Dance Management in School Education in Japan : Related Organizations and an Example of Their Activities

Abstract

This paper introduces and shares cases from Japan to consider future dance management in other Asian nations. In recent years, the biggest changes in Japan have been making dance classes compulsory for both males and females in physical education in schools. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology declared, “Dance is made up of creative dance, folk dance, and modern rhythm dance. As an exercise that emphasizes enriched communication with others through interactions via expressions and dance that captures an image, students can put emotion into their dancing with others, and experience the joy of expressing an image of oneself.” In March 2008, the Ministry published revisions to the Junior High School Course of Study and later similarly revised the Elementary School Course of Study. Making dance compulsory gave rise to initiatives for dance in schools that incorporated community and pro dancers. In particular, this paper gathered cases of instructor licenses related to organizations that support dance in schools, dance competitions, and pro dancers. Consequently, though various forms of partnerships have started between pro dancers and dance-related organizations in recent years, there is no licensing system to fill the lack of instructors created by making dance compulsory, and this paper demonstrates that schools must rely on licenses issued by private firms and research organizations.