Teaching Latinx Dances in Multicultural Environments: Pedagogic Acculturations of Latino Dance Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

ABSTRACT Multicultural and intercultural dance practices are a by-product of the ever-increasing flow of people across national and cultural boundaries. The increasing presence of Latinx dances in Aotearoa New Zealand has resulted from the migration of Latinx people who celebrate, create, perform, and teach these dance traditions as teachers, performers, and choreographers. This article draws on the ideas of ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism to examine how five Latinx dance teachers have navigated pedagogic acculturations in teaching Latinx dances in multicultural Aotearoa New Zealand. Through interviews of Latinx dance teachers and observations of dance classes, the findings revealed that the dance teachers experience pedagogic acculturation by recalibrating dance movements, reimagining language as a teaching tool, reframing music as a pedagogic intercalator, and embodying dance knowledge as a multicultural mediator. The analysis reveals pedagogic acculturation as a complex process of cultural translation, which interweaves one’s heritage, culture, and identity and their attempt at entry into the larger host culture.