Designing Embodied Education in Dance
Aims
In these times of global turmoil, the dance field as a whole is being forced to rethink how it positions and organises itself. Change seems to be a constant factor for all dance professionals, calling on their creativity, adaptability and resilience. Equally, they cannot overlook the need to build a society in which people radiate greater tolerance towards each other and try to coexist with consideration for all life forms. In order for future dance professionals to enter the work-field with confidence and the skills needed to create work that is applicable in a variety of contexts and responsive to the environment, dance educators must question the relevance and value of existing educational paradigms and consider educational reform.
The overarching aim of the DEED network is to respond to a gap in the knowledge base on how to reform dance education at the tertiary level (BA, MA, MFA, PhD) shaped through the integration of embodied perspectives in dance pedagogy, creative practice, research and management.
The core principles and practices of the traditional model of dance education,
which can be characterised as teacher and outcome oriented,
are not aligned with the characteristics and needs of today’s practice.
There is a need for educational reform of dance at higher education level. The core principles and practices of the traditional model of dance education, which can be characterised as teacher and outcome oriented, are not aligned with the characteristics and needs of today’s practice.
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They fail to adequately support the acquisition and development of the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for dance artists to create and perform in diverse contexts. These include responding sensitively to their working environment and circumstances, as well as understanding how to sustainably transfer their skills and artistry between diverse contexts. It will be difficult to foster these qualities if existing educational systems (un)consciously perpetuate aspects of hierarchical and disembodied models.
To ensure that future dance professionals enter the field with confidence and the skills needed to create work that is applicable in varied contexts and responsive to the diversity of geographical, environmental, socio-political and economic environments, the DEED network argues that reform of dance education should include a participatory approach and current thinking on the relationship between dance and embodied practice, particularly when it comes to the related themes of non-hierarchical relationships and their capacity to effect social change. In this way, dance graduates will be equipped with the necessary skills to enter the complex work environment and respond more effectively to current social and cultural challenges.
To foster the development of embodied education in dance the DEED network strives to create a supportive, collaborative research environment that enables members to:
Address issues and concerns associated with embodied dance education reforms that arise within the contexts they operate
Develop resources that peer practitioners can consider and use while designing embodied education in dance
Design manifestations (e.g. tools, practices, methods) of embodied education in dance, fueled by their shared knowledge building
Open a broader discourse on embodied solutions for educational reform in dance