Chinese Leadership in Arts Education Workshops: A Sino-American Cross-Cultural Exchange

Abstract

This report compares important aspects of American and Chinese dance education through the lens of the “Chinese Leadership in Arts Education” workshops organized by Brigham Young University in response to requests from Chinese arts educators to observe American arts education in practice as a benchmark for assessing the direction of Chinese arts education reform. The workshops provided Chinese arts educators with an opportunity to observe American arts education and explore the cultural and value-based infuences behind an education model different from their own. Insights arising from in-workshop interactions and post-workshop interviews combine to present the importance of cultural context, the essence of arts education, and the balance between unity and diversity in dance as well as in life.