East Asian dance/movement therapy educators’ experiences of teaching dance/movement therapy in East Asia after training in the US

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore the lived teaching experiences of native East Asian dance/movement therapy (DMT) educators who completed their DMT education in the US, and then returned to their home countries to teach. The researcher intended to learn how participants adapted what they had learned to teach DMT to students in East Asia, including their challenges and successes. Six participants were recruited from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Data were gathered via a researcher-designed demographic questionnaire and individual interviews. Nvivo10 software was used to ensure efficient data organization. Member checking and peer debriefing were used in different stages of data analysis to heighten the internal validity. Finally, five themes were revealed: (1) challenges as a DMT educator in one’s home country, (2) unfamiliar and different learning styles, (3) problems and needs, (4) efforts to develop the field of DMT as a DMT educator, and (5) giving advice and sharing meaningful moments. These findings support previous research on culturally competent teaching. This study hopes to contribute to creating a communicative and educational DMT bridge between East and West, and to enhance the indigenization of the field of DMT in East Asia.