Exploding the myth: enhancing the expression of faith and spirituality through the study of dance composition in Christian tertiary education

Abstract

For dance educators engaged in teaching choreography in Christian tertiary institutes, encouraging students to develop foundational compositional skills whilst exploring personal expression of the Christian faith is undoubtedly a challenging objective. In 2005, a Christian tertiary education provider in South Australia enrolled six female dance students in the unit dance composition 1 as part of a bachelor of arts (dance) degree programme. Research was conducted concurrently with the delivery of the unit, analysing how effectively the content, delivery and assessment within, and of, the subject supported students to develop foundational composition skills and enhance their expression of faith and spirituality in their dance making. During the research project it became clear there was the underlying challenge of exploding the myth that it is impossible to integrate faith with artistic practice and produce work of industry standards. How effectively the training in dance composition facilitated the exploration of faith through and during the choreographic process, without compromising the quality of technical training, became the focus for the research project.