Connecting to Dance: Merging Theory with Practice

Abstract

This action research involved co-teaching a week of dance appreciation at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, on Yvonne Rainer's Trio A. The data discussed is from transcriptions of the three classes, as well as observation sheets completed by the students in class. This article also draws on existing literature about dance literacy, traditional literacy, and multi-literacies. Examining data through the action research lens, the author's thinking shifted from critical analysis of her students, what they had missed and what they had learned, to critical analysis of herself as a teacher and choreographer. In the end, the author discovered that teaching toward aesthetic appreciation is a very small portion of what can be accomplished in a dance appreciation course. Connecting to a dance work involves acknowledging our own perspectives, consciously learning through our bodies, contextualizing the work, and processing our experience through writing and discussions.