Week 11: Dance

Today we began a new art strand: dance. I was excited for this part of the course; how could I not be?! I hoped that, like the other art strands, there would be a good balance between theory and practice, as I have found that immensely helpful for my own learning in the past. But I was also looking forward to this art strand because I quite enjoy dancing (although not terribly talented at it!). For over a decade I was part of a social, non-competitive dance school doing tap and jazz. I absolutely loved it, and hold many wonderful memories of those years. I was also involved with dance both at my primary and secondary schools, and those experiences were on the whole very positive too. Personally, these experiences alone provide such a great motivation for me to teach dance to my students in the future!

We began the lecture by firstly asking ourselves, What is Dance?

Dance is the art form in which rhythmic human movement becomes the medium for sensing, understanding, and communicating ideas, feelings, and experiences.

We then proceeded to view a series of dancing examples. My favourite by far was the Hyundai advertisement, which was performed by dancers behind a screen, creating a shadow. These dancers are in fact a Hungarian shadow theatre group called ‘Attraction’, and this year won ‘Britain's Got Talent’. I had already watched several of their performances on youtube prior to today’s lecture – I absolutely love their work. There is so much emotion in their performances, and I have often found myself drying my eyes after viewing them!

Below is their audition for 2013 ‘Britain's Got Talent’:

We then examined aspects of ‘dance education’ as well as what is expected in regards to the NSW Creative Arts syllabus.

Dance involves educating learners through the medium of movement*, which encompasses performing, creating/composing, and valuing/appreciating dance experiences.

[*elements of movement; space (where), time (when), dynamics (how), action (what), relationships (who) and structure (form)]

The following quote articulates what dance education encompasses:

“Dance education is a crucial component of a comprehensive education for all students. It is a movement art form that promotes learning to communicate and express ideas, feelings, perspectives, and concepts through kinesthetic modes of learning… Dance is for all students of all abilities; everyone can participate, create, learn, and experience the joy of dancing with others.” Cone, 2011.

The dance tutorial this week was fabulous (ps. I had broken out in a sweat by the end!) and the components served to be both fun and challenging. By the conclusion of the tutorial we had created two short dances (4 x 8 counts), and primary students would without a doubt enjoy the warm up and series of activities as much as we did. After my first week of this art strand, I am even more excited and encouraged to ensure that dance is taught at schools, or at least within my future classroom.