Dance Education around the World

Perspectives on dance, young people and change

Charlotte Svendler Nielsen, Stephanie Burridge, Charlotte Svendler Nielsen, Stephanie Burridge

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317801948
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Curricula

Dance has the power to change the lives of young people. It is a force in shaping identity, affirming culture and exploring heritage in an increasingly borderless world. Creative and empowering pedagogies are driving curriculum development worldwide where the movement of peoples and cultures generates new challenges and possibilities for dance education in multiple contexts. In Dance Education around the World: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change, writers across the globe come together to reflect, comment on and share their expertise and experiences. The settings are drawn from a spectrum of countries with contributions from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific and Africa giving insights and fresh perspectives into contrasting ideas, philosophies and approaches to dance education from Egypt to Ghana, Brazil to Finland, Jamaica to the Netherlands, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and more.

This volume offers chapters and narratives on:

• Curriculum developments worldwide

• 
  
  

• Empowering communities through dance

• 
  
  

• Embodiment and creativity in dance teaching

• 
  
  

• Exploring and assessing learning in dance as artistic practice

• 
  
  

• Imagined futures for dance education

Reflection, evaluation, analysis and documentation are key to the evolving ecology of dance education and research involving individuals, communities and nations. Dance Education around the World: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change provides a great resource for dance educators, practitioners and researchers, and pushes for the furtherance of dance education around the world.

Charlotte Svendler Nielsen is Assistant professor and head of educational studies at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, research group Body, Learning and Identity, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Stephanie Burridge lectures at Lasalle College of the Arts and Singapore Management University, and is the series editor for Routledge Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific.

Part I Curriculum developments worldwide

Photo 1.0 Students of the Fontys Academy of Dance Education, the Netherlands.

Photographer: Noortje van Gestel

1.1 Applied Dance Curriculum A global perspective

DOI: 10.4324/9781315813578-5

Susan R. Koff

Introduction

Curriculum is a framework for establishing the structure of courses or experiences that a student should have from one point to an end point in an educational setting. That end point is defined by what the student should be, or what the designers wish the student to be. When arts education entered the curriculum discussion, it was on the heels of curriculum theorists who emphasise the importance of focusing on the aims of education which are often ignored when the curriculum discussions go directly to the outcomes or end points of current standards (Noddings, 2009). Current curricular theorists move the discussion into the postmodern era and encourage curriculum developers to examine traditional practices (Barrett, 2007).

In this realm, curriculum discussions also include an analysis of who is excluded from the discussion. According to William Pinar, curriculum theory is the “scholarly effort to understand the curriculum” (2012: 1) and the “curriculum is that complicated conversation between teachers and students over the past and its meaning for the present as well as what both portend for the future” (2012: 2). When considering curriculum in arts education, Elliot Eisner (1994) opened the discussion to forms of representation and argued that public schooling treats forms of representation with very narrow definitions, thus narrowing the curriculum.

Dance in the curriculum has been an ongoing discussion among dance educators worldwide for more than 35 years. Since the first discussions, it has faced challenges throughout the world for reasons that are both specific and global. The place of dance and arts education in general in the curriculum is constantly being threatened due to increasing focus in schools on math, science and literacy, as well as world financial concerns.

Within arts education, dance education has a history in the traditional curriculum as a part of physical education. When dance education in the USA moved to be its own discipline within education, it did so with the advocacy strength of the combined arts; dance, art, music and theatre (Hilsendager, 2013). Art and music have a longer tradition as part of the school curriculum, but even they have struggles (Manley-Delacruz, 1990). Dance education advocates saw strength in joining forces with the other arts, rather than independent advocacy.

Some of the struggles experienced by arts education in schools are that it is considered outside the core or essential curriculum. To be an accepted part of the core, some curriculum designers have tried to make the arts look like traditional, or core, subjects. The curriculum took on these formal models. As some curriculum theorists moved to postmodern paradigms within the curriculum (Giroux et al., 1981), some disagreement can be seen within each arts discipline (Manley-Delacruz, 1990) about whether it should adhere to traditional standards, or attempt to represent a different curriculum theory.

My own experience with arts education, and specifically dance education curriculum, is that the discussion mostly resides in the “what shall we teach?” domain, and rarely covers “who shall decide?” (Blumenfeld-Jones and Liang, 2007: 246). This is adhering to the traditional curriculum. The question of educational value is rarely discussed. As I summarise this curriculum event and the outcomes of focused discussions, I will analyse it in terms of curriculum theory. I will then be able to demonstrate why, though focused and quite serious in intent, curriculum discussions and documents that have been created are placing the discipline of dance in a position of severe disadvantage.

The curriculum event

At the 2012 meeting with international dance educators, our discussions considered the following questions:

• What are the latest developments in curriculum around the world that are shaping the meaning of dance education?
• If dance is not happening – what are the obstacles?
• Can countries learn from each other?
• Is there a difference between dance in advanced countries and dance in developing countries?
• Is this ongoing discussion based in theory and, if so, what are the theories?
• What kind of benchmarks would be helpful to get a high-quality standard for dance education, particularly in schools?
• Is it useful to establish a diverse and well-balanced dance concept for general education that is internationally recognised? What role can dance artists play in developing and implementing dance in the curriculum?

New questions arose during the discussions, particularly a need to specify what we mean by dance, the role of the teachers and a careful look at the values being carried through curriculum development. Topic areas and themes are discussed in the following categories and include shared experiences, reportage, debates and questions arising from the diverse international platforms that currently exist and are planned. Overall, common strands that appear across many countries include creating, performing, responding, connecting/relating, body cognition and research.

Around the world: curriculum discussions with case examples

The questions introduced here are framed within curriculum discussions from several countries as outlined in the abstract. Each noted the current state of dance education in their individual countries and then shared the progress and roadblocks to curriculum development.

In 2000, dance was included in the New Zealand curriculum with the expectation that all students would have opportunities to learn dance as part of their schooling. By the end of 2008, dance was the fastest-growing curriculum subject and professional development was closely linked to the university level. After a change of government, professional development in the arts in New Zealand was withdrawn in favour of numeracy and literacy, and dance was no longer viewed as a priority in many schools. It was emphasised that specialist teachers exist only at the secondary level. The focus in primary schools is to integrate dance as opposed to dance as a discrete subject, which seems to be the philosophical thrust of this curriculum. A complex question arose about whether dance is a means, an end or both.

Meanwhile, Australia is currently moving towards the implementation of a national curriculum developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, with dance included in the arts’ learning area. An interesting aspect of directions in the development of a dance curriculum in Australia was that more generalist teachers will be encouraged to include dance in their teaching, anticipating the possibility of increasing the number of students participating in dance and being prepared for lifelong dance opportunities.

In Estonia, dance is in the process of making its way into schools of general education. The Estonian Dance Education Union developed and introduced a dance curriculum that was included in the curriculum of general physical education. Dance as one part of this mandatory subject focuses on three main areas of dance: creative dance, Estonian and other folk dances, and standard/Latin dances. In addition, an elective module focuses on technique, creative dance, composition and analysing dance. One challenge is that the physical education teachers are generally not prepared to teach dance. Teacher education is being examined to see why this is so.

In many Indian schools, dance is part of extra-curricular or even co-curricular activity, but dance has always been given more importance as a product rather than a process. It has generally been neither a tool for communication and connection between mind and body nor an area that has potential for developing a connection between images and experiences in life.

The development of the Croatian dance curriculum is new and its fields and expected achievements have been influenced by certain parts of curricula from Scotland, New Zealand and Saskatchewan (Canada).

The current situation in Germany is the presence of dance artists as the primary teachers in public schools; it is now part of physical education and music everywhere in Germany with a quality framework that was created by the Education Ministry, which includes a holistic approach.

Canada, which has a long tradition of dance in schools beginning in physical education in the 1950s, now considers dance an art form and includes creating, performing and cultural appreciation in the curriculum; however, there are currently not many institutions that train dance educators, which is a challenge. Mostly dance is included in generalist teacher education.

Dance and other arts standards were rewritten in the USA as the National Coalition of Core Arts Standards – dance, music, theatre, media arts and visual arts – in 2013. The new vision includes body cognition and new research. The standards are voluntary, as has been the history of standards in the USA, and are based on the following: twenty-first-century skills, international standards literature, college-level arts standards, new technology and Bloom's taxonomy (revised), “Backwards by design” and “Cornerstone assessments.” The framework will include creating, performing, responding and connecting/relating. Because these revisions are so clearly based on research and theory, they raise the question of how many dance standards incorporate these components.

The Taiwan curriculum and the place of dance within it has a focus on the fact that all learning must be connected to life experience. Like New Zealand, performing arts (dance and drama) is a learning area.

In Slovenia, a new curriculum is currently being written. At present, dance is well integrated in the preschool curriculum, and in the primary curriculum dance is part of physical education and music, with most of the focus on production rather than creative processes and exploration.

In Portugal dance is located in physical education in secondary schools, and in primary schools, the generalist teacher covers some ballroom dance and traditional dance; teachers seem to not cover creative movement and no one is actually checking to see what is being taught.

Jamaica has a unique problem whereby dance is recognised as a cultural activity, but there is a prevalent attitude that it does not need to be taught since it is so widely practised. Within schools dance is included in physical education, taught by general teachers and is also an extra-curricular activity. Generally dance is more about product than process, leaving opportunities open to only skilled dancers.

Finland has different challenges. Dance is well developed in the private sector, which, quite unique to Finland, has a very strong connection with the school system and the Ministry of Education, but it is not in schools on its own. It is more traditionally included in physical education.

To conclude this overview, there was a presentation of the concept of the International Baccalaureate, which is not situated within any country. In 2014, the aim was to include a dance degree following a pilot programme in many schools. It will be examined at a standard and higher level. The actual curriculum is connected to the theory of knowledge sector – a basic tenet of this international degree.

Summary of curriculum discussions

Having listened to the common and unique aspects of dance education and curriculum development across a range of countries, it is useful to find commonalities in the goals and objectives of dance education around the world. What are common, international concerns and what become unique contexts within which aspects of dance education vary, diverge and respect the diversity of specific cultural heritages, as well as other differences? The following areas have been established to explore these questions in depth, again with input from educators across borders. First I will present a summary of discussions of educational goals and frameworks, considering dance education in relation to general education and possible differences across locations. The role of teachers was discussed, which also includes how teachers are prepared. Discussions of the concept of voice included who has a voice in preparing the curriculum. Finally, this section will conclude with a summary of the discussion of advocacy and how we can most clearly and a...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword—Sir Ken Robinson
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction—Charlotte Svendler Nielsen and Stephanie Burridge
• PART I Curriculum developments worldwide
• PART II Empowering communities through dance
• PART III Embodiment and creativity in dance teaching
• PART IV Exploring and assessing learning in dance as artistic practice
• PART V Imagined futures for dance education
• Index