Dance Classroom Research Articles

Integrating Consent Practices in Dance Education

ABSTRACT Utilizing consent practices in dance classrooms offers students greater control over their own bodies and increases accessibility, especially for those affected by sexual violence, racial injustice, and other forms of trauma and oppression. Increasingly consent practices are becoming critical tools for dance education. This article surveys literature on consent in dance and education and draws on the author’s experience incorporating consent practices in post secondary dance classrooms to offer a how-to guide. Explicit, consistent, multi-faceted, and power-sensitive approaches are needed to effectively create a culture of consent in dance classrooms. The principles and practices presented here address touch, as well as other acts of risk and vulnerability, making them applicable to technique classes and rehearsals, and other types of dance classes such as choreography, improvisation, anatomy, or dance history. Through effective use of consent practices, students can access the autonomy they need to care for themselves, be brave, and take risks.

Thick Like Me: Uprooting Racism and Sizeism from the Dance Classroom

Thick Like Me: Uprooting Racism and Sizeism from the Dance Classroom

Exploration on the Curriculum Construction of Dance Studies in the Digital Era

With the advent of the digital era, various means such as virtual reality, online remote teaching, and online learning platforms have enriched the content and methods of dance education and teaching classrooms. This is conducive to the cultivation of high-quality dance talents in the new era and brings new opportunities for dance education and teaching in vocational high schools in China. However, at the same time, the arrival of digitization has also brought challenges to the development of dance courses. Based on this, this paper explores the problems in the construction of dance courses in vocational high schools in China in the digital era, and seeks innovative applications of digital technology in the construction of dance teaching courses. It aims to enhance the learning experience of dance majors in vocational high schools in China and improve the effectiveness of dance classroom teaching.

Child Psychology in the Dance Classroom

Child psychology is a discipline that studies the laws of children’s mental activities, and with the improvement of social standards, the application of psychology in children’s education is becoming more and more widespread. This paper takes children’s psychological development as a fulcrum to gain deep insight into children’s psychological characteristics in dance teaching. Taking children as the research object, it studies the specific application of psychology in the process of children’s dance teaching through its own teaching practice.

Dance Wellness Pedagogy: How Fitness-Focused Education Can Inform Dancer Wellness in the Postsecondary Classroom

ABSTRACT This research study aimed to develop, execute, and evaluate the effectiveness of a dance wellness educational curriculum implemented in a university-level dance classroom. The focus of this study involved student application of exercise science and wellness knowledge within a teaching capacity. Using a mixed methods design, this study utilized a pretest/posttest performance assessment and document analysis for qualitative data. Results showed that the (a) posttest knowledge scores were statistically significantly higher, and (b) qualitative data collected from participants indicated deep levels of meaning-making and application of course content to students’ personal approaches to training and teaching. Two themes emerged from qualitative data: student growth in knowledge and understanding as well as personal/professional implementation and application. Findings suggest that incorporating a dance wellness curriculum in a university-level dance program builds knowledge in exercise science, wellness, and instructional literacy while encouraging students to apply gained knowledge in both personal and professional capacities.

Dynamic image data processing technology application in dance classroom assisted teaching under virtual environment

Dynamic image data processing technology application in dance classroom assisted teaching under virtual environment

Recenzió a Tánc – Tananyag – Módszer című módszertani jegyzetről

In our study, we present a plan for folk dance training and its methodological background within the framework of a larger interdisciplinary research program. Our aim is to provide a brief overview of the táncház-method (also known as the dance house method), discuss its practical pedagogical antecedents and describe the teaching process used in the approach, which consists of 32 sessions. In doing so, we provide guidance for implementing the táncház-method in the folk dance classroom.

Beyond the audience: Creating effective engagement strategies for students on the spectrum in the theatre classroom

Historically, theatre and dance have had challenging relationships with disability to say the least. This challenge stems from ableist perspectives that fail to consider specific needs and experiences of persons with disabilities. At all levels, from youth education to training and professional performance, opportunities are limited. Often, performing arts engagement is limited to audience seats for individuals with disabilities, more frequently this focus is on relaxed performances geared toward those identified as autistic. As the prevalence of autism diagnoses have increased, theatre and dance course engagement, specifically youth engagement, which is shown to have life-long positive impacts and predict regular and contined arts engagement, must be determined. Through an observational study, emphasizing autism research and theatre and dance classroom practices, student engagement was measured against curriculum and course planning. Through this strengthened understanding of engagement, theatre and dance curriculum can be planned to engage students on the spectrum. In building an equitable foundation for engagement, autistic students will be better equipped and prepared to move beyond audience seats.

Asking Evolving Questions to Decenter Whiteness in the Dance Studio

Historically there has been an overvaluing of Whiteness in Western concert dance. Marginalization of dancers who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, and of color continues at all levels within the field. Much work is currently addressing systemic inequity in dance. One area available to all dance educators is personal reflection and curious examination of our habits, choices, and practices. This autoethnographic essay seeks to contribute by identifying ways that teachers can understand and address inequity productively in the dance classroom and within ourselves.

Greek and Roman Mythologies Within the Dance Classroom: An In-Depth Description of a Cross-Curricular Unit Plan

This article provides an in-depth look into a unit plan I crafted as a student teacher based on Greco-Roman mythologies and how I have since modified it and applied it to various grade levels. My inspiration for this unit is based on the connection between ballet and modern dance pioneers (George Balanchine, Isadora Duncan, and Martha Graham) and the Greco-Roman mythologies that influenced them when creating some of their masterworks. Along with explanations of successfully tested lesson plans and templates of rubrics and assignments, I include descriptions and short analyses of four myths I have used in the high school and middle school setting. This unit could easily be adapted to embrace mythology from other areas of the world and modified for any pre-K–12 setting.

Application of Dynamic Process Neural Network Model Identification in Ethnic Dance Online Teaching System.

With the development of the times, education presents a new trend, but the teaching characteristics of dance classroom teaching cannot adapt to the current development trend. In this article, the author analyzes modern information technology, hoping to realize the teaching of folk dance on the Internet and provide a new model of online distance teaching for folk dance teaching. The author analyzes the current teaching problems in colleges and universities, and proposes to change the existing teaching situation based on dynamic process neural network model identification and artificial intelligence, and instead use online remote network ethnic dance teaching. Online distance education can enable flexible teaching of folk-dance courses, deeply dig into the theoretical basis of distance teaching, and use online distance network teaching to make teaching time more flexible, not only providing new teaching methods but also introducing new teaching concepts. Based on the traditional neural network model identification, a dynamic process neural network model identification is developed. This model is no longer subject to the input limitation of the traditional neural network model, the processing time is relaxed, and the advantages are more obvious. In this research, the author introduces dynamic process neural network model identification in time series data mining, and makes full use of artificial intelligence to deeply analyze the classification and prediction problems in the context of time series.

Unveiling the Marked Narratives of the Student: Teaching within Perceptions of Racialized Bodies in the Dance Classroom

ABSTRACT Research at the intersection of race, dance, and education is often discussed descriptively or as a cultural intervention, one tracked by what is physically seen (identity of students) rather than how it operates unseen (such as how race operates on students in the classroom). I contribute empirically to the sociocultural frames of the current race literature within the dance classroom. By framing the experience of teaching under historic, racialized logics of curriculum and the “marked body,” I use critical phenomenology to analyze the ways race plays out in perception, emotion, and the relationship between teacher and student. I suggest that hidden curriculums of dance classrooms that are veiled, marked narratives of the student, must be acknowledged to fully expand the potential of culturally relevant classroom interactions. This study offers suggestions for supporting teachers in anti-racist teaching and has implications for professional development for dance educational spaces.

Inquiry and Reverse Chronology Pedagogies for Social Inclusion in School-based Dance Programs

ABSTRACT In this article, two pedagogical approaches intended to foster social inclusion in school-based dance programs are described: inquiry and reverse chronology. The inclusion of inquiry and reverse chronology as featured pedagogies in Queensland, Australia’s statewide General Senior Dance Syllabus is discussed, including the combined use of these pedagogies to promote more inclusive dance classrooms and dance teaching practices. In particular, the author highlights an approach to curriculum organization that features key questions and presents an alternative to traditional, style-based approaches to dance curriculum organization.

Application of Image Recognition Based on Wireless Sensors in Dance Teaching System.

With the vigorous development of higher education in China, many universities have made great progress in various indicators in recent years. As the number of college students increases year by year, the effect of instruction in the classroom is especially important. The high quality of teaching directly affects the efficiency of students' listening to lectures, and more and more universities are receiving attention. However, the traditional dance classroom education and the one-to-many education model cannot adapt to the development trend of higher art education under the changes of the times and cannot effectively guarantee the quality of classroom education. The development of wireless sensor networks provides practical and feasible technical solutions for the development of dance education systems. Compared with general detection methods, image sensors can provide more real-time and more intuitive on-site information and wirelessly send image information to user terminals. This article describes the classic feature extraction algorithm and proposes a new feature extraction algorithm based on chart filling. The effectiveness of each algorithm is verified through several data sets. Image recognition is carried out by computer, including from computer to image processing, through the computer to recognize objects and various different modes of the target technology. The identification process usually includes several steps. First, the preprocessing of the image is required, then the segmentation of the image is performed, and then the feature extraction and matching are performed. In layman's terms, image recognition hopes to imitate the human heart to read photos. By applying the image recognition technology to the dance education system, changes in the methods and forms of dance education can be stimulated.

Design and Implementation of Dancing Information Management System Based on Visual Processing

With the advent of the information age and the continuous updating of modern educational methods, the learning form of schools has developed into a diversified structure, and the status of network teaching in the modern educational mechanism has also been continuously improved, achieving irreplaceable results in modern teaching. The advantages of network teaching in its breadth and ubiquity have been recognized and now accepted by students. At present, most of the schools relax students’ study areas and increase students’ interest in self-directed learning. A good online teaching method is an educational method formed by comprehensive use of modern educational technology. To sum up, it is imperative to develop a system that is suitable for schools to manage many dance resource websites. The dance resource information management platform organically integrates related digital resources around a certain theme to form a resource combination covering text, pictures, audio, video, and other types of materials, specifically related to content associations and subject indexing. This dance digital resource information can be revealed from multiple dimensions through the information system. It is convenient for users to retrieve and browse various information. This method facilitates the interaction between teachers and students, thereby greatly improving the utilization rate of digital information resources. The three-dimensional teaching of dance classroom is realized. Through the platform, a wealth of characteristic dance resource information can be collected from all over the world. Through the system’s reorganization of dance information, value-added services of characteristic dance resources are realized, making the dance material novel and professional. The system has strong operability and practicability to achieve the integration of teaching design and diversification of learning applications.

Drámajátékok a néptánc tanórán

This paper examines the effects of drama games on successful competency development in teaching and education, specifically within folk dance education. We also present the results of data drawn from two non-representative pieces of research done among educators (n=30) and students (depending on game n=19–39) regarding the effective use of structured drama activities in the folk dance classroom to strengthen group cohesion or trust between students. Finally, as a methodological recommendation, we introduce a collection of drama games and possibilities for their integration into folk dance education, with suggested variations presented according to the six age groups defined for the 12 grades of public education in Hungary. This paper aims to raise awareness of the possibilities and usefulness of integrating drama activities into folk dance education.

Choreographing Global Flyways: Interdisciplinary Middle School Dance and Science Learning

ABSTRACT Climate change is a contemporary global crisis that necessitates pedagogical innovation for the middle school dance classroom. This article describes an integrated design for a dance and science unit. Building on students’ kinesthetic abilities, teachers are able to create a unit comprising a series of lessons on bird migrations effected by climate change, culminating in a final performance. Students engage in research on climate change and its effects on global bird migrations and view past performances reflecting avian formations from Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's Swan Lake (1895) to non-Western influences on dance. Yoga poses such as Swan, Eagle, and Pigeon evolve into dance phrases. The teacher facilitates students’ selection of a musical soundtrack for the choreography of an ensemble performance with props and upcycled costumes. An assessment of the dance and science unit is performed through a continuous feedback loop during practice and through a final group interview after the performance.

Creating Thinking: Immersive Dance Theater as 4E Cognition in the Wild

ABSTRACT The creative dancing body is an ideal exemplar of the embodied mind. However, creativity research has ceased to develop due to a lack of study of the embodied mind in cognitive science. Thus, much can be gained through exploring ways in which we maximize students’ creative potential by engaging 4E cognition through rich dance experiences. In my secondary dance classroom, 4E cognition is most evident in our annual immersive dance theater project. The project presses creators to make an art event that encourages cognition “in the wild,” or in real-world problem-solving situations. This article briefly explores cognition through a 4E lens, and discusses ways immersive dance theater projects catalyze and capitalize on each E. It then draws connections between 4E cognition, radical embodied cognitive science, and immersive dance theater to suggest future creativity research may benefit from extensive study of the genre in K-12 education.

How Teacher Can Develop Children’s Creativity through Facilitating Possibility Thinking in Chinese Folk Dance Classroom

In recent decades, people has gradually focused on creativity especially in education and society. Through teaching activities, students may be able to use possibility thinking in their classes for developing creativity. Hence, it is important that understanding how teachers can develop children’s creativity by supporting possibility thinking. As a dance teacher, I am looking forward to bringing this knowledge into my teaching. Through a theoretical analysis and experiential combination, this paper aims to explore how teachers can cultivate children’s creativity by facilitating possibility thinking.

“I’m Not Thinking about It to Understand It, I’m Thinking about It to Do It”: Students’ Sensemaking Experiences from the Modern Dance Classroom

ABSTRACT This research explores the question: How do students describe their own sensemaking practices in the postsecondary modern dance classroom? Based on semi-structured interviews with three postsecondary dance students at the first author’s institution, this article presents individual accounts that capture students’ perceptions of making sense of new movement material in a modern dance class. From the accounts, three themes emerged: implicit curriculum, the embodied mind, and the role of attention. We discuss these themes in relation to existing literature from learning theory and dance education and offer implications for creating an equitable learning environment. This research, which blends teacher self-study and qualitative inquiry, is intended to inform departmental practice and contribute situated perspectives to theories of learning in dance.