Teaching Communal Dance Forms

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to provide practical methods for teaching “world/urban” dance courses in higher education in the 21st century. We discuss problematic terminology in our courses and suggest a new term to better reference these dance forms. Eight methods are discussed for assisting teachers and expanding student perspectives in “world/urban” dance classrooms. The authors, Chang, MFA and Hogans, MFA, analyzed their experience teaching Hip Hop dance and West African dance forms at TWU to identify similarities between the forms in both content and pedagogy, as well as the ways in which the two differ from teaching traditional concert forms such as ballet and modern. Through this investigation, we seek to contribute to current dance conversations in higher education such as shifting perspectives on “world/urban” dance terminology, connecting Nyama McCarthy-Brown’s “Cross Cultural Classroom,” and applying the National Dance Education Organization’s “Dance 2050: The Vision of Dance in Higher Education.”