Recent Readings in Dance Education, Teaching All Learners, Developing Diverse Skills, Knowledge and Intelligences
A number of current issues
in dance education have been on my mind this last year, including how to teach the
art of dance to all learners and how to develop a network of academic and life
skills through dance. I rely on selected resources to fuel my teaching and
dancing practice and thought I would share some that I have found the most
thought-provoking and practical. My intention is to continue to share favorite
relevant resources in the form of an annotated bibliography or brief articles
going forward to support other dance educators, teachers, and practitioners.
Themes of teaching all learners,
developmental stages, disabilities
·
Autism - PECS
·
Physical
Disabilities – Principle-Based
·
Special Needs
·
Ritual
·
Assistants
·
Dance as Art
·
Structures (5-step
lesson plan, KNOW, Braindance)
1) “Using a Principle-Based
Method to Support a Disability Aesthetic”
JODE vol.15 #3 p.87 Bailey
Anderson
Disability aesthetic
supports the embodiment of dancers with disabilities by allowing their bodies
to set guidelines of beauty and value.
Principle-based work is a
methodology focusing on qualities, aesthetic ideas, and concepts for creative
and technical practice. Blend between improvisation and finding specificity of
movement styles
2) “Dance in Women’s
Correctional Facilities”
DEP vol.2 #1 p.12 JoAnne
Tucker
15-min jazz-based warmup,
short dance, lecture/demo on modern dance exploring basic elements of movement,
tools for later improv work and creating phrases for piece (example was on the
subject of forgiveness). Small group work, performance, question/answer
session. Session listed as “stress management,” emotional state movement
themes, labyrinth.
3) “Special Needs and Dance:
An Insider’s Perspective”
JODE vol.15 #3 p.110 Judith
Nelson
Teaches students with
disabilities and is parent of child with disability, children’s learning
center, EASE program, Mark Morris. Provides many teaching tips.
Teaching team includes assistant
teacher, live musician, parent helpers.
Works with Autism, Downs,
developmental delays, visual impairment, ADD/ADHS, learning disabilities, etc.
teaching Dance as ART using Anne Green Gilbert’s “Braindance,” 5-part lesson
plan, Creative Dance for All Ages, Brain-Compatible Dance Education.
Start in seated circle,
greeting, word of the day (LMA), then
1.
“Braindance”
Warm-up
2.
Creative
Exploration
3.
Skills
4.
Creating
5.
Relaxation/Review/Reflection
Know what’s
important, let the rest go, don’t dwell on perfectionism/details
Notice,
use, create every learning opportunity, be in-the-moment, make connections
One thing
at a time (conversation, prompt, focus, step)
Wait…and
see what happens- need time to process before responding, give time to perform
movement independently
4) “Developing and
Sustaining an Inclusive Dance Program: Strategic Tools and Methods” JODE vol.15
#3 p. 122
Mary Lynne Morris, Marion
Balderon, Dwayne Schenneman
Collaborative educational
philosophy and curricular structure influenced by: Adam Benjamin, Laban/Bartenieff,
Anne Green Gilbert.
Braindance Warm-up,
conceptual approach/principle-based, “find their own” tendu, etc.
·
Life Skills:
social, respect/boundaries, trust, confidence, joy of movement/play,
independence, leading/following, listening, problem-solving/creativity,
self-awareness
·
Movement/Training
Goals: language of dance/vocabulary (ballet/modern), postural control,
organization/shaping/forms of body, travelling skills, dynamics,
musical/rhythmic awareness, exposure to dance environments, movement invention,
improv/partnering
·
Classroom Practices:
TAs, props, floorwork, ritual, play and creativity, repetition and appropriate
progression
·
Program Elements:
consistency, parental involvement, collaboration/integration with dance and
disability community
Themes of dancing to develop…
·
Literacy
·
Numeracy
·
Motor Skills
·
Socio-emotional
Behavior
·
Cultural
Literacy
·
Critical
Thinking
·
Character
·
Ownership
·
Responsibility
5) “Dance and Literacy Hand
in Hand: Using Uncommon Practices to Meet the Common Core”
JODE vol. 6 #1 p.31 Janet H.
Adams
Creative link between dance
and writing, increased emphasis on linguistic connections to dance,
developmental link among pictures, symbols, letters for literacy acquisition,
students learn to “analyze, evaluate, refine, and document their work,”
establish structures of learning, emphasis on constructing meaning through
semiotic activities.
6) “A Model for Successful
Dance Residencies with a Focus on Math Literacy”
DEP vol.1 #4 p.16 Sharon
Miller
8-10 week residency in PE
timeslot, creative movement K-1, rhythm tap 2nd-3rd graders,
listening skills, how time can be divided, meet Common Core Curriculum Content
Standards, demo/informance, evaluations.
7) “The Wiggle Jig: A
Comprehensive Outreach Program Developed by Ballet Met” DEP vol.2 #1 p.6 Ambre
Emory-Maier and Elle Pierman
The Wiggle Jig brings dance
into early childhood education classrooms, enhancing students’ social, motor,
and cognitive learning and developing self-expression and critical thinking. Conducted
in Public Schools and Head Start programs via 10-, 20- or 25-week programs, one
class per week, taught by 2 dance educators and one musician.
Literacy companion book
“Leap and Twirl”, somatic, brain-based curriculum, pre-K animal moves rubric,
literacy, STEM learning modules, neuromotor skill gains, measurable outcomes.
8) “Using Dance to Create
Ownership, Responsibility, and Character”
DEP vol.1 #4 p.9 Typhani
Harris
Character building,
persistence, composition, mind-mapping, self-control, respect,
conscientiousness, responsibility, ownership, grit, confidence
9) “What Does Dance History
Have to do with Dancing? Making College Dance History Usable for Dancers”
JODE vol.16 #3 p.3 Elizabeth
Kattner
Movement components that
have proven successful in introductory courses can be extended to in-depth
studies of dance history with dancers who have formal training. Research
projects, exploring history through movement in conjunction with archival
material, photos, books, papers and videos, incorporate into studio sessions.
Fleeting nature of
performing arts, reconstruction, learning to choreograph by studying a master,
working with primary and secondary sources.
Goals:
1.
Tools to
visualize dances without film documentation
2.
Historical
documentation combined with studio work
3.
Introduce
primary and secondary source research to students
4.
Demonstrate how
choreographic structure relates to cultural and social norms
5.
Explore reconstruction
methods: photos, text, music…
6.
Introduce work
of a master as he (Balanchine) developed his choreographic voice
Website recommendation:
“Accelerated Motion: Toward
a New Dance Literacy in America”
Additional resources:
Review of “Dancing to Learn:
The Brain’s Cognition, Emotion, and Movement” JODE vol.6 #1 p.36
Affect of dance on
development of the Mind:
1.
Dance is means
of communication with structural and functional relations to verbal language
2.
Dance is physical
exercise with thinking and emotional expression
3.
Dance is a means
of coping with stress
“LMA: The Literacy of
Thinking Through Movement”
DEP vol.2 #1 p.25
Artistic Literacy is a core
principle embedded in the new Core Arts Standards.
·
LMA is
systematic approach to learning, embodying and applying four aspects/literacies
of Laban theory: body, effort, shape, and space
·
Labanotation is
literacy to preserve, enrich, and secure dance
·
Language of
Dance by Ann Hutchinson Guest grows technical and artistic embodiment and
literacy, integrating graphic notation of movement alphabet concepts
Review of Discovering
Dance text
DEP vol.1 #4 p.27
“iMovie supports the
choreographic process”
DEP vol.1 #3 p.26
“The Pros and Cons of
Student Performances”
DEP vol.2 #1 p.22
“Pay Rates for Dance
Teachers”
DEP vol.1 #4 p.24
The Art of the Changing
Brain James Zull
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