Developing non-verbal ways of knowing in dance: Collaborative school/university action research

Abstract

Gardner (1983, 1993) has long argued that education privileges certain intelligences, primarily the linguistic and the logical-mathematical. As the arts tend to emphasise ways of knowing outside these intelligences, their marginalised status is exacerbated. A recent two-year project in eight primary schools on dance, drama, music and visual art found that the non-verbal aspects of each art form warranted serious attention to investigate what it means to learn in the arts. In this paper we describe and discuss the results of an aspect of action research in dance from this larger research project. We demonstrate how movement can be used as the primary expressive mode of communication, as opposed to privileging the spoken word. Through the use of powerpoint and video, we provide an intriguing and innovative model for providing non-verbal feedback and feed forward in the dance classroom.