DANCE EDUCATION AS MEANINGFUL LEARNING
Dance education is continually under-regarded as a viable mode of learning in academic curricula, passed over in favor of other courses such as Language Arts and Mathematics. Thus, in order to demonstrate that students can attain their educational objectives through dance requires us to construct new paradigms that show the route from education through dance to significant knowledge. To this end I will ask the following question: How can what is known about dance education support students learning the indigenous techniques of indigenous Peruvian dances? With this question in view, the following will consider a number of studies relating to dance education along with a survey of its evolution over the course of time, with special emphasis on the place of dance education in the public sector. The history of dance education’s recognition as a viable approach within the educational system of the United States offers valuable information on how certain educational changes and reforms result in great benefits.
This section shows how dance education has seen an increase in its status in Arts and Humanities Departments under the aegis of the United States’ Department of Education. It makes use of analyses of studies, magazines and reports on dance from 1926 to 2002. “These data were collected from journals published between the years 1926 and 2002 (N=1,131). The documents identified and reviewed in the four time periods were: 1926-1950 (n=202; 17.9%), 1951-1964 (n=134; 11.8%), 1965-1979 (n=213; 18.8%) and 1980-2002 (n=582; 51.5%). The quantity of studies collected in the four eras showed a significant one-third drop in the second era (1951-1964), a rebound in the third era (1965-1979), and a two-fold increase in the last era (1980-2002)” (Bonbright, J & Faber, R., 2004, p. 29).
Progress in the recognition of dance’s value to education came during the period of “1926-1950. The earliest referenced document in the Literature on Dance Education was an article by Ione Johnson, written in 1930 for The Journal of Health and Physical Education” (p. 30). Growing consideration occurred against the backdrop of the political convulsions of The Great Depression and Second World War: During the “era of the 1930s and World War II in the early-to-mid-1940s, journal articles emerged to reflect on dance education’s newly found position at the college and university level and on issues related to its academic affiliation with physical education departments” (p, 31). Then, “In the later 1960s, the National Endowment for the Arts galvanized artist-in-residence programs at the elementary school, middle school, high school, and college levels (p. 34).” This was a huge leap for the art within education, suggesting still further ways to develop better human beings.
Change and educational reform result when a new generation needs a new mode of teaching and learning; the call for change then reaches those who are prepared and willing to make it happen: “Margaret H’Doubler (the founder of the first college dance major at the University of Wisconsin in 1926), brought about an influx of articles that continued the discussions of earlier years. Such articles provided a landscape of discourse about the place of dance in physical education vs. the art of dance placed with fine arts or within other disciplines...Articles addressed analysis of class progressions, especially warm-ups, and how to teach folk dance" (p. 35). H’Doubler’s advances were particularly significant, given the age’s bias against women in professional capacities and the existence as well of discrimination in the dance field. Her work conveyed that each and every being has the power to forge an individual destiny.
In the 1980s “Cultural and personal identity became a concern. Jazz dance was explored as cultural expression and particularly as part of black history. The term ‘multicultural’ adopted a different meaning and no longer referred to national and world dance forms, but rather to cultural identity and heritage of world populations” (p. 37). Diversity was becoming both more evident and more honored in American society, where respect for differences as well as the granting of equality gained new force.
The “90s can be noted as the decade in which dance education went ‘under the microscope.’ Many of the issues of the previous decades were reexamined through a contemporary lens and the resulting proliferation of new issues proved impressive...The parsing of investigations extended to dance science. Educators considered the following important topics in dance science: screening for postural and anatomical anomalies with the goal of preventing injuries...[and] somatic training programs (e.g., Bartenieff Movement Fundamentals)” (p. 37).
In the new millennium it became necessary to adopt and adapt to technology: “Since 2000, dance science and medicine has become digitized with the integration of technology. Studies now pursue magnetic resonating images (MRIs) to evaluate specific body parts (knees, feet, and limbs) pre- and post-event. In a vastly different use of technology, studies are emerging in which camcorders, computers, and choreographic software programs elucidate or document artistic and learning processes” (p. 38). Globalization played a major part in this, and there were impressive results; but to dance to or in a video is not the same as dancing with other humans live and in a given space—because dance is intensely social. Still, the new technology connected the world in new, positive ways, and allowed for social links via the Internet. In its wake, “a more global perspective appears to be contextualizing world dance styles and forms. Investigators now share an inquiry- based approach to data analysis that offers broad interpretations of dance rituals and folk forms; and, there is an increased awareness of, and exposure to, indigenous cultural dance” (p. 38). This has been an important contribution to education; with a new understanding of the universe of indigenous cultures and their dances has come a new way of thinking about our relations with Nature and our need to go forward united, preserving the best of humanity’s cultural and ethical
values.
In January of 2002 arrived the “‘No Child Left Behind Act of ESEA.’ This legislation described the high levels of accountability in the core subject areas to be taught by highly qualified teachers where the arts were included as core academic subjects” (Timeline, n.d.). This law allowed teachers specifically trained in the arts and dance to become certified to teach in public schools.
By January, 2005 “Dancing in preschool and elementary schools was designed to include all members of the class. They were expected to experience dance as an expressive creative art form where they could develop communication and collaborative skills. The students could now link academic subject material with arts education through physical movements” (p. 1). The ability of children to learn at an early age is infinite—and the development of their skills through dance programs increases their chances of future success.
Today curricula that include such genres as rap and ballroom dancing are more and more present in public programs, which has led to greater outreach to diverse communities. A National Dance Education in Arts report maintains that “Education in the art of dance develops the knowledge and skills required to create, perform, and understand movement as a means of artistic communication. A comprehensive education includes improvisation, technique, choreography, performance, observation and analysis. Exposure to dance history and cultures, kinesiology and anatomy, and movement theories further enriches the dance educational experience” (NDEO. Advancing Dance Education in the Arts, n.d.). Our methodology of teaching Peruvian indigenous dance incorporates all of these elements into a living, educational experience. “Education in the art of dance engages the artistic processes of creating, performing and critical analysis. These processes require students to read symbol systems, use critical thinking skills, excel in nonverbal reasoning and communication, exchange ideas, work cooperatively and collaboratively with others, and interact within a multicultural society. More comprehensively, education in the art of dance develops kinesthetic and spatial learning as well as intra- and interpersonal knowledge of self and others” (p. 3). The Indigenous values of mutual respect and solidarity, teamwork and critical thinking are crucial to education carried out in our classes.
The information presented by National Dance Education in the Arts details how dance benefits students, and provides us with ways to connect with them and attract the attention of still more students. This institution has updated its website, and updates its information day-by-day, thus becoming a necessary tool for teachers and artists who need to know what is happening in the world of dance education.
Another very illuminating quote comes from The Chicago Guide for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, whose author urges teachers to “Engage with the art of dance as dancers, dance makers, and dance viewers. All three are equally important in a quality program built on embracing emotional intelligence through the arts, expressing ideas and feelings, and supporting the work of others. The following is a list of best practices you can use to ensure that your teaching succeeds in all these areas and enriches the learning experience at all grade levels” (Lewis, 2018, p. 118).
“Lily Thom (2010) demonstrated how principles of dance-movement therapy can be used in the classroom” (Bradley, Bonbright, Dooling., 2013, p. 44). In her study, Thom notes the powerfully positive effects of using “body and movement studies in the preschool curriculum to address socio- emotional development” (2010), stressing that “findings in affect psychology, neuroscience, and dance/movement therapy provide evidence for the importance of an integrated emotional processing system” (p. 1). When “young children explore their somatic and emotional experiences” (p. 1), they make important developmental advances; “through movement study,” Thom asserts, “children become better able to connect their visceral emotional processing to conscious appraisal. It is this integrated system of body and emotion that contributes to a strong sense of the self as an emotional, social, and cognitive being” (p. 1). This study conclusively demonstrates the personal physical, cognitive, and social development possible to children at an early age. “Dance education,” she urges, “must fully buy into the philosophy that the purpose of education (and thus dance education) is to aid and guide each student to discover and value his/her potential and interests and examine his/her identity and role as an individual and social being” (p. 126) (Johnson 2014, p.14).
In Bradley, Bonbright and Dooling’s 2004 Evidence: A Report on the Impact of Dance in the K- 12 Setting, a study carried out under the auspices of the National Dance Education Organization, the authors surveyed recent studies on the impact of dance on learning during one decade of the 20th century, with their focus on the following areas: Creative Process, Neuroscience/Cerebral Research, Student Achievement, Affective Domain, Student Performance, Fairness, World and Cultural Dance, and Children at Risk. (Bradley, Bonbright, Dooling., 2013). Of the studies they surveyed, the following two demonstrate some of the ways in which learning and teaching dance can encompass much more than just movement.
Alison Leonard’s 2012 study looks at the way dance affects thinking ability in students at a K-5 school, “integrating science, social studies, physical education, music, and visual arts school curriculum and culminating in two public performances.” “The study focused on how students made meaning through their dance experiences and how education might be improved through dance and movement” (p. 14). The result for the students through the integration of curricular concepts was an exhibition of complex abilities that showed originality and problem-solving skills. The author concluded that the arts, and especially dance, “are a reproduction and reshaping of content. When the students danced their abstracted phrases, they were taking content, using knowledge and not only applying it to dance, [but] creating new knowledge through the dance” (pp.158-9).
Another study merged dance with science, offering evidence that the body is master of its actions and that movements are the words it writes as if in a book that will last and be remembered forever. Jane Burke (2009) programmed a series of dances to help her students learn chemistry, created with meaningful movements by a ballerina that represented such concepts as ionic, metallic and covalent bonds, the types of chemical reactions, as well as the behavior of “electrons, which depending on the strength of their bonding can be polar.” The practice of this method helped students train their attentions on the subject matter, and mentally unblocked those who had felt they were unable to learn chemistry, or to learn it through dance. Ultimately, the dance class actually helped them “respond to questions on the state Chemistry examination. They closed their eyes and visualized the dance in order to recall the needed information on chemical reactions” (Bradley, Bonbright, Dooling, 2013, p. 18). This study also reported that “one boy had been withdrawn and unresponsive, never entering into class discussions. But when asked to show, through movement, the chemical reaction known as a single replacement, he grabbed two of his classmates to form the covalent bonds of the ion and whirled around the room to find a ‘metal.’ Evaluating the day’s lesson later, he said ‘Dancing helped clear up chemistry ideas that had been hard for me to understand’” (p. 18).
Education in and through the movements of dance can result in a better understanding of the context of many subjects, and offers exciting new ways for human beings to learn. because dance makes capable human beings like the story of a student who said " Feliz Dia Internacional de la Danza! :)
Today I give thanks to my Maestros de la danza folklórica. I am so thankful they were willing to share with me the passion for their cultures. My decision to embark on a career in Environmental Biology associated in science (AS) was largely fueled by their teachings of the appreciation of nature. Many of the dance steps and movements of Mexican and Peruvian folk dancing have direct ties with nature...how we harvest crops,and sow seeds and in some we even impersonate animals...they require a deep appreciation and observation of nature. Some dances are even dedicated to Mother Earth...we give thanks for what we are allowed to harvest, we give thanks to rain, sun and soil fertility. Their teachings inspired me so much that I decided to share their knowledge and I taught my first choreography to a group of high school students in 2016. Today I still carry their teachings with me and I believe their teachings were preparing me for my career as an earth worker and I hope to continue to pass on the appreciation of nature to future generations. Polo Garcia, Ruben Pachas Saldarriaga, Jessica Loyaga, Jorge Corona, Claude Rabadan” (Reyes,2020)