlarged number of ten-ured faculty. Some departments may be so over-tenured that no possibility of granting tenure toanother faculty member exists.

The American Association of University Womenrecommends these strategies for women faculty:

Develop a ten-year career plan includingresearch and networking . an excellentresearch portfolio must be supplemented by fac-ulty allies for the tenure ,.view process.

Join women's groups such as AAUW that pro-vide expertise and support from outside aca-deme. Collect data about the gender distributionof tenure-track and nontenure-track slots onyour local campus and write letters to or sched-ule a meeting with administration officials tovoice your concerns and explore solutions.(Vandell and Fishbein, 1989).

As women, the majority of dance faculty beginthe tenure/promotion process from a disadw.,i-taged position. The lack of knowledge about thediscipline of dance on the part of faculty from otherfields and the resistance to the inclusion of creativeendeavors as scholarship combine to place theapplication of dance faculty in lwri;. Dance as a dis-cipline must specify standards and methodologiesto measure excellence in creative endeavors thatreflect the same rigor of judgment applied in otherdisciphnes.

Evaluation of faculty is an ongoing process anddoes not end with tenure or promotion to the rankof professor. The time and effort put into learningabout the promotion/tenure system can onlyenhance the applicant's ability to prepare a cogent,cohesive, viable document to send to the commit-tee. The research and creativity involved in puttingforth a strong resolution that artistic endeavors beconsidered part of scholarship and the education offaculty outside of dance form a mission that willimpact on all applications of dance faculty now andin the future.

ReferencesAssoci:itimi for Theater in Higher Edu(ation. (1)87).

Gnirichno.s ,for Eralialt illy Teacher/Artists .lorProundion and Tenure. New York: the Association.

Beal, R. K.. Rosenberg, L. K., & Sandback, P R. (1986),meeting retention, promotion and tenure criteria:Suggestions for dance faililty. American Dance: .1Journal 4 The .4mo/icon Dance I . (1).

Bledsoe, G. B. (1988). Entering the profession: Advicefor the uhtenured. National Education Association:To Promote Academic Ju.st ice and E.rcellence.Washington. DC: National Education Association.

Goorfint Slat( (1niucusittl Faculty H(1 ndbook. (I 989 ).lanta, GA: Georgia State I Iniversity.

lanstein. P (1990). The evaluation. promotion and ten-ure of dance faculty: Establishing credibility in the aca-demic community. Paper presented to the NationalDance Association meeting in New Orleans. LA onMarch P.

Kiirman. T. A. (1969 ) Faculty evaloation. LiberalEducation. ,5.5,

Keast, W. R., & W. (1973). Faculty tenure: Areport and recommendations by the Commission onAcademic Tenure in Higher Education. San Francisco:Jossey-Isass. Publishers.

Kirschling, W. R., Ed. (1978). Ern/nminq filo/My per-JOrma lice and vitality: Neu. directions:rot' in.stionol resets rch Vol. 4, No. 4. San Francisco: Jossey-

Bass Inc., Pulilishers.Miller. R. I. (1987). Es abutting ,larnIt :for promotion

and tenure. San Francisco: .lossey-Bass Inc.,Publishers,

Seldin, P (1980). Socces.sful evaluation pro-gram.s: A matt 1(.01 (1111(10 10110'011',101111111 pet/orma nce promot ion /I u re der'iSi011.S.

Crugers, NY: Coventry Press.Smith, B. L. & associates. (1973). The tenni(' debate.

San Frani isco: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishing.Vanden. K. and Fishbein, L. (1989, December), Women

and tenure: The opportunity or a century. Amorico isAssociat ion of 1115 iver.sity Woimos.

Jessica Wood is a graduate student in dance at Texas Woman'sUniversity, Denton, Texas 76201.

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Management Competencies forDance Administrators In Higher Education

Erlyne F. Whiteman

The discipline of dance in higher education hasundergone many changes in the past decade and it .

has been difficult to meet all the challenges neces-sary to accommodate these changes. The develop-ment of management competencies for danceadministrators in higher education may help t.omeet some of the (1(4111111(1S for the future. Lloyd E.McCleary (197:3), a specialist in the field of man-agement competencies in educational administra-tion, stated Hutt "No group can claim professionalstanding without explicit st atements about whatconstitutes competency in that field and the meansby which it can be Obtained and assessed."

The development of management competenciesfor administrators in the fields of physical educa-tion and leisure studies has most recently beenaddressed by various theses and dissertations andby a number of books and journals. Sport manage-ment, in particular, has been (Mined as manage-ment that relat.es to "sport, exercise, dance, andplay" (NASSM, 1987).

In order to assess maliagement competencies fOrdance admMist rators, the Delphi technique was utlized to create a consensus of views about bot h gen-eral Animist rat ive areas of responsibilities andspecific competencies related to these generalareas. Five dance pioneers (Alma Hawkins,Elizabet h Ilayes, Araminta Lit tie. Aileene Lockhart,an(l Betty Toman) were involved in a pilot study todetermine the ten major administrative areas,using the t hesis by Ronald Paris (1979) as a model.Forty-five dance administrators across the countryparticipated in the Delphi study, which is a t hree-round questionnaire developed by Olaf Helmer andNorman Dalkey in 1951 to determine solicitation ofexpert opinions through the use of a controlledfee(Iback system (Helmer, 1968), Fifty competen-cies were developed from the first questionnaire.Thirty-five of the original group of expertscompleted all three rounds of questionnaires and

111

came t o a consensus of views on 25 of the 50compet encies.

Management Competency Development

Prior to the 1950s, the history of managementthought in physical education and its related fieldspertained more to principles of administrat ion t hanto management competencies. As early as 1951,R. A. Snyder and I larry A. Scott "detailed a compe-tency-based approach to professional preparat km"in physical education aml allied fields, but accord-ing to Earle E Zeigler and G. S. Bowie (1983), t heconcept was ahead of its time aml did not make animpact (p. 11).

It was not until 1975 that the duties and respon-sibilities of physical education, recreat ion, andhealth administrators were expressed in terms ofcompetencies. John Foley (1975) analyzed a num-ber of connpetencies for these administ rotors at theelementary and secondary levels. Twenty-one criti-cal chit ies were identified that cmild be related toadministrators in higher education in subsequentresearch.

A comprehensive research study on managenientcompetency was developed for physical educationand sport by Ronald Paris in 1979. Wit h Zeigler ashis chairman. he analyzed competencies viewed byselected educational administrators in physicaleducation and sport. As a result of the final analy-sis, six major areas of general administ rat ion wereidentified wit h five to ten specific competenciesdelineated under each. This model was ut ilized int he research for dance administrators in highereducation. In 1983. Zeigler and Bowie publishedthe first major text book on ManafiementCompetency Development in Sport and PhysicalEducation. utiliz;ng information from Paris (1979)and other research from business administration

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and the newly developing field of sport manage-ment. In addition, the first issue of the Journal afSports Managenwnt addressed the concept ofmanagement competency for sport in four of itsarticles, overviewed by Janet Parks and GordanOlafson (1987).

Development of Dance Administration

Historically, the foundations for dance adminis-tration began as early as 1926 when MargaretII'Doubler created the first dance major within thedepartment of women's physical education at theUniversity of Wisconsin, The new major led the wayfor other pioneers in the 19:30s and 1940s. Much ofthe literature of this formative period focused onthe place of dance in education, giving support tothe need for educating students at all levels in thediscipline of dance.

It was not until the 1960s that the issue of danceadministration as a field of inquiry came to theattention of the National Section on Dance ofAAHPER. The Section created a platform for danceas a discipline in higher education, separate fromphysical education, in which they saw a need forthe development of leadership standards for thetraining of dance educators. As the Section devel-oped into a Division by 1970. the need for thedevelopment of professional competencies fordance educators was identified and later refined by1974 in AMIPER's Prafssional Preparation inDance, Physical Edncationc;o1Cly Education,and School Health Education. The report wasspecifically designed to identify the unique charac-teristics of dance as a discipline and to suggestguidelines and competencies for the training ofdance students in the areas of teaching andleadership.

However, it was not until the mid-1970s that theliterature specifically addressed the need for train-ing in t he tasks, responsibilities, and practices ofdance administrators. A numher of articlesappeared in Dance Magazine from 1975-198:3 onadministrative issues for both professional compa-nies and educators at the college and universitylevel. In (me such article, Ruth Solomon (1983) dis-cussed the role of the university dance achninistra-t or as me who had "grown up with and thr(mgh t heprogram" (p. 67), but had no experience or train-ing specific to the new role.

While many dance administrators in higher edu-cation and dance company directors in the profes-sional world tended to learn the achninistrative role

115

on the job, recent literature reported in JOPERDsuggested that the process might be expedited bysome professional training. Susan Lee (1984) dis-covered a t.rend away from "the cottage industryapproach to dance management- (p, 75) towardtraining in law, art management, and business man-agement, that was specific to the discipline ofdance. She forecasted that dance administrationwould become an expanding market in the future.Based on these concerns, Alma Hawkins, one of thepioneers in dance education, founded CODA(Council of Dance Administrators) and in 1985developed some standards for helping "youngadministrators understand the role of chairpersonand accompanying problems and how to deal withthem" (Fichter, 1985, p. 18 A conference was heldin June 1985 to outline the various responsibilities,specifically delineating tasks, responsibilities, andpractices unique to dance administrators, theresults of which were published in the report,Dance Administration, Themes and Diwct ions.

Articles in JOPERD by Barbara Ebenstein(1986), Louanne Norwood and Terry Worthy(1986), and in Spotlight .jar Dance by Mary EllaMontague (1987) all indicated a trend toward theaddition of administration and managementcourses within graduate and undergraduate pro-grams in the United States. Ebenstein specificallyexpressed a need for doctoral degrees to fulfill theneed for training for department chairpersons indance in higher education.

Analysis of Management Competencies

In order to ident0 some of the general and spe-cific. management competencies needed by danceadministrators, a modified Delphi technique wasutilized to gain some consensus among danceadministrators in various settings in higher educa-tion across the thiited States. Five dance pioneersparticipated in a pilot study to determine ten gen-eral areas of achninistrative responsibility (TableI). Fifty dance department chairpersons across theUnited States were asked to participate in a pilotstudy of three rounds of questions to determinespecific tasks and skills for each of the ten generaladministrative areas. Forty-five agreed to partici-pate. while only 35 actually completed all threerounds. Thirty-four institutions of higher learningwere represented in 23 stats across the country.Departmental housing vari, (mi physical educa-tion, to theatre or fine arts, io independent depart-ments of dance. Twenty-one of the administrators

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Table 1. Dimensions of General Administrative Areas of ResponsibilityDimension (D) Description of Dance strator

Artist (D-I) Has had experience as Ancer-choreographer in educational settingCommunicator (D2)Educator (D3)Facilitator (D4)Motivator (D5)Planner (D6)Resource Developer (07)Public Relations (D8)Scholar (D9)Visionary Leader (01O)

Conveys information effectively about dance as an art & disciplineHas had teaching experie-iceIs an ombudsman, collaborator, counselor, negotiator, intermediaryIs an encourager, supporter, initiatorOrganizes and initiatesHelps to develop human, physical, & financial resourcesHas expertise in dealing with various types of publics for Ole enrichment of the programEncourages & initiates researchIs a role model in dreaming the feasible & impossible dreams for the future of danceeducation

had either a PhD or EdD and all belonged to a num-ber of professional dance-related organizations.Responses by this panel of experts were combinedand categorized into 50 competency items, 20 ofwhich were calculated as falling within a 75 to 100percent consensus. The medians, int erquartilescores, and deviations are shown for these compe-tencies in Table 2. Conclusions were drawn in lightof the consensus reached that competency trainingis essential for dance administrators and that fur-ther research is needed in order to accomplish thistask.

Recomnwndations for further research are sug-gested in light of the findings of the study andhwlude: additional Delphi investigations that mightreveal some information as to why a greater con-sensus did not occur on more competencies; inves-tigations that might also reveal differences in viewsabout competencies between dance administratorsin various settings, comparing dance programswithin physical education to independent depart-ments, or to fine or theatre arts departments; andinvestigations into programs at the graduate levelt.hat presently offer degree programs in danceadminist ration.

References

AAIIPER hmessimm/ pre/ma/riot! it! dance,physical edncat iH1, recwat ion education, .saleted neat ion, and school health edu«dion.Washington, DC: AAIIITR.

Ebenstein, U. .1. (198(). A PhD in what? A survey of (hit-toral programs in dance. JOPERD, 57(8), 18-21.

Fichter, N. S. (Ed.). (1985, June). Dance administration,thenws and (firections. In Proccedinqs ht the CODArot/jet:et/cc an Dance Adm 1111Sf rat hoc Monticello.IL: Council of Dance Administrators.

EoleyL E (19;5). An analysis of the duties and responsi-bilities of selected administrators of lwalth, physicaleducation, and recreation in New Thrk State. Doctoraldissertation, Indiana University. DisseitatimiAbsti:acts Interwit imod. 36, :4iA.

Ilelmer, 0. ( 1 f)68). The u,se af the delphi technique inpiablems al. education innaratimis (1)-3199). SantaMonica: The Rand Corporation.

Lee. S. (1984). Dance administrative opportuniti(s../OPERI)55(5), 7-1-75, 81.

Mc(leary. L. (1973). Competency-hased educationaladniinistration and application to related fields. InProccedis (,/ the Con/erotic(' an Admit! i.st rat ireCampetence (on. 26-28). Tempe AZ: Arizona StateUniversity. Bureau of Educational Research.

1 16

Montague, M. E. (11)87). Beliefs, fears, biases. Spot/ightan Dance, /3(3), 1,8.

NASSM. (1987). Management menms. ./ourtia/ hfSportMa nagemeHt, 1(1). 87.

Norwood, I.., & VVorthy, T. (1986). Dance teacher evalua-tion: Current met Innis and criteria, JOPERD, 57(2).

Paris. R. II. ( 1979). At/ analysis al management com-petency as c ieiced by selected (ducat hula/ adm in is-t odors in ()Warn) physical ed !Ica/ ion and spoi.Unpuhlished master's thesis, University of GraduateStudies, London, Ontarki.

Parks. 3., & Olafson, G. ( 1987). Sport mamigement and anew journal. Jourm,/ Sport Alatiaqement, 1(1).

Snyder, I. . & Scott. II. (195.1). Prafessiona pwpara-t ion in In'alth. physical (ducat ian, and recreatethical ion. New York: McGraw Hill.

Sokinum. I. (1983). Dancer into administrator: Chairingthe departnwnt r life at the top. JOPERD, 57(2),

Zeigler, 1 I & Bowie , G. S. (If )8:31. illamigcmcntpc/cricy dorchqmicnt ill spwl am/ Mots/cat odara-

Philadelphia: Lea & h'ebiger.

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Table 2. Analysis of Management Competencies for Dance Administrators

Competency (D1-10)Percent

Essentiality01 03 d

Hires quality teachers & performers* (D1) 91.7 5.00 5 3

Is adept at verbal, written & visual skills* (D2) 97.2 5.00 5 0Communicates/interprets polices & decisions (D2) 91.7 5.00 5 3

Is current as a pedagogue (D3) 75.0 4.25 5 2

Makes things happen (D4) 88.9 5.00 5 4

Resolves conflict with human relations skills (D4) 91.7 5.00 5 3

Facilitates meetings with group management skills (D4) 88.9 5.00 5 4

Advises/counsels with listening skills (D4) 80.6 5.00 5 7

Encourages risk, growth, & change (D4) 86.1 5.00 5 5

Sets the tone for work habits, expectations, & artistic standards* (D5) 88.9 5.00 5 4

Recognizes contributions in teaching, scholarship, & choreography* (D5) 91.7 5.00 5 3

Encourages cohesiveness (D5) 94.4 5.00 5 2

Leads department in budget making & grant funding (D6) 91.7 5.00 5 3

Leads department in development of schedules, curriculum, &productions* (D6) 75.0 5.00 5 8

Leads department in planning new facilitie3 & equipment (D6) 80.6 5.00 5 7

Leads department in policy-making decisions (D6) 94.4 5.00 5 2

Leads department in long & short-range plans (D6) 97.2 5.00 5 0Works with higher administration on budgetary support (D7) 97.2 5.00 5 0

Recruits qualified faculty, staff, & students (D7) 88.9 5.00 5 4

Encourages development of teaching & artistic talent in faculty &students* (D7) 77.8 5.00 5 3

Helps to shape individual & public opinion about dance* (D8) 88.9 5.00 5 4

Stays current with educational philosophy & theory (D9) 75.0 4.25 5 1

Develops a mission statement for department (D10) 75.0 4.25 5 4

Keeps informed of societal trends (D10) 77.8 5.00 5 8

Empowers faculty & programs (D10) 88.9 5.00 5 3

Note: 50 competencies were initially developed in Round 1, from which the above 25 were analyzed and agreed upon inRounds 2 and 3, where for all entries: N = 35, the median = 5 (highly essential), 01-03 = 75% of scores, d = # people out-side the consensus, * = competencies unique to dance, and D = general administrative dimensions from Table 1.

Erlyne Whiteman is assistant professor of physical educationand dance, Westmont College, Santa Barbara,

California 93108-1099.

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Benign Neglect: Issues in MentoringKelley Pierce-Byrd

The worlds of business and leadership havemined a phrase, "benign neglect," and generallyapply it to noninterference with the careers of theirprofessionals---doing no harm but also (10g n)good. It seems odd, then, that these worlds, havinglong recognized the importance of molt oring theinexperienced, should excuse their neglect of theseindividuals with the use of the term "benign" when,in fact, this type of neglect appears much moremalignant in nature.

It is the purpose of this paper to examine theconcept of mentoring, highlighting its importancein the careers of young professionals, particularlythose in higher education and specifically thoseuntenured faculty members in university/collegedepartments of dance. Further. the concept of neg-lecting mentoring will be explored through a malig-nancy model that demonstrates a connectionbetween the health of the dance discipline in highereducation and the career health of those artisticprofessionals which comprise its faculties.

Mentoring has its formal beginnings in Greekmythology, dating back to the time Odysseus waspreparing to depart on his famous journey, theOdyssey. Ile entrusted his son Telemachus to hisfriend Mentor, who had agreed to raise and educatethe boy, taking the role of "trusted counselor andguide." A fascinating twist to this tale, often omit-ted by modern writers, is that. Mentor was reportedto be the goddess Athena in disguise. making thatfirst mentor a powerful woman.

Mentoring is. in its largest context . a relationshipbetween a more experienced professional and anovice. Shirley Chater, president of Texas Woman'sl`niversity. describes mentoring as a "mutually ben-eficial process . a personally interactive pro-cess," a process that "does not end" formally butextends across t'ine and throughout careers.Although no single definition has been agreedupon, the act of mentoring suggests the process asthe teaching of "a young person valuable lessonsalong the way" and the participants as "willing to

1 1 8

enter into a one-on-only relathinship over time asfriend, advisor. teacher, coach, listener, andresonirce person" (Stephan. 1989).

Mentoring Defined

Psychologist Daniel Levinson devised an excel-lent model describing the roles and functions of amentor (Levinson, 1987). In the Levinson model,the mentor acts as a teacher in order to enhancethe protege's skills and intellectual development,As a sponsor, the mentor influences the protege'sability to enter into the discipline and makeadvancements. When in the rode of host and guide,the mentor is the protege's contact with the innersocial circles of the discipline, introducing andtutoring the protege in the values, customs,resources, and personalities of that group. Thementor is the protege's exemplar, the role modelwhom the protege emulates as well as the coun-selor to whom the protege may turn in tittles ofstress. The anchor of this model is found in thementor's role as "promoter of the dream," a termthat brings images of shared goals and connects/coordinates the mentor's functions.

Linda Philips-Jones further divides mentoringinto primary and secondary roles (Philips-Jones,1982). As the primary supporter. the mentor enterswillingly into a relationship that is both personaland emotional. The mentor huts the poiwer to makethings happen for the protege, helping the protegesadvance their career significantly. and provides"the blessing," a crucial element. The secondarysupporter is typically a peer who offers silpporland encouragement yet is, to) an extent, limitedbecause of his/her own "junior status." It is the roleof the primary mentor that then appears to be themost significant. exerting the greatest influence onthe protege.

ln general, the rotle of the mentor promotes pro-fessional development through the sharing of

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Receptive

Believes in protege'ssuccess potential

Believes in role

Demonstrates ability topromote growth inothers

Self confidence based oncompetence

Secure

Willing to share

MutaalRespect/Liking

t-

Shared Values

SimilarAffiliation

Needs

Equal Caring

PROTEGE

Promoter of"The Dream"

Teacher

Sponsor

Host/Guide

Exemplar

Counselor

Figure 1. "Stepping Stones": A Model of Mentoring

1 19

Receptive to assistance

Willing to be subordinate

Believes in ownsuccess potential

Self confidence

Ambition

Visibility/promise ofhigh performance

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km)wledge. The protege's career is advanced -is thementor Provides exposure and visibility at t.he workplace as well as the social sett.ing. The protege'sprofessional competence is confirmed through thementor's efforts and the mentor becomes the hon-est friend who not 0n13 will career plan with theprotege, but will provide truthful evaluat ion of pro-gress and contributions.

Because of the special nature of nwntoring, theroles of mentor and protege are only for certainindividuals. Proteges must be receptive to assist-mwe and hold the belief that the mentor can help.They must be willing to take the subordinate role,not to infer subservience, for a great deal of self-confidence is necessary to assume this role. Butalso they must be accepting of guidance, feedback,and critical review of performance, trusting tlwmentor to lead the way. Further, they must be readyfor a mentoring relationship on a personal basis.Proteges must believe they can be successful, con-fident in their abilities, and driven by an ambitionto succeed. Although having the desire and abilityto accept the power and risk resulting from thisrelationship is essential, these attributes are mootif readiness and promise of high perforinance arenot made visible to a potent ial nwnt or.

Mentorship, as well, requires a very siwcial indi-vidual. Receptivity or desire for the process isessential. It has been demonstrated that mentorrelationships that develop on their own initiativeprove to he tlw longest lasting. most beneficial andmost satisfying (Stephan. 1989). Mentors believethe protege can succeed and therefore make a wiseinvestment in taking this protege tmder t heir wing.They generally heliev- leaders are responsible fort 1w devehipment of tal -at and skills in the inexperi-ence(l and have demonstrated an ability to) promotegrowth in others, relating particularly well to thosewith less experience. The iwrsonality profile of amentor includes a self-confidence based On compe-tence, a security with self and posit ion (Ley, 198.1).a willingness to share (Stephan. 198)). and a joy inthe talents of others. E. Paul Torrance, educator.descrilws the mentor as idealistic. nonviolent inphilosophy. relaxed. patient. thorough, vital, andwitty (Torrance. 1981).

The ingredients that blend tlw mentor and theprotege toget her lwgin with mutual respect and lik-ing, The mentor and protege demonstrate to eachOther shared values and a similar need for affilia-t ion. Furthermoffe, the relationship is (VIllent ed inan equal depth of caring, both part icipants invest-ing the same amounts in the mentoring process(see Figure 1).

120

The benefits of mentoring are not reserved forthe protege but rather further the theme of "rela-tionship," in that both parties may gain from thementoring experience. Through their interactions,both gain insights, knowledge, and sat isfactionfrom the relationship. Promotion of an individualfollows a two-way street and while the mentor pro-motes the protege, the protege responds with pro-motion of tlw mentor (Philip-Jones, 1982). Egogratification for both parties is available, the pro-tege as they make ca er gains and the mentor asthe gains are made possible through them.Signifkantly, the power and influence of both pro-tege and nwntor are increased as a direct result ofthe mentoring process (Kram, 1985).

The Malignancy Model

Ilow then is a lack of mentoring malignant? Tobetter explain this phenomenon, it k helpful tolook at a modified systems model (see Figure 2)frequently used in the medical profession. Thepremise of this template takes into account thatmultiple factors affect t he general state of health. Asingle neglected component compromises thewhole organism. In a malignant condition a unitbecomes dysfunctional due to the disease process,and (Iue to) the interrelatedness of all the systems.the disease affects all ot her units. When the condi-tion is neglected, the disease seeds itself to addi-tional and seemingly unrelated units, coimpromis-ing the entire organism. The end result is asickness of the whole organism mult iplied in swift-ness and morbidity by the number of units invaded.

It stands to reason that if the inexperienceddance faculty nwmber is deficient in any one unit. itaffects the whole performance of this individual.Does it not also stand to reason, if the malignancytemplatt is followed. that the deficiencies may seedand cause the okInise of this individual at a fasterand more deadly pace?

It therefore becomes quite clear that to ignore ayoung faculty member's deficiencies and inexperi-ence (benign negle(t), to deny him/lwr nwntoring.is to place him/her in danger of failure. The poten-tial losses are mult i-fold. Not only does the individ-ual lose his/her position in hiiter education buthigher education loses an artist whose potentialwas never realized. The students h)so, the art formloses. the dance depart ment loses, and no .111 ewins.

It further heroines clear that any one deficientarea affects the whole "well-being.' of that faculty

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member. This is where mentoring becomes crucial,Just as a person seeks a physician for a cheek-up

of all their systems, so it is equally desirable(indee(i, imperative) that the uwenured facultymember seek those with more experience. morepracticed insight and more personal distance for a"check-up."

Perceived Expectations Survey

In a small survey conducted during t he fallsemester 19M within t he Texas Woman'sUniversity Programs in Dance, six faculty and fivegraduate students with univvrsity level teachingexperience were questioned as to their perceived

Total Organism

Compromised Unit

If the systems model is applied to the career of a youngprofession& in higher education it might appear es follows:

understands andworks effectivelyin the academicsetting

maintains physicaland mental wellbeing in view ofoutside stressoys

successful insocial & interpersoninteractions

self-actualizationin teaching, artistryand research

1

Figure 2. Systems Model of Thung Professionals

I2I

_

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expectations of mit enured (juni(n) faculty mem-bers. Responses were received from 10 of the 11surveyed.

The survey instrument was divided into four sec-tions. The initial section developed a profile of therespondent, involving information regarding thenumber of years served as a junior and senior fac-ulty member and any prevfinis experience in a men-toring relationship.

The second section posed questions concerningthe respondent's knowledge of a university worksituation prim. to becoming a faculty member jux-taposed against what each respondent felt was nec-essary to know before beginning a faculty career.This section presented ;3;3 separate questions rang-ing from publication concerns to committee mem-bership, political functioning, and personal inter-actions. The final question was structured so as toallow any additional responses not present in thesurvey. Questions were responded to with a checkmark beside each applicable area.

The third section explined each resp(mdent'sexpectations of the junior faculty member, posingvarious questions regarding areas for growth,scholarship, teaching performance. and service tothe department and the university. A total of ISquestions were included with a final question allow-

teachingskills

ing for independent responses. Responses fell intoseven general categories:

1. Growth in teaching skills/curriculum inno-vation.Publication in professimml journals/presenta-tions of papers.

;3. Creative (dance) works/presentation of crea-tive works.

4. Growth in committee skills/interaction withother departments.

5. IVIembership/service in professional organi-zations.

6. Student recruitment/advising.7. Attendance at social/political functions.

Categories 1 t hr mgh 4 were deemed as thoseareas needing the most guidance. If these catego-ries are placed in a systems model, it becomes clearhow complex the position of a dance faculty mem-ber is (see Figure 4).

The final sect ion required written responses,answering questions that called for an opinion. Therespondents were asked to consider which expecta-tions of a .junior faculty member were most criticaland therefore might require "the most guidance."Perceptions of the role of a mentor were asked fin.and I he appeal of a formal mentoring system was

publicationin

journals

creativeworks

/committeeskills/

membership!

\\ //-------____.-c--

,_--

profession.orgs.

studentrecruitmen& advising

Figure 3. Expectations/System Model

12:2

1 '

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appraised. As a final question, the concept of nwn-Wring as a feminist issue was posed with thoughttoward exploring this in fin ure investigations ofnwntoring.

Survey Results

The Texas Woman's University dance depart-ment appears to have a clep.r sense of mentoringneeds and 1,nctions nmst important to the growthof the untenured faculty member. In general, theysee the role of mentor for a dance faculty memberas:

Pacilitat orColleagueProvider of professional advice (career)Involving the junior faculty member in the

inner circles (social and polit ical)Communicator of the "myths" and "symbols"

of the inst itution'Technical advisor (curriculum, grant writing.

teaching, research, and publication)Role modelPerspective nmnit or (personal an(1 profes-

sional)Confidante/friend

These areas match professional literature in con-with the added dimension t hat all of these

functions must be doubly appliedboth in the aca-demic and in the artistic worlds in which the dancefaculty member must function. In light of the com-prehensive roles perceived of the mentor, it scentsthat within dance in higher education the need for aguide is imperative.

It is not within the scope of this paper to pre-scribe the implementation aspects of ment ming:however, the TWEJ survey proved itself overwhelm-ingly in favor of the process. Again consistent withprofessional literature was the thought that men-toring was best implemented on an informal basis,allowing mentorMg relationships to develop along"sincere and sensitive- lines.

Although acadenfic competition between facultymembers (tenured or not) is traditionally regardedas strong, the belief that the system of a depart-ment is healthy and productive only when all thecomponents are likewise healthy and productivemay assist in reconciling this phenomenon. It isperhaps noteworthy, and most certainly a topic duefurther consideration, that although women werenot py,rceived as traditional mentors in the TWUsurvey, the nature of mentoring embraces feministthought and practice. In the male dominated worldof higher education, where role models and men-tors are largely not available to women, the fact thatdance faculties are largely female provides an excel-lent resource for future study and consideration.

References

Kram. (1985). Mcntoritly al work: et opulent alrola! ionships. In Oryaoizatiomt1 Glenview. II.:Scott. Foresman.

Levinson, D.J. (1987). Scumms (?/. b1a/1's I NcwYork: Ballantine Books.

Philips-Jones. L. (1982). Men/ ors a ad prof eges. NewYork: Arbor House.

Stephan, N.L. (1989). MotitorimI and the su Mend-

one rit ical in nct ions relat ionsh i p ,heto is, a ndout comes. Unpublished doctoral (lissertation. SeattleI Iniversity, Washington,

Torrance, El'. (1)84). Mentor w/o t ionsh ips: t hena id creat re achievement . end te, (ha d ie.Buffalo. NY: lkarly Ltd.

Zey, (198.1). The mentor con nee/ ion. Homewood.IL: How

Kelley Pierce-Byrd is a graduate student in theDance Department at Texas Woman's University,

Denton, Texas 76201.

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PURPOSES OF THEAMERICAN ALLIANCE FOR HEALTH, PHYSICAL

EDUCATION, RECREATION AND DANCEThe American Alliance is an educational organization, structured for the purposes of

supporting, encouraging, and providing assistance to member groups and their personnelthroughout the nation as they seek to initiate, develop, and conduct programs in health,leisure, and movement-related activities for the emichment of human lift .

Alliance objectives include:

1. Professional growth and developmentto support, encourage and provide guidance inthe development and conduct of programs in health, leisure, and movement-related activitieswhich are based on the needs, interests, and inherent capacities of the individual in today'ssoc iety.

2. Communicationto facilitate public and professional understanding and appreciationof health, leisure, and movement-related activities, and to disseminate the findings to theprofession and other interested and concerned publics.

3. Standards and guidelinesto further the continuous development, and evaluation ofstandards within the profession for personnel and programs in health, leisure, andmovement-related activities.

4. Publk affairsto coordinate and administer a planned program of professional, publicand governmental relations that will improve education in areas of health, leisure, andmovement-related activities.

5. To conduct such other activities as shall be approved by the Board of Governors and t heAlliance Assembly, provided that the Alliance shall not engage in any activity which would beinconsistent with the status of an educational and charitable organization as defined inSection 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or any successor provision thereto,and none of the said purposes shall at any time be deemed or construed to be purposes otherthan the public benefit, pm-poses and objectives consistent with such educational andcharitable status.

Page 125: ED 344 865 SP 033 758 AUTHOR Oliver, Wendy, Ed. TITLE ... · DOCUMENT RESUME. SP 033 758. Oliver, Wendy, Ed. Dance in Higher Education. Focus on Dance XII. American Alliance for Health,

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