Volume 9

Permanent URI for this collection

This ninth volume of Dance: Current Selected Research presents a variety of papers that are concerned with various aspects of the field of dance. In the initial volumes of Dance: Current Selected Research, the criteria for the consideration of papers for publication consisted of: (1) original manuscripts on topics for which valid techniques in experimental, historical, ethnographic, or clinical research have been applied in the collection of data; (2) state-of-the-art research reviews on topics of current interest with asubstantial research literature base; and (3) theoretical papers presenting well formulated but as yet untested models. Since 1989, scholarship has evolved to include other forms of inquiry including community engaged scholarship, and arts-based research. This volume is an example of this expanded view of scholarship. The chapters include scholarly work in dance conducted in the United States and in several other countries. The volume is organized in sections, section1 = Pedagogy, section 2= History and section 3= Choreography.



Pedagogy



Chapter 1, Taxonomies of Learning Outcomes using Dance Notation: Cognitive, Knowledge Dimension, Affective, Conative, and Psychomotor authored by Teresa Heiland. This chapter provides a brief history and working definition of dance notation-based dance literacy. In Chapter 2, Teachers’ Viewpoints on Creative Movement in Teaching, Vesna Gersak and Simona Tancig, focus on professional development in dance for classroom teachers. Their findings reveal that after the educational program, the teachers’ attitudes towards using creative movement in classrooms, changed in favor of holistic and experiential teaching and learning. Additionally, teachers reported the positive effects of this teaching method in the social-emotional and cognitive development of the children in their classes. Chapter 3, titled Dancing With Diversity: Students’ Perceptions of Diversity in Postsecondary Dance Programs, by Karen Schupp and Nyama McCarthy-Brown, contextualizes and analyzes postsecondary dance major students’ perceptions of cultural diversity using a mixed method research design to reveal what is working and what changes still need to occur to more fully embrace cultural diversity in postsecondary dance education. Chapter 4 is titled LANTD: The implementation of a nonlinear pedagogical approach to primaryschool traditional dance teaching by Aspasia Dania. In this chapter, the author presents a Laban Notation-based method for Teaching Dance (LANTD), as a practical example of a movement-based, nonlinear pedagogical approach applied to primary school traditional dance teaching. Chapter 5, titled Weaving Rastafari principles in the contemporary dance course: A culturally responsive pedagogy is authored by Lisa Wilson. In this chapter, Wilson discusses her experimentation over four years, with shaping a culturally relevant dance pedagogy for teaching contemporary dance, based on the principles of Rastafari, to predominantly Black learners in postsecondary dance in Jamaica and in South Africa.



History



The next two chapters are historical in nature. Chapter 6, titled Historiography of Dance Research on the Research Consortium of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance’s (AAHPERD) Annual Program, 1965-2014, by Marita and Brad Cardinal, demonstrates the vast contributions dance scholars have made within the Research Consortium toward advancing dance as a discipline in and of itself, as well as its contributions to other sub-disciplinary areas within AAHPERD. Apparent in this work is the depth, breadth, and meanings of dance as more than “just” a physical activity. The final chapter in this section, Chapter 7, entitled The Article that invigoratedResearch on Blacks in Dance by Trudy Cobb Dennard, focuses on how a seminal article by Joe Nash came to be written and published and its ultimate impact on subsequent research and publications regarding the contributions of African Americans to the field of concert dance.



Choreography



The last section of this volume is concerned with choreography and choreographers. In Chapter 8, titled Erick Hawkins’ Collaborations in the Choreographing of Plains Daybreak, Laura Pettibone Wright and Catherine Tharin provide a chronological timeline of the creation of Plains Daybreak. The material has been generated from notebooks and correspondence in The Erick Hawkins Collection in the Library of Congress, interviews with collaborating artists, and the authors’ personal experiences as members of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Chapter 9 is titled Imagine the (im)possibilities: The role of constraints on dance creativity by Edward Warburton. In this chapter, the author provides evidence of the impact of the role of constraints on dance creativity in art-making and education, by presenting two historically significant case studies of creative choreographers: Balthasar Beaujoyeulx and Merce Cunningham from the Italian Renaissance and the modern 20th century eras, respectively — who used constraints on movement invention and compositional structure to advance the art of dance. Chapter 10 - An Analysis of Various Texts in Balanchine’s Agon: Continuity and Change Across Time, is by Rachel Riggs Leyva. In this chapter, Leyva reveals parameters for defining “Agon-ness” which emerged through comparison and close analysis of texts, which included tension, contest, extreme feats of technique, and complexity of rhythm and musical relationships. This volume concludes with Chapter 11, From Here to Here: Teaching Interactions Between the live and virtual self in choreography, by Mary Lynn Babcock. This chapter focuses on teaching and learning about dance and the choreographic process through the use of digital media. The overarching topic is the concept of self as situated in one’s cultural practices, and how this sense of self plays out in choreographic projects. We hope you enjoy volume 9 of Dance: Current Selected Research and our continuing goal to support the publication of excellent scholarship in dance. Whilescholarship has evolved to encompass a broader array of projects, the rigor necessary to publish in this and future volumes of Dance: Current Selected Research continues.

Browse