Instructional Performance Research Articles

De-Colonizing Listening: Toward an Equitable Approach to Speech Training for the Actor

ABSTRACTThis article confirms and deepens an understanding of the negative impact of teaching culturally embedded speech standards to actors who are “othered” by a dominant “somatic norm” within the performing arts. The author analyzes evidence from a three-year longitudinal study of actors within a UK conservatory in relation to the critical frame of the somatic norm and colonized listening practices in the performing arts. The author identifies conscious and unconscious bias within traditional training methods and proposes a decolonizing approach to listening within foundational speech training. The ideological shift outlined follows the “affective turn” in the humanities and social sciences and moves away from the culturally embedded listening at the core of “effective” speech methods, which focus solely on clarity and intelligibility. The outcome of this research is a radical performance pedagogy, which values the intersectional identities and linguistic capital of students from pluralistic backgrounds. The revised curriculum offers an approach to affective speaking and listening that assumes an equality of understanding from the outset, and requires actors, actor trainers, and, ultimately, audiences to de-colonize their listening ears.

Pedagogical training profile of basic health sciences faculty in biomedical and related fields at Brazilian public and private higher education institutions.

Historically, Brazilian higher education teachers' pedagogical training has not been a concern. Even today, a graduate degree is the main requirement to be a faculty member. However, a set of competencies is necessary to teach: pedagogical competency, political competency, and knowledge of specific content. Most graduate training covers only knowledge of specific content. Therefore, this work aimed to outline the profile of basic health sciences faculty members teaching in biomedical and related fields regarding their undergraduate and graduate training, as well as the initial and continued pedagogical training in Brazilian public and private higher education institutions (HEIs). An electronic questionnaire was sent to these professionals, and a total of 763 responses were analyzed (66.4% from public and 33.6% from private HEIs). Compared with private HEI faculty, faculty from public HEIs were more experienced in teaching, and more time had passed since they finished their graduate training. On the other hand, faculty from private HEIs had a more intense undergraduate teaching workload than faculty from public HEIs. Additionally, faculty from private HEIs attended more extensive and more frequent pedagogical training activities (PTAs). Both groups expressed that activities closely related to their classroom practice and recognition for good pedagogical performance were incentives for their participation in PTAs. In conclusion, differences between the faculty from public and private HEIs may be due to the characteristics of HEIs themselves. Hypothetically, private HEIs focus on teaching, which may explain why faculty from these institutions seek improvement in this area, whereas public HEIs focus on research.

Posthumanist ethical practice: agential cuts in the pedagogic assemblage

With researchers funnelled into lucrative research practices that value fast scholarship, we explore ethical practice as an ethico-onto-epistemological project. Through collective biography, diffractive choreography, and poetry, we map systems of entrapment that manifest power relations in the academy. We argue the posthumanist ethical practice is an intra-active project in higher education – involving rich material, social, political and intellectual entanglements. Posthumanist ethical practice rejects dualisms of body/mind, nature/culture and human/non-human. It evokes creativity to generate new vocabularies for challenging anthropocentric ‘exceptionalism’. Mapping relations in posthuman assemblages can involve agential cuts that evoke ethical practice as affective encounters. Agential cuts give permission for pedagogic storying where there is ontological connectedness. As academics, we are immersed in assemblages where posthumanist education research and practice is a rich, embodied, and connected process. Particular consideration is given in this article to affectivity and the value of pedagogic performance in education research.

Performing care: re-imagining gender, personhood, and educational justice

ABSTRACTGallagher and Sahni elaborate on their decade-long collaboration, focussing here on their latest multi-sited ethnographic study, Youth, Theatre, Radical Hope and the Ethical Imaginary: an intercultural investigation of drama pedagogy, performance and civic engagement (2014–2019) and the pedagogy and theatre work carried out at Prerna School for girls in Lucknow, India. In particular, they elaborate on Prerna’s feminist and performance pedagogy and the central role of care both in the classroom and embedded within the larger organizational framework and culture of the school. Using two illustrations of performance pedagogy, the authors detail how the young women are rehearsing a form of ‘misfit citizenship’, resisting gender oppression and using collective theatre-making to transform the culture-as-given.

Tutoring as a pedagogical technology of individualization of studying at the MA course

The article substantiates tutoring as an all-round pedagogical technology, a model of pedagogical performance on individualization of education, which allows both gifted and not successful students to organize their studying of a discipline in an effective way. It is proved that tutoring as a pedagogical technology meets all effectiveness criteria and its application involves adherence to four stages (preparatory and organizational stage, development of a tutor’s educational program for a studying discipline, proper tutoring, final stage) and does not provide for the introduction of a separate position as a tutor since in this case it’s a teacher who performs functions of a tutor (a tutoring teacher). It is noted that according to such a model of pedagogical activity tutor support is limited in time and educational content.

‘She was really good at letting us make decisions:’ influence of purposefully negotiating the physical education curriculum on one teacher and a boys’ middle school minority class

ABSTRACTA limited amount of research indicates that when teachers purposefully invite students to negotiate the physical education curriculum, students have a more equitable experience. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of purposefully negotiating the curriculum on one boys’ physical education class. A second purpose was to assess the effectiveness of the program that was used to train the teacher of the class to engage in purposeful negotiation. Participants were the 32 seventh grade boys in the class and Sandra, their teacher. The theoretical framework was drawn from elements within the critical tradition and the perspective of hegemonic masculinity. Data were collected with seven qualitative techniques and analysed using analytic induction and constant comparison. The negotiated unit that Sandra taught and the program that trained her were a qualified success. Non-masculine less physically able boys engaged in and enjoyed the unit to a greater degree than was usual. Some usually dominant physically able boys showed more empathy for their less skilled peers. More negatively, the curriculum model employed, activity chosen, content, and evaluation methods selected, all of which reflected a traditional performance pedagogy, were constraining.

Deprivation Strategies: Increasing Public Understanding of Vision Impairment Using Performative Pedagogy

This paper theorises, articulates and demonstrates how performative pedagogies can be employed to engage participants (both sighted and non-sighted) with haptic, gustatory, olfactory and aural sensorial-immersive encounters as part of an ongoing mixed-method project You Don’t Need Eyes to See You Need Vision that aims to develop pedagogic practices, enhance learning experiences for students who are visually impaired and improve public awareness of the need for new practices. Using performative pedagogy and ‘deprivation strategies’, this project has opened up new ways of thinking about how we engage our bodies (for both sighted and non-sighted persons) to experience a multitude of senses beyond the visual, carving out revised ways of thinking about bodily affect in space and time. In recognition of this work, I was a recipient of the University of Lincoln Best Practice Award in Promoting Equality in 2017.

Pedagogy, performativity and ‘never again’: staging plays from the Terezín Ghetto

ABSTRACTAs collaborators on the project Performing the Jewish Archive we worked with students in the US and in the UK to devise two separate peformances based on a script from the Terezín Ghetto (in German, Theresienstadt) titled Comedy about a Trap. By developing with them what we call ‘co-textual’ scenes, we engaged in a type of performance pedagogy that we hope will achieve lasting transformation: the students created and performed a relationship between the script, their new knowledge of the past and their own views in the present, leading to transformative insights regarding the lives of the prisoners and the need for action today.

‘The only learning I’m going to get’: Students with intellectual disabilities learning a second language through performative pedagogy

Traditionally, adults with intellectual disabilities have not been given the option of participating in and thus benefiting from higher and post-secondary education. However, over the last number of years, an increasing number of inclusive tertiary educational programmes have come into existence. This article focuses on one such programme entitled Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice delivered in the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. The aim of this study was to consider the role of embodiment in supporting the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) process of a group of students with intellectual disabilities. The paper describes a project which integrated two of the programme modules – Italian for Beginners and Exploring Art: Renaissance to Modern. Findings presented support the use of a performative approach to second language learning for students with intellectual disabilities and sheds light on the connection between embodiment, language and learning in a performative key.

Методичні особливості навчання академічному вокалу

The article is devoted to the methodological peculiarities of academic vocal education taking into account the historical aspect of the reforming of teaching methods. The culture of continuity can also outline the problems of contemporary vocal pedagogy of academic performance. Academic vocal school is the basis of musical performance, which allows you to master other techniques (for example, variety singing), so the study of academic vocals does not lose its relevance.

Развитие сосредоточенности будущего музыканта-педагога в классе сольного музыкально-инструментального исполнительства

The article examines the basic characteristics of concentration as most important property of attention of future teachers-musicians and the methods which help its effective formation during piano lessons. Studying of scientific approaches to this concept of a context of physiology, the general psychology, pedagogy showed that concentration acts as the most important psychological condition of deeper understanding of objects and the phenomena, optimum course of cognitive and practical activities of the person, especially in the course of the learning and creativity. A person activity, enthusiasm and continuing interest in a concentration subject help increase of attention concentration. The success of development of this property of attention in many respects depends on application by the teacher of special receptions for the organization of activity with an object, allocations in new aspects, their analysis and comparison, search for new properties of an object, ways and opportunities of its application or improvement. Special focus is placed on characteristics of the conceptual ideas of music pedagogy for development of attention concentration of students. The carried-out analysis of positions of authoritative representatives of performing art and music pedagogy showed that concentration is a starting point of musical and performing creativity and an important condition of efficiency of pianist work. Summarize experience of outstanding representatives of piano performance and theatrical pedagogy allowed to suggest the effective approaches to development of concentration as the significant quality in no small measure influencing disclosure of creative potential of future musician-teacher and defining a possibility of his productive self-realization in an instrumental and performing activity. The author comes to a conclusion that the ability to concentrate can be developed under the leadership of the teacher during training in a class, on rehearsals and also in homework when performing specially organized exercises. The persistence in mastering the concentration equipment by performance of specially organized exercises will allow the musician to operate consciously process of attention, it is essential to increase concentration time on the solution of a creative task.

Performance pedagogy at play: pupils perspectives on primary PE

ABSTRACTPhysical education (PE) in England, has historically been and is increasingly seen as a subject in which political agendas can and are being enacted (Penney, [2008]. Playing a political game and playing for position: Policy and curriculum development in health and PE. European Physical Education Review 4(1): 33–49) as health, sport and /or leisure agendas compete for space against educational aspirations (Houlihan & Green, [2006]. The changing status of school sport and physical education: Explaining policy change. Sport, Education and Society 11(1): 73–92). Against this backdrop, in 2012, the U.K. Government announced the launch of ‘Primary PE and Sport Premium’ (PPESP) funding (amounting to £450 million) for English primary schools, initially for three years (although later extended). Drawing on the theoretical work of Basil Bernstein, particularly his concepts, ‘pedagogic device’ (PD) and ‘classification’ (c) and ‘framing’ (f), this paper sets out to explore how, in a neo liberal outsourced world of primary physical education (PPE), pupils construct knowledge of PE. The analyses illustrate how a performance pedagogy appears to dominate the school setting this research took place in. There was a clear focus on sport rather than PE which in turns impacted how pupils saw PE and construct understandings of ability linked to PE, raising questions over the future direction of the subject.

The costumographer: Revolutions in performance pedagogy

Abstract This visual essay reflects on the impact of costume on dance performance practice and pedagogy, focusing initially on the author’s professional engagement with experimental costume pedagogy and the impact this had on subsequent work. Discussing the transformation of her creative practice through interaction with costume, and most recent collaborative costume performance project Elizabeth & the Three Sisters, the text proposes the term ‘costumographer’ as a new definition for choreographers and performers working with costume as starting point and principal focus of the performance. It highlights the effect costume can have on the understanding and implementation of the moving and performing body, as well as the devising process and brings awareness to the lack of real costume experiences in dance education, advocating the importance of sharing pedagogies and artistic practices to critique and develop interconnecting art forms relating to performance.

Queering Brechtian feminism: Breaking down gender binaries in musical theatre pedagogical performance practices

This article explores how musical theatre pedagogy might begin to dismantle modes of practice that perpetuate exclusion and a dualistic, gendered perspective. I draw on my experience of directing postgraduate musical theatre students at Mountview in a production of Pippin (1972). Casting a trans man as Pippin – in many respects an archetypal male hero role – set in motion a process of queering and subverting norms. However, casting is only one element of creating an inclusive practice: in this work, I developed a hybrid approach that honoured students’ identities and experiences and took a critical, political view of the material being presented. My approach brings together Elin Diamond’s feminist theoretical framing of Brecht with queer concepts including heteronormativity and chrononormativity, which are then applied to David Barnett’s practical explanation of a Brechtian process. I argue that feminist and queer approaches can work together to meaningfully critique hegemonic forces influencing musical theatre training and production processes.

Answering the Call

A poetic text joins the voices of C. Wright Mills, Paulo Freire, and Augusto Boal in a critical dialogue concerning social justice, performance, and critical pedagogy.

Fugitive knowledge: Performance pedagogies, legibility and the undercommons

Abstract In Held, the criminal justice project I conducted at the University of Leeds with second-year theatre and performance students, performance pedagogies were structured to produce an ethnodrama. As part of the course, I developed partnerships with community-based partners Leeds Magistrates, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, and Ripon House. Students presented the performed ethnodrama to partners and invited guests. In this article, I examine how such performance-making enables students to interrogate their own understandings about the criminal justice system. In particular, they were asked to think about precarity and criminalization, and how institutions rely on authoritative readings of ex-prisoners’ records. I reflect on how higher education institutions produce knowledge. Throughout, I offer critical framing influenced by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten’s The Undercommons.

Vexed with Devils: Manhood and Witchcraft in Old and New England

Vexed with Devils: Manhood and Witchcraft in Old and New England

Performance pedagógica educação a distância: estado da arte, relações e conceito

Neste artigo analisam-se algumas relações entre performance e educação a distância (EAD). A revisão de bibliografia, a partir dos Estudos da Performance de Schechner e de Mallmann e colaboradores, foi a metodologia que permitiu formular um conceito para performance pedagógica na EAD. Conclusivamente, aponta-se que o contexto da EAD é o espaço específico de operação da performance pedagógica, por meio de tecnologias educacionais em rede, com potencialização do ensino-aprendizagem nesta modalidade.

Créer des Mondes Durables par L’éducation Artistique Communautaire dans l’Amazonie

This article narrates the performance pedagogies created by the Rivers of Meeting project in the Afro-Indigenous fishing community of Cabelo Seco, Marabá City, in the Brazilian Amazon. Performed on the thresholds between paradigms of 'good-living' and industrial development, three short stories show how young arts educators contribute to the project’s independent Community University. The article is based on oral and written reflections by the young performers, and reveals the challenges and potentials that shape their community’s future. Set on the edge of the River Tocantins, about to be deformed into a river highway for transporting iron from the largest mines and refineries in the world, powered by a vast hydroelectric dam, the interventions on this Amazonian threshold acquire a compelling resonance.

I knock at the stone's front door: performative pedagogies beyond the human story

Thinking posthumanly – from a post-Enlightenment, critical, new materialist perspective – things, including concepts, become more permeable and topological – they leak and stretch. Freed from limit...