Dance Literacy Research Articles

Constructing the dance literacy system and the road to talent development

The article outlines the origin, process, and results of the project "Research on the Formation System and Practice Path of Dance Literacy from the Perspective of Aesthetics” and sorts out the concepts of "Dance Literacy Theory" and "Dance Ontology". The relationship between the practice path of dance literacy talents, and some suggestions for establishing class groups and evaluation systems in the dance aesthetic education system.

디지털 시대 댄스 리터러시 교육 방안 연구

The purpose of this research is to present a way of teaching dance in the digital age. The first is dance ekphrasis education based on experience. The second is digital dance literacy education, which consists of visual literacy, an interactive sense of integration, and cultural convergence. These educational measures will foster the ability to read, write, interpret and utilize the dance currently lacking in dance art education. Digital dance literacy education is a process of creative human education that not only fosters the ability to critically perceive, interpret and create digital images, but also selects, interprets and utilizes the digital world.

Sartre and somatics for the pedagogy of movement in contemporary dance

Drawing on somatic practice, psychology, philosophy and the dance experience, this article operationalizes Sartre’s ideological response to movement pedagogy. The ‘thisness’ experience of embodiment during traditional dance styles negatively impacts on the realization of our body’s somatic potential. However, Sartre’s ‘body-for-itself’ mode can be stimulated with certain somatic practices, due to the concentration on the inner experience and sensations present in the body. In this sense, the body becomes a learning outcome in itself, through a deep and respectful connection with the dancer’s inner being. Pedagogically, this combination of Sartre’s theory with holistic techniques of the self, specifically the fundamental principles of Feldenkrais and dance literacy, can benefit the realization of individual potential during dance, and optimize positive embodiment. This article discusses initial materializations of the learning experiences of the dance student, informed by Sartre’s thinking on embodiment, and a theoretical discussion of the pedagogical implications of Sartre’s ideas for somatic pedagogy in contemporary dance.

유아의 댄스 리터러시 함양을 위한 LMA 무용교육 프로그램 적용사례

유아의 댄스 리터러시 함양을 위한 LMA 무용교육 프로그램 적용사례

Dance Literacy As An Expression of Experience and Creativity in Dance Education

Dance Literacy As An Expression of Experience and Creativity in Dance Education

Every Dance Needs a Chaperone: The Whys and Hows of a Mentored Choreography Festival

ABSTRACTLearning to choreograph is an integral part of developing dance literacy, offering students a new way to apply their dance knowledge, providing opportunities for students to practice risk taking and self-expression, and training the next generation of choreographers. Despite the benefits of this instruction, many dance programs struggle to find time to include compositional lessons in their established schedules. Mentored choreography festivals are one alternate way for students to experiment and gain experience in choreography while benefiting from the guidance of a seasoned dance artist. This article discusses the role of a mentor in the student's creative process and how it differs from the role of teacher, examines three models for mentored choreographic festivals, and offers practical tips for hosting your own festival.

댄스 리터러시 강화를 위한 통합발레교육프로그램 개발

댄스 리터러시 강화를 위한 통합발레교육프로그램 개발

Bharatanatyam Dance

This article explores an Asian Indian American youth’s Bharatnatyam dance literacy education in a major city in the southwest of the U.S. I draw from sociocultural, multimodal, transmediation, and multiple intelligencies theories to support my claims. Findings reveal the young adult’s dance education contributed to cultural preservation (Iyengar & Smith, 2016). A plethora of research on the contributions of dance education in the physical development of children is available. This study offers understandings of how formal classical dance (Bharatanatyam) is both beneficial physically and psychologically. Dance, especially Bharatanatyam, culturally codified and schematized contributes to literacy learning in school.

Analysis on a Case Study of High Quality Dance Classes to Increase Dance Literacy

Analysis on a Case Study of High Quality Dance Classes to Increase Dance Literacy

대학교양 무용강좌의 정서적 함의에 대한 성찰적 연구: 댄스 리터러시 구성요소와의 관련성 탐색

대학교양 무용강좌의 정서적 함의에 대한 성찰적 연구: 댄스 리터러시 구성요소와의 관련성 탐색

Dancing literacy: Expanding children’s and teachers’ literacy repertoires through embodied knowing

This paper explores dance as literacy. Specifically, it examines qualitative case study research findings and student examples from a dance artist-in-residence that explored curricular content using dance as its primary mode of enquiry and expression. Throughout the residency, students constructed meaning through their dance experiences in dynamic and autonomous ways, exhibiting complex literacy practices of enquiry and communication. Focusing on the kindergarten student participants’ experiences, the authors highlight three themes in their dance literacy practices: (a) artistic autonomy, (b) embodied knowledge and (c) multimodality. As embodied knowledge, dance innately allowed for integrative literacy possibilities in the dance residency. The dance experiences observed and referenced in this research illustrate the complexities of dance as literacy, as both a unique literacy and in meaning making across literacies. Drawing on the findings of this study, the authors seek to inspire teachers to foster similar experiences to develop transformative literacy practices individually in their classrooms and collaboratively in their schools.

Extending Our Vision: Access to Inclusive Dance Education for People with Visual Impairment

ABSTRACTEnvironmental, organizational and attitudinal obstacles continue to prevent people with vision loss from meaningfully engaging in dance education and performance. This article addresses the societal disabilities that handicap access to dance education for the blind. Although much of traditional dance instruction relies upon visual cuing and modeling, evidence suggests that dance can be successfully taught to blind students by integrating verbal and tactile modes of instruction. There is a need for professional development to train teachers in inclusion dance methodologies that specifically address the learning needs of students with vision loss. There is a further need for a significant paradigm shift towards the acceptance of blind people as dance students and performers with full capacity to experience, appreciate and expand the current boundaries of the art form. We surveyed fifteen parents of dance students with vision loss to assess their perceptions of the importance of dance education and the challenges of accessibility. Thematic content analyses indicated that parents perceived benefits in health, socialization, and dance literacy. Parents also perceived a lack of accessibility to dance for students with vision loss. This article provides evidence of successful dance inclusion for the blind. We recommend integration of dance pedagogy specific to the needs of people with visual impairment in the training of our teachers and the teaching of our students. Spotlighted techniques include: somatic approaches, tactile modeling, physical guidance, oral description, and one-to-one partner teaching.

The Development Process of Dance Literacy as an Essential Element of Dance Educators’ Professionalism in Culture and Arts Education

The Development Process of Dance Literacy as an Essential Element of Dance Educators’ Professionalism in Culture and Arts Education

Texts, Bodies, Multimodality: Dance Literacy in Context

Crossing between texts, bodies, and the senses, dance literacies bring fresh perspectives on how new literacies can function, especially non-alphabetic or non-text-based literacies. Reading and writing in an expanded understanding of literacy are interpretive means of interacting with texts, of embedding and discerning meaning, of making sense of movement or choreographic information, of composing and performing, and of creating documentation and archive. Makers and viewers of dances act as readers, and writers, and authors. These roles are permeable in dance literacy, shifting with the context of the dance phenomenon or artistic practice. This paper engages with the dance practices of two dance companies to explore issues of shared-authorship, documentation, multimodality, body-text relationships, and reader-writer permeability: the Bebe Miller Company during their creation ofA Historyand RikudNetto, who composes through Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation. What literacy events and practices are present in the studio? What range of written literacies are used and how? Where and how were these literacies learned? In what ways might they cross the so-called literacy-orality divide? Drawing from questions and frameworks of the New Literacy Studies, this paper invites a critical look at dance literacy in context.

EDUCAÇÃO ACESSÍVEL: ESTÉTICAS, CORPOS E DEFICIÊNCIA

Este artigo introduz o modelo social da deficiência aos professores de dança e discute as implicações dessa concepção sobre a deficiência para o ensino de dança, a apreciação da dança e da coreografia. A relação entre o dançarino de balé deficiente e o conceito do corpo dançante do balé é analisado como uma maneira de desafiar o entendimento sobre o corpo em estudantes de dança. O uso de estruturas e técnicas da dança-teatro são discutidas por meio do trabalho de performance de grupos de dança profissionais e comunitários de pessoas com e sem deficiência. A tese central deste artigo é que uma cultura de dança acessível não precisa somente de técnicas, espaços de trabalho, instalações de treinamento e palcos acessíveis, mas também de um trabalho educacional mais amplo no que se refere ao entendimento sobre a dança: a nossa capacidade de ler dança e apreciar a manipulação de corpos, no tempo e no espaço.

Dance literacy and digital media: Negotiating past, present and future representations of movement

ABSTRACTThis article is concerned with the lack of a solid cultural foundation upon which theoretical and historical analysis of dance can be practiced. It argues for the cultivation of dance literature through the use of notation systems as an opportunity to establish and contribute to libraries of valuable reference material. A method of analysis for assessing the capability of three leading notation systems to effectively elucidate movement concepts and provide greater application for use by the dance community was developed. This evaluation maintains that Labanotation's structure offers a framework that may be utilized to develop computer applications that facilitate the use and education of Labanotation.

The Babel of Dance Literacy: Reflections on the heterogeneity of dance notations in mid-twentieth century North America

The Babel of Dance Literacy: Reflections on the heterogeneity of dance notations in mid-twentieth century North America

Connecting to Dance: Merging Theory with Practice

This action research involved co-teaching a week of dance appreciation at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, on Yvonne Rainer's Trio A. The data discussed is from transcriptions of the three classes, as well as observation sheets completed by the students in class. This article also draws on existing literature about dance literacy, traditional literacy, and multi-literacies. Examining data through the action research lens, the author's thinking shifted from critical analysis of her students, what they had missed and what they had learned, to critical analysis of herself as a teacher and choreographer. In the end, the author discovered that teaching toward aesthetic appreciation is a very small portion of what can be accomplished in a dance appreciation course. Connecting to a dance work involves acknowledging our own perspectives, consciously learning through our bodies, contextualizing the work, and processing our experience through writing and discussions.

Digital Dance Literacy: an integrated dance technology curriculum pilot project1

Although the technological methods in which dance artists create, develop, document and present their work have grown significantly over the past two decades, technology education in undergraduate dance curricula in the US often remains peripheral. Some dance programs in higher education, especially those with graduate programs, now include a general course in dance technology that often functions as an overview of documentation methods and basic dance production. Given the technological advances and their creative applications in dance over the past decade (computer‐mediated choreography, musical scores, and sound environments; interdisciplinary and mixed media; Internet2 live telematic rehearsal and performance), this curriculum development project sought to design and implement a comprehensive technology curriculum for undergraduate dance students in bachelors degree programs in the US. Four developmental design problems were confronted in this pilot project, including how to provide: (1) integrated delivery of technology in required, rather than elective dance coursework, throughout four‐year undergraduate degree programs; (2) student‐centred design and relevance, capitalising on students’ own technology capital and interest; (3) balanced content in both creative application, as well as practical technological aspects; and (4) completion of digital e‐portfolio in the undergraduate senior year. From these guiding research problems, the Digital Dance Literacy (DDL) pilot program at Wayne State University seeks to produce a comprehensive, user‐friendly curriculum for integrating advanced technologies into undergraduate dance curricula. This paper gives an overview of this project’s development and implementation, description and content of the DDL curriculum and coursework, the project’s current status, as well as student, faculty and administrative perspectives. Additional problems in the research and development are also discussed.

Why Dance Literacy?

Why Dance Literacy?