Designing Embodied Education in Dance
DEED
Network Harvest Meeting
Funded by The Southlands Methodist Trust Research Project Grant
Hosted by CRACE-Centre for Research in Arts and Creative Exchange School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, UK
Thursday 12th - Saturday 14th September 2024
Froebel College, Davies, Dance Studio 2 (DS2)
Phase 1
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The first phase of this project consisted of a three-day in-person ‘harvest meeting’ at the University of Roehampton. This allowed the network members, coming from diverse geographical and cultural contexts,
to collect and evaluate the findings of the research that had taken place online and further propel these findings forward.
The first two days of the meeting were dedicated to six, two-hour long workshop sessions facilitated by each network member, drawing from their personal and collective research and experience in designing embodied dance education.
On the morning of the third day, the findings from the workshops were synthesized into an initial set of design principles and characteristics that underpin embodied education in dance and its development. These design principles and characteristics can serve as a source of inspiration for dance educators to establish such approach.
In the afternoon, the principles and characteristics were shared and evaluated during a workshop presentation to the Centre of Research in Arts and Creative Exchange research community. The event was attended by PG/Research students, practitioners and researchers from within the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science, and other institutions interested in curriculum design, embodied practice, and practice-as-research, offering a platform for dialogue, reflection, and future prompts.
During the three research days, two postgraduate dance students were invited to witness and participate.
Their input provided invaluable students’ perspectives to the process and provided them with insight into an advanced research environment. The documentation of the meeting was supported by a research assistant.
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Phase 2
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The refined principles were taken 'home' by members of the network to lay the foundation for the creation of this website on designing embodied education in dance. The website documents the knowledge developed and provides a platform for broader discourse on designing embodied education in dance.
Workshops explored design principles for
creating an embodied education in dance from various specialist areas within Embodied Education
Overcoming Organisational and Managerial Obstacles in embodied Curricula Design
This session explored and addressed the challenges of designing an embodied dance education from an organisational and managerial perspective generating a conversation around balances and engagement needed inside and outside of the dance studio, as well as challenging responsibilities which need to be addressed. Discussing amongst curricula designers and practitioners in the field of Dance and embodiment skills, as well as conditions and specificities challenges institutional contexts.
The Myth of Specialization
‘The Myth of Specialization’ invited participants to delve into an interdisciplinary creative practice that stems from lived experiences. Recognizing that the systematization and industrialization of the arts in Western culture disregards the inherently human methods of improvisation, situational adaptation, and innovation as necessary for survival. This workshop moved participants toward their true nature to help uncover varied talents and unique methodologies for living, making, and learning.
Supporting Dance Students’ Embodied Learning
This workshop led participants through a step-by-step mapping of the process and findings of Dr Caroline Ribbers' PhD research Facilitating meta-learning through yoga: supporting dance students' embodied learning, followed by an exploration of its challenges and further potential for designing embodied education in dance.
Micro-Phenomenology in Embodied Education Design
By introducing tools from Micro-phenomenology to excavate rich descriptions from lived experience, this workshop allowed participants to identify the inherent but often intangible skills they embody in dance teaching and/or dancing, so that these vital ways of knowing can inform future dance educational design practices.
Moving the Academic Language of Dance with Metaphors
Dr Urdaibay facilitated a process of autoethnographic analysis in which participants developed taxonomic trees and their comparative analysis, aiming to identify the categories of enunciation in which conception-experience-word are interconnected in the best way to capture the seismographic nature of dance (that is, to merge into the so-called "sensation setting"). She advocates for incorporating the colloquial language of classrooms and creative processes into academic research, recognizing its frequent use of metaphors. Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of considering how sound affects the body in the utterance of dance.
Environmental Inclusivity and Holistic Knowledge Production
This workshop explored how artistic research and embodied practice centering thinking through making offers routes in learning and teaching that promote diverse ways of knowing, enabling environments of inclusivity and holistic knowledge production. Participants reflected on concepts of
[dis]embodiment | [dis]placement, embodied literacy and trans/interdisciplinary formats, and the challenges and opportunities these hold within traditional academic contexts.
Contributors
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The network meeting and the sharing event was made possible by
The Southlands Methodist Trust
CRACE-Centre for Research in Arts and Creative Exchange at the University of Roehampton
Frankfurt University for Music and Performing Arts
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​Prof. Ingo Diehl (Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, Germany)
Cara Hagan (The New School, United States)
Dr Caroline Ribbers (Fontys Academy of the Arts, The Netherlands)
Dr Jenny Roche (University of Limerick, Ireland)
Dr Rocio Luna Urdaibay (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, México)
Dr Heike Salzer (University of Roehampton, United Kingdom)
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Student Contributors
Anna Placentino (MFA Dance and Embodied Practice First Year, University of Roehampton)
William Cummings (MFA Dance and Embodied Practice Graduate 2024, University of Roehampton)
Research Assistant
Caitlin Shill (MFA Dance and Embodied Practice Graduate 2024, University of Roehampton)​