As teachers of the arts we are committed to nurturing the creative potential of all our students. We value process and want to inspire young artists to find their unique voices. But do we? Habitual models of teaching, along with external pressures in the settings in which we teach--including pursuing models and language of "best…

For intermediate and advanced university students, technique class has traditionally been the place to study a particular teacher's style and to hone technical skills. This article suggests a pedagogy that broadens standard practice by focusing additionally on both performance principles and spontaneous problem solving in the technique classroom.…

In this article, the collaborating authors, a researcher and dance artist, confront assumptions surrounding dance's experiential nature and assessment in schools. Presenting findings from a qualitative case study assessment of a three-week, whole-school dance artist-in-residence at a diverse and inclusive metropolitan K-5 school, the authors focus…

Since the 1970s, somatics have increasingly become a part of the dance training landscape. Although the psychophysical benefits seem sufficient in themselves to warrant inclusion in dance, this article explores another possible outcome of embracing somatic pedagogical principles, a change that affects not "what" is taught in a dance class, but…

This article examines perceptions of observant dance teachers on aspects related to their professional world. The study included 119 teachers, graduates of the dance department at an academic- religious college of education in Israel. The data was collected through a structure questionnaire developed specifically for the study and through…

The aim of this study was to learn about the effectiveness of two dance teaching techniques, the creative examination technique and the direct instruction technique, on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, the level of self-determination, the perception of usefulness, enjoyment and effort of physical education students. Likewise, it…

As a percussive dancer, Malke Rosenfeld makes rhythm with her feet while she dances, and she also helps elementary students make their own percussive dance steps by integrating mathematics into her lesson plans. To do this she uses the Jump Patterns tool, a tool she developed during the first six years of her teaching artist career to help…

As a result of competitive dance television shows, interest in tap dance seems to have increased in the past few years. Tap dance is a challenging and fun lifetime physical activity that is appropriate for people of all ages. It is an excellent activity for K-12 physical education programs, higher education, parks and recreation facilities,…

The questions that this paper poses are placed at the intersection of a Liberal Arts approach to education and the pedagogy of traditional Indian dance forms. These questions are explored through my ongoing pedagogical experiment with teaching the art of "abhinaya" in the university classroom. This paper charts the journey of exploring…

The act of teaching is constituted by tensions between contradictory influences of national educational systems, teachers' professional/personal identity, cultural and social values. Qualitative research methods can explore this complex situation. Indeed, narrative methods have explored teachers' "life histories". This article provides a…

This article reflects upon the process of creating dance in an intermedial telematic dance setting with university students. Some contextualisation is made of five telematic dance projects (the "Phillypool Projects 2007-2012") that have taken place between two universities, one in the UK and one in the US. It will explore some of the…

This article is based on a phenomenographic study that focuses on identifying the pedagogical conceptions of Finnish teachers of transnational dances. The purpose is to uncover and understand teachers' conceptions concerning the implications of the cultural contexts of their specific dance forms for their pedagogical practices. Through a process…

This autoethnographic essay represents the authors' critical reflection on their experiences partnering with Liz Lerman and Dance Exchange (a dance company) artists on a collaborative evaluation of "The Matter of Origins", a contemporary art and science dance performance. They describe meaningful moments in their collaboration and reexamine those…

This piece, created at the Digital Media and Composition Institute in June 2012, is a multimodal attempt to capture and compare both the physical and conceptual movement involved in dance and writing. The project is my first step towards exploring the non-linear nature of composition as expressed in the movement of the body and of the mind.

This article examines assessment of "intangible" concepts in dance education such as creativity, risk, originality, or artistic thinking. Through the development of assessment workshops for arts educators, conducted from 2009 through 2011 across the state of Illinois and supported by the Illinois Arts Council, the authors developed a…