Risk and ReORIENTations: An Asianist Approach to Teaching Afro-Haitian Dance

Abstract

ABSTRACT I present an action research study that enacts an Asianist somatic movement education approach to teaching Afro-Haitian dance at Arizona State University as a response to my Chinese American body’s experience of hegemony in postsecondary dance curriculum. My pedagogical framework uses an intercultural teaching approach that applies a somatic teaching method integrating Chinese, Asian Indian, and Japanese somatic traditions. I offer instructions for teaching two Afro-Haitian dances and I push students beyond a tourist conception of Afro-Haitian dance. I apply a combined learning method that interlocks content learning of Afro-Haitian culture with their movement learning. I engage students’ cultural and research perspectives as evidenced by qualitative findings in the form of student work samples. I triangulate these data with my teacher observations and my review of video documentation. I conclude with a recapitulation and the implications of this action research study.