‘It’s a different way of thinking about history, isn’t it?’ Student perspectives on learning dance history

Abstract

This paper considers student perspectives on the learning of dance history in a British University. The investigation focuses on the student experience. Recent researches into student learning and the idea of history provide a context for the study. A pedagogic research project in a British University sought, captured and analysed the views of undergraduate dance students. A qualitative analysis of the data, using grounded theory, was used to identify themes of importance to students themselves. The students said that dance history was a different way of thinking about history to that which they had encountered before University. Dance history, and its methods, was found to be a means through which students examined and made sense of their own experience as dancers. It illuminates issues to do with freedom, identity and self and may help students make informed choices in their own practice.