This study aims to provide practical methods for teaching "world/urban" dance courses in higher education in the 21st century. We discuss problematic terminology in our courses and suggest a new term to better reference these dance forms. Eight methods are discussed for assisting teachers and expanding student perspectives in…

The 1619 Project by "The New York Times" asks American History teachers to revise their history curriculum to recognize the influence of Blackness, and of slavery, as foundational to the development of the United States. In this article I share a practical approach, including lesson plans and learning activities, to a similar revision of…

Somatic memoirs from the author's participation at dance intensives with acclaimed dancer-choreographer Moustapha Bangoura in the West African Republic of Guinea reveal how solo dance experiences can test acoustic literacy, promote music interaction, and foster an aptitude for movement invention. These skills are fundamental to West African dance…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the embodied qualities of aerial practice among 13 US undergraduate students (M[subscript age] = 20.46 years old). Drawing on the philosophy of embodiment, interview questions addressed bodily sensations, cognition, and the role of music and mirror viewing. The first emerging theme from the…

It has become a cultural cliché to equate dancers with unattainable perfection. When movies, television, and print advertisements want to portray perfection, they are often accompanied by the image of a dancer. Considering that perfectionism comes at a high cost to a person's mental and physical well-being, Robin Prichard suggests this mind-set…

From its inception in 1998, the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Board used ever-evolving versions of an Applied Strategic Plan (ASP). Each ASP consisted of goals and related objectives to develop and grow the organization. While the wording and order changed as NDEO grew, the essential nature of the goals remained the same. From 2011…

This study investigates opportunities for and challenges faced by Chinese dance and movement educators at the higher education level in the United States, drawing from interviews with seven influential Chinese dance and movement academics. The article probes the boundaries of what is considered Chinese dance in the US context, including Chinese…

Rhythmic virtuosity or moving with "percussive attack" is an ultimate performance quality for Black/African dance. The practice of musicality is a window into a dynamic system of intersubjective communal creativity. Drumming, for example, provides percussive sensorial information that directs a dancer's somatic and choreographic…

Undoubtedly, every young dancer aspires to be an expert technician and artistically dazzling. Working toward that end, a dancer is aware that he or she needs to spend many hours of practice in technique classes and on the stage. However, a dancer might not consider the fact that to become the best dancer possible, he or she needs equal abilities…

Research on the choreographic combination of jazz dance movement vocabularies with minimalist choreographic constructs has led to many pedagogical advances in undergraduate-level jazz dance classroom. Perhaps the most important of those developments is the identification of a construct for teaching a practice of performance. Although it might be…

Dance can be found anywhere from commercial entertainment to online, digital platforms. Yet, dance (as creative expression, performance, choreography, learning strategy, representation of knowledge) still maintains a marginalized profile in schools. Dance as artistic representation has immense power and potential for communicating and responding…

In this article, utilizing the Graham Technique as a tool, I discuss strategies I use in my class to support dance as a way to challenge or transcend sanctioned female identities by shifting the focus from presentation to self-discovery, encouraging ownership of the movement, and exploring a range of physicalities that embody different aspects of…

This paper illuminates kinesthesia's role in ballet training by revealing findings of a study regarding non-tactile corporeal communication termed kinesthetic dialogue. Even before the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) heightened awareness of physical distancing, physical interaction between teacher and student was already increasingly…

This year, the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) is taking a special look at the questions of equity and access in the field of dance education. The Decade of Dance Education (2015-2025), NDEO's ten-year campaign designed to raise the profile of dance education in the arts, provides a unique opportunity to examine their commitment to…

The highly contagious coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that began in late 2019 has greatly affected education globally, especially for learning skills that require human contact and constant practice in order to achieve competency. Similar to the rest of the world, the closure of theaters and suspension of school activities in…