Adaptation of Bharatanatyam dance pedagogy for multicultural classrooms: questions and relevance in a North American university setting

Abstract

This article opens up questions around introducing Bharatanatyam, a form of Indian classical dance, to undergraduate learners within a North American university setting. The aim is to observe how the learners understood and received a particular cultural practice and to explore issues related to learning goals, curriculum content, approaches to pedagogy and classroom management. A qualitative approach used the combined methods of action research, ethnography and autoethnography to reveal layers of meanings related to the nature of learning and challenges incurred in implementing traditional teaching method into practice. It is discussed how critical spaces for dialogue and deliberation between the learners and the teacher have generated an adaptive method for accommodating the needs of multicultural classrooms. The study recommends further inquiry-based dialogues among scholars and practitioners to utilise the critical theories for classroom instructions.