DANCE AS INQUIRY: CRITICAL THINKING IN DANCE EDUCATION
by
ANN THOMAS MOFFETT
A THESIS
,Presented to the Department of Dance
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Fine Arts
June 2010
"Dance as Inquiry: Critical Thinking in Dance Education," a thesis prepared by Ann
Thomas Moffett in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts
degree in the Department of Dance. This thesis has been approved and accepted by:
11
ing Committee
d~1 d-f;/DDate~ i
Committee in Charge: Dr. Jenifer Craig, Chair
Rita Honka
Walter Kennedy
AcceIJted by:
Lrl'ean of the Graduate School
© 2010 Ann Thomas Moffett
111
IV
An Abstract of the Thesis of
Ann-Thomas Moffett
in the Department of Dance
for the degree of
to be taken
Master of Fine Arts
June 2010
Title: DANCE AS INQUIRY: CRITICAL THINKING IN DANCE EDUCATION
My research identifies critical thinking as an essential component ofdance
training for students of all ages and abilities, particularly students K-12. This project
strategizes ways in which the studio dance teacher can create opportunities for critical
thinking in the classroom and reveals ways in which learning dance can enhance critical
thinking. Special consideration is placed on how critical thinking, as a skill, relates to the
unique curiosities and objectives of the discipline. Within the qualitative and experiential
research design, theoretical questions are proposed and practical pedagogical applications
are developed. Insights from interviews with experts in the field of dance education are
interwoven with practical applications from teaching two summer dance programs for
distinct youth populations, a college-preparatory program for "talented and gifted"
students and an open class for homeless youth living in ShelterCare housing
communities.
CURRICULUM VITAE
NAME OF AUTHOR: Ann Thomas Moffett
PLACE OF BIRTH: Glasgow, Kentucky
DATE OF BIRTH: March 7, 1980
GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:
University of Oregon, Eugene
Radford University, Radford, Virginia
DEGREES AWARDED:
Master of Fine Arts, Dance, 2010, University of Oregon
Bachelor of Arts, Dance, 2002, Radford University
AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:
Critical Thinking in Dance Education
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Graduate Teaching Fellow, Dance Department, University of Oregon, Eugene
2007-2010
Dance Teacher, Summer Enrichment Program, College of Education, University
of Oregon, Summer 2009 and 2010
Professional Dancer, Myra Bazell, Tania Isaac Dance, and Dancefusion,
Philadelphia, PA, 2004-2007
v
GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS:
Georgianne Teller Singer Dean's Fellowship, Dance, University of Oregon,
2009
Lotta Carll Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2009
Graduate School Research Award, University of Oregon, 2009
VI
Vll
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to express sincere appreciation to my mentor and committee chair Dr. Jenifer
. Craig for her invaluable guidance, encouragement, and editing, as well as to committee
members Rita Honka and Walter Kennedy for their significant insights and support. Many
thanks are due to the Dance Department faculty, who each taught me something unique
about our craft. I also thank my generous sisters Marcie and Alex, who have made this
journey truly rich. Special thanks are due to my family, especially my husband, Ryan
without whom I know for certain I could not have done this work. His diligent patience and
love provided perspective and home.
This work is dedication to my Mother, who continues to teach me the
importance of education and the value of continuous learning.
Vlll
~~~-~--------
IX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION 1
Purpose Statement............................................................................................. 2
Orientation to Study......................................................... 3
Assumptions...................................................................................................... 7
Delimitations..................................................................................................... 8
Limitations........................................................................................................ 8
Definitions.................................................................................... 9
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND RELATED WORKS 13
Pre-Experiential Review: Design Phase........................... 13
Review of Related Work . 35
Post-Experiential Review: Responding to the Study.......................................... 38
III. METHODS 49
Phase I: Research Design.......................................................................... 49
Phase II: Dance Teachers Intensive and Interviews............................................ 49
Phase III: Teaching............................................................................................ 50
Phase IV: Post-Teaching 51
xChapter Page
IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION....................................................................... 52
How Does Dance Pedagogy Allow Students to Engage with the 52
Processes and Functions of Their Bodies?
Does Dance Pedagogy Allow Students to Experience Abstract 56
Ideas Through Physical Action? If So, How? If Not, Why?
How Does Dance Pedagogy Allow Students to Draw Connections.................... 61
from the Classroom to Other Areas in Their Lives?
V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER INQUIRY....................................... 68
APPENDICES 71
A. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 7]
B. SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM 72
C. SHELTERCARE SUMMER DANCE PROGRAM 73
REFERENCES 74
1CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
My research focuses on ways dance teachers can invite students into
advanced levels of conceptual engagement in dance and the unique ways dance,
with its relationship to movement, allows for a full-bodied, robust version of
critical thinking. The studio is a place where people get smarter by learning via the
moving body. This process wherein, "the world inside- the integrated world of
sensation, feeling, mind, and spirit" (Evans 1999, 47) is in direct relation to artistic
expression and technical skill, creates an opportunity for a rich and multi-faceted
body of knowledge in dance.
After attending Anne Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible Dance Education
Teacher Training in summer 2008, I became interested in her ideas on how to teach
dance utilizing a conceptual approach, with the goal to engage students on physical,
emotional, and intellectual levels. This training, in partnership with working as a
graduate teaching fellow in the Dance Department at the University of Oregon, led
me to design a study centered on uncovering best practices in dance pedagogy.
Within the research, I observed and interviewed experts in the field of dance
education at a Dance Teachers Intensive held at Cornish College of the Arts in
2Seattle. Then I applied what I learned to design and teach two summer dance
programs for distinct youth populations. Equal emphasis was placed on
synthesizing underlying conceptual frameworks and practical pedagogical
strategies.
This study identifies critical thinking as an essential component of dance
training for students of all ages and abilities, particularly students enrolled in grades
kindergarten through high school. My research strategizes ways in which the
studio dance teacher can create opportunities for critical thinking in the classroom
and reveals ways in which learning dance can enhance critical thinking. Equally
important is identifying how critical thinking, as a skill, relates to the unique
curiosities and objectives of the dance discipline.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this study was to develop practical pedagogical answers to
three theoretical questions, which emerged from a survey of literature from the
fields of dance, education, and the philosophical canons of feminism and
phenomenology focused on lived-body experience. Significantly, an additional
purpose was to investigate how these three questions can be best understood in the
context of critical thinking. The three questions are:
1. How does dance pedagogy allow students to engage with the functions and
processes of their bodies?
32. Does dance pedagogy allow students to experience abstract concepts
through physical action? If so, how? Ifnot, why?
3. How does dance pedagogy allow students to draw connections from the
classroom to other areas in their lives?
Orientation to Study
While I did not focus on critical thinking in my preliminary research, nor
heard it explicitly emphasized at the Cornish Dance Teachers Intensive, I identify it
as an underlying thread that connected all of the components of my study. During
the design phase of the research, I felt the three questions were distinct, yet
suggestive of a heightened expectation of rigor. Subsequently, after talking with
the experts and working with two youth populations, I saw the three questions as
entry points for dance educators to develop dance-specific critical thinking. In my
experience as a dance student, I was not aware of critical thinking as a standard
component of the traditional dance class structure. While I firmly believe that my
education in dance utilized critical thinking, among other forms of engagement, the
language was not openly applied in dance pedagogy vocabulary. The first time
during this research process that I was confronted with the term critical thinking,
(more specifically higher order thinking) was while I was teaching at the University
of Oregon College of Education's Summer Enrichment Program (SEP), a college-
preparatory program for youth ages eleven to sixteen.
When it came time to discuss instructor evaluations of students, our
supervisor informed those of us teaching art classes that we would use an adapted
form since we didn't do as much higher-order thinking as other subjects
(Supervisor, SEP staff meeting, July 14,2009). For students in my three courses,
Contemporary Dance Technique: Ballet, Jazz, and Modern Dance, Improvisation
and Composition, and Dance on Film: Focus on the Artist, the following prompts
were omitted and I was not asked to assess them:
1. The student displays higher order thinking skills and is able to synthesize,
evaluate, and analyze problems, statements, solutions, and concepts.
2. The student is able to solve complex problems. Slhe applies a wide variety
of strategies with accuracy and thoroughness to find a resolution of a
problem or issue.
These two questions were replaced with the following on my form.
3. The student demonstrates creative ability by completing tasks that achieve
their purposes while reflecting insightful individuality.
At this point in the research, I had participated in the Cornish Dance Teachers
Intensive and interviewed master teachers, Bill Evans, Kitty Daniels, and Don
Halquist regarding their values, beliefs and practices in dance pedagogy as they
related to my preliminary research questions. I was inspired by their commitment
to constantly refine their own best practices in dance pedagogy in order to engage
4
5students on the multiple levels in which learning can occur in the studio dance
class. As a result, I was full of ideas for my own classes, informed by their
conceptual insights and teaching strategies. I tried very hard to craft the classes at
SEP in a laboratory style, with performance opportunities embedded in the class
experience, but that intentionally did not culminate in a performance for the camp
talent show. Teaching toward a recital type of event did not square with this
pedagogical plan. Interestingly enough, I had had to defend myself for making this
choice during my interview for the job. My intention was to represent the range of
experiences available within dance pedagogy, and to give students the opportunity
to consider the artistic and scholarly rigor of the field. We danced, discussed, read,
and/or wrote every day of every class.
However, there was clearly a hierarchy amongst course offerings, which until
the distribution of evaluations, was unspoken, that placed dance in a separate and
lower category of intellectual value than other courses such as Model United
Nations, Chinese Military History, Harlem Renaissance, and The History of Video
Games. Equally problematic was that the evaluations were allocated without
consulting the art teachers regarding which of the evaluations was most appropriate
for the course work. While I concede that there are instances where dance may be
taught as rote mimicry, with little opportunity for advanced levels of engagement of
criticality or creativity, I adamantly assert the same is true of any other class.
While higher order thinking, also referred to as critical thinking, "although some
6authors draw a distinction between the two terms" (Warburton 2004, 71), looks
different within distinct contexts, I was surprised and frustrated by the assumption
that class work in dance would not include this type of intellectual rigor.
A similar issue surfaced earlier during a group discussion about active learning
in our teacher orientation. It is significant to note that for the orientation, active
learning essentially meant finding ways to get students moving in class.
Immediately, this narrow perception of active learning seemed quite off target for
facilitating relevant movement opportunities that actually connected with the
learning objectives. When discussing strategies for facilitating active learning, my
supervisor said to me, that I didn't have to worry; my classes would be moving all
the time (Supervisor, SEP Teacher Orientation, July 4, 2009). The implication was
that because the dance courses were non-sedentary by nature and offered consistent
opportunities for movement, active learning was of no concern. This comment was
not only dismissive of the work I was planning but also by-passed the opportunity
for me (with a movement background) to help other teachers brainstorm potential
movement strategies to integrate into their curriculum. That active learning was
identified as being important and at the same time having my work dismissed since
I did it, as if it were an automatic thing, was a bizarre contradiction. Further,
equating active learning with exercise and staying awake in class, completely
misses the point that within any discipline, movement experiences in the classroom
should be designed to connect to the subject matter. I had learned from the master
7teachers at the Dance Teachers Intensive that active learning was highly complex,
requiring students' active engagement and participation on multiple levels.
Because students are dancing, i.e. moving, does not mean one can assume they are
actively engaged.
I was in the midst of proposing what I knew to be rigorous questions for my
field and ultimately myself and the students. And yet, in this context, the space for
that level of inquiry in dance was not understood nor provided. The irony of being
included in a college-prep program within a university where the College of
Education has a national reputation and at the same time, having my work
separated from the higher levels of inquiry felt simultaneously maddening and yet,
ultimately encouraging for what was at stake in my research.
Assumptions
I assume the theoretical questions I am working with are relevant to
consider for the dance educator and student within multiple age groups,
populations, and contexts and that pedagogical practice can transfer amongst them.
Further, this research is based on an assumption that teachers and students of dance
technique have the potential to make profound meanings and identify values in
their classes that extend beyond movement imitation, physical health, and the
positive feelings associated with movement. Although the latter are also important
benefits of our discipline, I assume they are not the primary objectives of our work.
As contemporary artists and educators, we are responsible for much deeper
inquiries within our field. I use as a basis for this assumption my own reflections
and understandings of the discipline as well as support from researchers and
thinkers in the fields of dance and education, cited in my review.
Delimitations
In terms of practical applications, I delimited my teaching to two youth
populations. These were the University of Oregon College of Education's 2009
Summer Enrichment Program, a college preparatory program for students age
eleven to sixteen, and an open dance course for homeless youth living in housing
communities of the non-profit organization ShelterCare in Eugene, Oregon. I
recognize that my experiences might vary greatly if I were working with an adult
population or with youth in other settings. Because the two programs differed in
terms of student population, previous exposure to dance, and time allotted in the
studio, the resultant curricula were different, as were the outcomes. But again, I
assume that pedagogical theory and practice can transfer.
Limitations
During the two summer dance programs, I served as both teacher and
researcher. It was a challenge to work inside of an experience and also study and
report on it. However, this was an intentional decision that I believe reflects the
8
9real challenge facing teachers: the challenge of conceiving, planning and
implementing the details of a dance pedagogy that aligns with personal values and
philosophies. This task also includes the reflective work that happens in the midst
of teaching to adapt and adjust in order to meet the students where they are. The
values and philosophies were gleaned from preliminary research, personal
reflection, classroom experience and interviews with experts in the field.
Definitions
Abstract: In the second question for this study, does dance pedagogy allow students
to experience abstract concepts through physical action, I use abstract to describe
intangible concepts, which can be difficult to describe with words but are
nevertheless perceived. They are things we know exist but that are elusive, with
fluid interpretations depending on the individual experiencing them and the context
in which they are experienced. An interesting expansion for this study was the
notion of embodiment, or engaging the body in order to physically experience
ideas, which are often referred to as existing in the mind. Examples include space
and relationships.
Active Learning: It is important to clearly state that active learning requires more of
dance students than movement. While this may seem obvious, at SEP I was
confronted with the assumption that active learning simply meant that students
10
were moving, and therefore, I would not have to worry about active learning in my
classes. I define active learning as taking responsibility for one's own growth and
development within a given scenario.· Active learning is context-specific, and in
dance, it requires an inquisitive and rigorous engagement on physical, perceptual,
sensual, and intellectual levels. This engagement necessitates a heightened
awareness, presence, and cognition. One pedagogical example, which will be
discussed further in Chapter IV, is asking students to practice dance thinking,
which simultaneously requires perceiving and decision-making.
Critical Thinking: There are countless definitions for critical thinking and as with
active learning, the meanings of critical thinking will vary amongst disciplines and
contexts. Characteristics of critical thinking, as identified in the abridged edition of
A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, andAssessing: A Revision ofBloom's
Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives, may include but are not limited to applying,
analyzing, understanding, evaluating and creating (Anderson and Krathwohl2001,
269-70). Within traditional philosophical and educational methodologies, critical
thinking may suggest an activity limited to the brain. Unfortunately, this
perception dismisses the rest of the body from holding any import in the generation
of knowledge. Therefore, a hierarchy is established, which compartmentalizes the
person in an inaccurate way that is particularly problematic for dance educators.
One example of critical thinking identified in this study is the play between internal
11
and external experience. In their courses at Cornish and in their interviews, Bill
Evans and Kitty Daniels stated the necessity for dancers to "go inside" (June 28-
July 2, 2009) in order to learn how to take on the given information and discover
how it is relevant to them. I understand this play between internal experience and
external cuing as well as learning from both a sensory and cognitive place to be
prime examples of critical thinking in the studio dance class. This dance-specific
form of cognition is achieved through an investigation of and through the full self,
made possible when a person moves, thinking and sensing in tandem. Framed
another way, dance thinking works like "applied intellection, as a link between
feeling and action" (Martin 1939, 291).
Higher Order Thinking: "involves a cluster of elaborative mental activities
requiring nuanced judgment and analysis of complex situations according to
multiple criteria. Higher order thinking is effortful and depends on self-regulation.
The path of action or correct answers are not fully specified in advance. The
thinker's task is to construct ~eaning and impose structure on situations rather than
to expect to find them already apparent" (Resnick 1987,44).
Studio Dance Class: When interviewing Bill Evans at Cornish College of the Arts,
he advised me that in discussing pedagogical theory and practices, the term "dance
classes" was too broad, that "there are so many different ways in which people
12
approach dance" (Evans, July 1, 2009). Evans utilizes and advocates for a dance
pedagogy committed to meaning making and contextualizing the work done in the
classroom, one that invites students to engage with themselves, considering the
living body as their teacher. I feel certain that "studio dance classes" would not
suffice for Evans either but for the purposes of my research and in an effort to be
succinct, I use the term to refer to studio classes where more than sixty percent of
the total class time is spent learning via movement. Examples include Dance·
Technique, Composition, Improvisation, and others.
13
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND RELATED WORKS
The review of literature is divided into two phases, one that preceded and
one that followed the experiential components of the research methodology. A
Review of Related Works, which separates the two phases of the Review of
Literature reviews the Dance Teachers Institute, the master teachers involved in the
course, and teaching opportunities available in Eugene, Oregon. This portion of the
review laid the ground-work for the experiential components of the research. The
intention is to reveal the interactions between textual analysis and the experiential
praxis as each informs and is informed by the other.
Pre-Experiential Review: Design Phase
At the onset, the design phase started with textual analysis of writings from
dance education, educational theory, and philosophy addressing lived body
experience. This preliminary work yielded the three questions, which established
the subtext for each component and the research as a whole.
Margaret H' Doubler (1889-1982) established the first dance major in the
United States at the University of Wisconsin in 1926. Today her work continues to
14
strongly influence dance pedagogy within and outside of the university setting. In
her book, Dance: A Creative Art Experience, first edition published in 1940, she
examines the nature of dance and defines some of its aspects including rhythm,
technique, and composition in order that dance may be viewed in terms of its
possibilities and contributions to the individual, to the academy, and to society.
She promotes dance as accessible to all (H'Doub1er 1957, xix). In this book,
H'Doub1er discusses values indispensable to a technique class, the responsibilities
of a dance educator, and the natural abilities and tools students bring to a dance
classroom. Most significant for my research on critical thinking and the studio
dance class is her recommendation, "Movement experiences need to be presented
in such a way that the student will be able to summon and integrate his intellectual,
emotional, and physical responses, and in this way be able to identify himself with
his own movement experience" (H'Doub1er 1957, xxxi). That H'Doub1er calls for
integration of the intellectual, emotional, and physical responses, reveals the
complexity and multiple levels of learning and engagement she knew were
available in dance education and would contribute to the student's overall
education.
Maxine Sheets-Johnstone was a student of H'Doub1er at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. In "On Learning to Move Oneself," an essay first written in
1981 and later published in Margaret H'Doubler: The Legacy ofAmerica's Dance
Education Pioneer, she explains that discovery was a significant principle of
15
H'Doubler's pedagogy, writing, "discovery consistently plays a key role:
exploration and experimentation are the rule rather than the exception and emphasis
is clearly upon learning to move oneself' (Sheets-Johnstone 2006, 276). This
passage suggests connectedness between the rigors of creative and critical
engagement in the studio dance class. In her book The Phenomenology ofDance,
Sheets-Johnstone warns that the values of dance should not be made to coincide
with the goals of education. "To overlook the labor and vital engagement
necessary to the creation of a dance, and to concentrate instead on effective group
interaction, individual growth, self-realization ... is actually to nullify the dance."
One should not "embellish dance on the other end with predetermined values"
(Sheets 1966, 144-145). The value, educational and otherwise, of learning and
composing dance is intrinsic to those acts. For Sheets-Johnstone, front-loading the
studio dance class experience with pre-determined, general educational objectives
runs the risk of making dance something other than itself. This was significant as I
grappled with critical thinking and dance. What serves what? Or does it work both
ways? Dance offers unique opportunities for a robust and full-bodied form of
critical thinking and at the same time, critical thinking as a skill, can complement
dance training. A premise of this study was that, as Sheets-Johnstone wrote,
"education should be a means to dance, a means whereby its uniqueness and
vitality would be concretely illuminated" (Sheets 1966, 142). Within this narrow
sampling of writings from H'Doubler and Sheets-Johnstone, it appears the two
16
women represent different philosophies for the role of dance in education and
education in dance. However, it is essential to consider the context ofH'Doubler's
work and what she was trying to accomplish for dance within the university in
comparison to the different vantage Sheets-Johnstone, and the next generation of
dance scholars, had during the 1960s. A more complete exploration of the points
of connection and distinction between the philosophies of these women, would
require a much more thorough review of the full trajectory of their works on dance
and education, considering the historical context within which they were written.
Elliot W. Eisner, a leading educational theorist in the U.S., is a retired
Emeritus Professor of Art and Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of
Art at Stanford University where his work overlapped the fields of Arts Education,
Curriculum Studies, and Qualitative Research Methodology. His research interests
focused on the development of aesthetic intelligence and on the use of methods
from the arts to study and improve educational practice. In his article in Art
Education, "Does Experience in the Arts Boost Academic Achievement?" he
echoes Sheets-Johnstone, opining that art should not be treated as means to
educational ends (Eisner 1998, 38). This was an important word of caution to me.
While it is important to articulate clearly about the domains of work within the
field as well as my perception of points of intersection with other fields, I did not
want to make the mistake of naively folding the imperatives of dance as an art form
into the broader goals of education. Just because the arts continue to be
I-
I
17
undervalued, I did not want to succumb to conceiving my study of dance as purely
a conduit toward the "greater" goals of education. What appears to be more
relevant is to consider current trends in education and how these might both
complement and be enhanced by studying dance. In other words, I am interested in
how becoming a clearer thinker, a more efficient learner, a more articulate speaker,
a more directed question asker, can help me make better art, be a better artist, and
ultimately help my students do the same. In Eisner's more recent book, The Arts
and the Creation ofMind, he flips the paradigm, now illuminating how art can·
. shape education. One major idea is that, "artistic activity is a form of inquiry that
depends on qualitative forms of intelligence. . .. Learning to paint, to draw, to
compose music, or to dance requires learning to think" (Eisner 2002, 232). Within
this research, I have also investigated the kind of thinking that can occur in dance, a
discipline engaging the body and movement.
Sylvie Fortin serves as a researcher at the Universite I de Montreal for the
Sainte-Justine Research Center. Her research interests are classified as Social and
Medical Anthropology. In a 1993 article in Kinesiology and Medicine for Dance,
"When Dance Science and Somatics Enter the Dance Technique Classroom," she
presents an in-depth single case study of dance teacher Glenna Batson in her Body
Therapy course at the American Dance Festival. Fortin's objective was to
investigate "how dance teachers think about the content of their classes but also
how they actually teach" (Fortin 1993, 88-89). She presents four broad questions
18
and uses these throughout to guide the reader as she develops the narrative
component of her article. The broad questions are broken down into sub-questions
or categories. The goal of her research is for teachers to "reflect on their own
practice," not to "generalize findings to other teachers" (Fortin 1993, 105-106).
The most significant aspect of the research for this study is its clear design and
organization of purpose questions and results, which are presented as emergent
themes. Regarding the questions of this study, it was helpful to see how she
transitioned her discussion from broad, value-based questions to practical
applications in the classroom.
Susan Stinson is a dance educator committed to qualitative research that
brings the voices of teachers and students into academic and professional discourse.
In her 1984 dissertation, "Reflections and Visions: A Hermeneutic Study of
Dancers and Possibilities in Dance Education," she searches for meaning in three
areas: her personal life, her professional life as a dancer/dance educator, and herself
as citizen of the world. She is the main text for which she is searching for
understanding although she came to the journey by way of a search for the meaning
of dance curriculum. She takes a hermeneutic approach to the research, utilizing a
poetic methodology, whereby she examines herself and her work in the same way
she approaches a work of art, in order to find meaning in her experience as a dance
educator. In her chapters, Stinson moves from large questions relating to the world
and human existence to specific scenarios common in dance education. As her
19
own subject of study, she reflects on existential questions as she comes to know
them through observations of herself in these three areas as well as through
readings from other curriculum theorists, sociologists, and scholars whose work
deals with education. Her reflective observations fall under one of two categories:
experiential or qualitative. They rely heavily on subjective experiences of dance.
Her process of discussing the issues she encounters in her field and the resultant
findings and interpretations are both cyclic and integrated into all three areas. Her
methodology provided a model for synthesizing the dual roles of teacher and
researcher within my research design.
Finding meaning from qualitative and experiential research is a theme that
carries into Stinson's more recent scholarship. In her 1993 article in the Journal of
Curriculum and Supervision, "Meaning and Value: Reflections on What Students
Say About School," Stinson immersed herself in the culture of four high school
dance classrooms and worked as a participant observer, taking class with the
students, spending time with them outside of class, and interviewing them at the
end of each semester. She wanted to learn what the students thought about school
and how they attached (or failed to attach) meaning and value to their experiences
in both dance class and the larger context of their school experience. She also
worked closely with, and interviewed the teachers. She used a methodology of
interpretive inquiry, or "humanities-based research where the search was for
meaning ... ," with an intent "to develop a language, or way of talking about a
20
subject" (Stinson 1993,217). Her understanding of what the students wanted from
the experience of school arose in the following themes: "to be stimulated, to learn;
to have a sense of meaning in what they are being taught; to be treated with
understanding - to be cared for; and to be able to be themselves. This involves
conditions of both security ... and freedom" (Stinson 1993,235).
In Stinson's "Research as Choreography," originally presented to the
National Dance Association in 1994 as the Scholar's Lecture and later published in
Research in Dance Education in 2006, she draws parallels between research and
choreography in an effort to demonstrate that the creativity used to construct a body
of dance work is similar to that required to create a body of research. This
connection easily extrapolates to the dance teacher as well and offers a subtext for
ways teachers can approach crafting the studio dance class. Stinson clearly details
the work of researchers like herself. "We pay attention to things, select from our
observations those which appear to be significant, perceive relationships
between/among them, think about what these might mean, and make something out
of the whole process" (Stinson 2006, 202). She provides an example of how she
used her kinesthetic sensibility and a reliance on physical sensation and spatial
orientation to discover a way to create a framework for her dissertation (Stinsqn
2006,205).
Edward Warburton is an associate professor in the Digital Arts and New
Media Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He also serves as
21
associate editor of Research in Dance Education. According to his faculty page on
the University of California Santa Cruz's Department of Theatre Arts website, his
scholarly interests deal with "thinking through dance, examining the nature of
dance cognition and creativity, teaching and learning." He has published several
articles addressing dance and critical thinking. In his 2008 article, "Beyond Steps:
The Need for Pedagogical Knowledge in Dance," he promotes pedagogical
knowledge as equally important to content knowledge for dance teachers. He uses
Stinson's "Research as Choreography" as a framework to advocate within the field
of dance that pedagogy is a dancer's work, just as Stinson claims that research is a
dancer's work (Warburton 2008, 11). He explicitly discusses critical thinking in
dance education, advocating for its inclusion in training for advanced and
beginning students. After engaging in an ongoing case study with expert dance
educators, he reports,
Expert dance educators appear to believe in critical-thinking activities for
all learners, and they hold high expectations for everyone, including
themselves. Instead of 'talent will out' instructional tendencies, these
experts believe 'achievement will out' regardless of students' ability,
motivation, or previous knowledge in dance as long as the educators'
pedagogical knowledge is leveraged in appropriate and systematic ways
(Warburton 2008, 11).
In his 2004 article in Research in Dance Education, "Knowing What It
Takes: The Effect of Perceived Learner Advantages on Dance Teachers' Use of
Critical Thinking Activities," he reviews "current ideas about what constitutes
competent teaching and learning" in dance, specifically considering "the uses of
22
critical thinking in dance education" (Warburton 2004, 70). His study surveys a
sampling of dance teachers working in private and public K-12 schools in New
Yark City by having them fill out a Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal
questionnaire. The study and questionnaire were designed to discover how dance
teachers perceived the effectiveness of critical thinking-rich dance pedagogy for
both high and low level students. For this study, high level meant high skill, prior
knowledge, and motivation. Warburton worked under the assumption that critical
thinking is significant for training dance artists with knowledge and skill needed to
work in the field. He was interested if this belief was held and practiced equally
amongst the high and low level student populations. This work is significant for
my study because he refers to dance pedagogy rich in critical thinking
opportunities, as including "discussion, self-discovery, creative improvisation, and
fewer lectures and drill-and-practice exercises" (Warburton 2004, 70). Through my
interviews with experts in the field of dance education and my own pedagogical
experiences, I was able to examine how my three initial questions could be tactics
for the kind of critical thinking activity that is unique to dance. Also, Warburton's
scholarship affirms for me that critical thinking is a dancer's work. "The ability to
think critically in, through and about the work from the stance of an audience
member, critic, performer and maker, aPlong others, is crucial to the development
of knowledge and skill in dance" (Warburton 2004, 71). His study recommends
dance pedagogy rich in critical thinking opportunities for all students, not just high
23
level students. A focus of my research was to seek strategies that connect thinking
and dancing.
In her book, Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Anne Green Gilbert calls
for a dance pedagogy that reflects current brain research and connects movement
with cognitive development. Gilbert seeks to present a curriculum that partners
skill acquisition with compositional and exploratory studies, prioritizing both
technical and creative development. She claims that "using a conceptual approach
in dance class, rather than rote, steps-only approach, creates a curriculum rich with
novelty and meaning" (Gilbert 2006, 11). At Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible
Dance Education Teacher Training and the Dance Teachers Intensive at Cornish,
all of the teachers advocated teaching from a conceptual perspective. The
pedagogical strategy is such that within the studio dance class, all movement
studies, exercises, and language are crafted around a concept, which has been
identified as unique and relevant to learning in dance. Frequently the concept (an
example, space) is chosen first, and then the movement scores, choreography, and
improvisation, dialogue, and reflections align with the concept.
Gilbert also speaks to the significance of transfer of information and
meanings gained fro~ the technique class to other areas of life. "When class
content connects to a student's life, both the brain and body gain and retain
knowledge" (Gilbert 2006, 11). Her philosophy promotes a consistent transitioning
between teacher-led and student-directed activities. This book offered both
24
practical strategies and theoretical support for this study's pedagogical method,
assisting me to strategize ways in which dancing and thinking are interdependent. I
was able to use several recommended studies when teaching at SEP and
ShelterCare.
101m Dewey (1859-1952) was a philosopher and educational reformer
whose ideas and writings continue to influence educational theory and praxis today.
In his 1938 book, Experience and Education, Dewey discusses two competing
educational methodologies of his time, traditional and progressive schools. He
clarifies the strengths and weaknesses of both, explaining how in isolation, neither
is fully sufficient. Dewey argues that learning should be based upon the students'
experiences, asserting that continuity and interaction are the "longitudinal and
lateral aspects of experience" (Dewey 1938,44). He explains that allowing
students outward freedom, which helps facilitate and promote inward freedom of
intelligence, is the way a teacher can "gain knowledge of the individuals [students]
with whom he is concerned" (Dewey 1938,62). Otherwise, an artificial uniformity
can mask and inhibit exploration and individuality, thus blocking information that
should pass from student to teacher. Ideally, the learning environment is co-
constructed by everyone involved, which requires reflexive, active learning from
the students and the teacher. Dewey also explains that reflection is a significant
part of the learning process, calling "a union of observation and memory ... the
heart of reflection" (Dewey 1938, 64). Reflecting can guide students toward
25
applying what they have learned in school to other areas of their lives. Dewey's
idea of how the teacher might best gain knowledge of her students provided me
with information on how to design the study. When trying to decide how to
evaluate the success of my qualitative, experiential study, in which I knew there
would be no tangible results, I felt that if I gained knowledge of my students,
meaning that if I saw them, heard them, and at times moved with them, then that
could be an indicator that perhaps there was a flow of information between us and
amongst the students as opposed to simply a flow of information from me to them.
When designing my classes, I tried to implement studies in a way that allowed
students to do, to watch, and then to talk. I presented material, they tried it on their
own, and then they broke into groups and watched each other. If there was peer
feedback, they would synthesize the feedback and then try again. Following the
movement portion of the exercise, I asked the students to talk with each other about
their experience through a strategy for discussion that I learned from Don Halquist
and was reinforced at the orientation for SEP called Think-Pair-Share. Within this
strategy, the teacher poses a question and asks the students to think about their
answers independently. Next, they share answers with a partner and the last step is
an open class discussion.
Janice Ross is an Associate Professor in the Drama Department at Stanford
University. In her 2000 book Moving Lessons: Margaret H'Doubler and the
Beginning ofDance in American Education, Ross explains how John Dewey's
26
ideas served Margaret H'Doubler as a foundation for her methodologies for dance
pedagogy as she worked to secure dance's place in higher education (Ross 2000,
123). Ross explores both Dewey's and H'Doubler's philosophies and writings,
specifically Dewey's Art as Experience and H'Doubler's Dance: A Creative Art
Experience, which was written four years after. It is significant to note that neither
had extensive first-hand experience with dance. H'Doubler did not have a dance
background. She was teaching Physical Education in the University of Wisconsin-
Madison's Department of Physical Education for Women when the head of the
department asked her to look for a dance appropriate for teaching women at the
university in order that she could present dance as a relevant and important
component to women's physical education. Ross observes that the distance both
H'Doubler and Dewey had from the artistic and presentational elements of the
form, served them well in addressing aesthetic experience as an educational force
with far-reaching potential. According to Ross, H'Doub1er pursued a dance
pedagogy that was egalitarian and democratic, with emphasis placed on process
above product. She emphasized creativity and student-centered learning without
prioritizing technical mastery. H'Doubler utilized structured investigations
wherein students "came to understand themselves and their surroundings and to
wonder at the world while making meanings through sensory information" (Ross
2000, 130). This suggests dance can and should encourage curiosity and deep
27
thought and supports the belief that experiences in the classroom can connect to our
lives beyond the classroom.
The Body Eclectic: Evolving Practices in Dance Training, is a collection of
essays addressing current trends in dance technique pedagogy compiled by editors
Melanie Bales and Rebecca Nettl-Fiol. "The central assumption [of the book] is
that the studio often acts as a conduit to dance/movement ideas, as well as being a
place to ready the body for performance" (Bales and Nettl-FioI2008, 3). In "A
Dancing Dialectic," an essay by Melanie Bales, professor of Dance Department at
The Ohio State University, she states "... [S]ince often the training [in the studio]
is the medium through which movement ideas are born, transmitted, and
transformed - movement can be identified as a conveyor of meaning and placed in
relationship to other parts of the whole" (Bales 2000, 10). Her discussion of the
studio as a training ground that is also value and theory-laden affIrms the
opportunity for meaning making in dance training.
Wendell Beavers currently serves as the Chair ofNaropa University's MFA
program in Theatre: Contemporary Performance. Naropa University is a private,
nonprofit liberal arts institution located in Boulder, Colorado. According to the
Contemporary Performance Department Vision webpage, their MFA Theater:
Contemporary Performance Program, which started in 2004, "is developing a new
paradigm integrating contemplative practice and interdisciplinary conservatory
level performance training." Beavers's chapter in The Body Eclectic, "Re-Iocating
28
Technique," speaks to exploring abstract ideas with movement in a manner that
links with embodiment. He claims dance creates a space where we can
"practice transformation of animal-god states, merge environment and self,
exchange self for environment, environment for self, become water, fire, air,
matter, decompose, recompose, de-evolve, and evolve" (Beavers 2008, 126). The
following passage on dance training aligns with the philosophical belief that dance
pedagogy can lead us to engage our bodies to experience abstract concepts:
Basically, the foundation for dance training should be physical investigation
of the body as it is - our capacities and qualities, all possibilities of moving,
emoting and creating forms in space and time. This possibility rests on
techniques of sensing and perceiving. In this way one comes to understand
and trust the process of being led by sensation and perception into
nonconceptual worlds. This would allow students to fully give over to
investigating space, time, visual form, and sensation, for example, while
simultaneously recognizing and relating to emerging external forms
(Beavers 2008, 132).
Clearly Beavers suggests that dance pedagogy in the studio dance class can allow
students to investigate the physical capacities of their bodies, how they experience
space and time, and abstract concepts through movement and while moving.
To more clearly understand the body as the site oflived experience in the
studio dance class, it is useful to consider the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty
(1908-1961), a French philosopher working in the existential tradition, specifically
phenomenology. In his most widely studied work, Phenomenology o/Perception,
first published in France in 1945, he addresses bodily lived experience or the
phenomenology of the body. A major contribution from Merleau-Ponty is the
29
rethinking of consciousness: reconceptualizing movement, perception, and
sensations to constitute our field of experience. Particularly noteworthy for dance's
relation to the body and movement is, "I am conscious of the world through the
medium of my body" (Merleau-Ponty 2002, 82). Our experiences in the world are
inherently embodied. Merleau-Ponty departs from the dualistic perception
prevalent in Cartesian philosophy that separates the mind from the body. Within
this canon of philosophy, thought is framed as non-physical, thus situating the brain
as the site of knowledge. Significant for this study is the passage in which
Merleau-Ponty calls for "abandoning the body as an object, partes extra partes, and
by going back to the body which I experience at this moment ... , I cannot
understand the function of the living body except by enacting it myself, and except
in so far as I am a body which rises toward the world" (Merleau-Ponty 2002, 75).
These insights provide support for a ~ritical dance pedagogy in which teachers
encourage students to approach their objectives in the classroom through an active
engagement of the body, as intelligent, sensuous, and moving system. In terms of
critical thinking in dance education, space is made here for learning via one's
moving body as well as actively taking up both roles of subject and object of
mqUlry.
Another philosophical perspective related to bodily experience is found in
Iris Young's (1949-2006) 2005 essay, "Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of
Feminine Body Comportment, Space and Spatiality." Iris Young was a professor
30
in Political Science at the University of Chicago. Her work was largely focused in
the field of political science, particularly on issues dealing with global justice. In
addition, she is renowned for her writings relating social critique and feminist
philosophy. In "Throwing Like a Girl," Young outlines "some of the basic
modalities of feminine body comportment, manner of moving, and relation in
space" (Young 2005, 30). Giving voice to, and then immediately challenging the
notion that women generally do not "make use of the body's [full] spatial and
lateral potentialities" (Young 2005, 32), Young provides context including a
historical and cultural rationale. Specific differences in body comportment cited
are length of stride relative to height and proximity of arms and legs to the body in
terms of occupying physical space.
Within the studio dance class, how do teachers give students the
opportunity to experience a variety of body comportments and ways to be in the
space of the classroom? How can one diversify the movement explorations to
better accomplish this? In Anne Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible Dance
Education Teacher Training, she warned participants not to allow their own
movement preferences to override the class in a way that limits qualitative and
spatial options for students. It is beneficial to teach class in a way that encourages
students to discover their own movement signature, which is a term Gilbert uses to
refer to a student's preferred movement style. This self-knowledge can allow for
31
more in depth exploration of how students' movement preferences transfer to other
areas of life as well as help them refine their technical goals.
Max Van Manen, a professor of Research Methods, Pedagogy, and
Curriculum Studies at the University of Alberta, wrote (1990) Researching Lived
Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy. In the chapter
"Investigating Experience as We Live It," he discusses strategies for conducting
phenomenological research including how to use experience as a starting point and
how to collect data within this qualitative approach (Van Marten 1990, 53-55). To
illustrate his points, he uses his own phenomenological descriptions concerning
pedagogy and parenting. His approach is phenomenological in that the
methodology strives to be descriptive. It is also hermeneutic in that interpretation
follows the descriptions. This was useful for my research design, which was
comprised of participating in a variety of pedagogical experiences, reporting on
them, and then interpreting the experiences in theoretical and practical terms. Van
Manen warns that when researching experiences, nothing should be taken for
granted, but rather that the meaning is found in the experience. He stresses that
when conducting phenomenological research, one must be very careful to examine
both the experience itself as well as the language used to describe it. It is important
to note his discussion of the interrelatedness of theory and pedagogy, when he
writes "as we speak or write (produce text), we need to see that the textuality of our
text is also a demonstration of the way we stand pedagogically in life" (Van Manen
32
1990, 138). This was significant for synthesizing insights from the master teachers
with their pedagogy at the Dance Teachers Intensive and for understanding how
this information extrapolated to my own pedagogical praxis.
Van Manen explains that data collecting within this methodology includes
interviewing, eliciting written responses, and participant observation. Another
significant point is that descriptions of experiences should not include explanations
or interpretations and it is important to recognize that any description, whether
verbal or written, can never be identical to the experience itself (Van Manen 1990,
54).
Ne1 Noddings, the Jacks Professor Emeriti of Child Education at Stanford
University, is a leading figure in Educational Philosophy today. Her pedagogical
background spans from elementary school to college level and much of her
scholarship centers on the intersection of care and education, placing caring
relations as the foundation for pedagogy. Her 2007 book Philosophy ofEducation
introduces readers to the "branches and major topics of philosophy and how they
are relevant to problems of education" (Noddings 2007, xiv). In the chapter
"Feminism, Philosophy, and Education," she advocates limiting research claims to
"local truth," which recognizes that outcomes "are accurate for particular groups
under particular conditions for particular purposes" (Noddings 2007, 219).
Limiting the scope of research claims is prevalent in feminist and postmodem
research and was informative as I considered the possibility of transfer of
33
theoretical and practical pedagogical findings to other contexts. Speaking to the
transfer of values from the classroom into other areas oflife, Noddings explains,
"an education worthy of the name must help students to examine their own lives
and explore the great questions human beings have always asked" (Noddings 2007,
228). Moral education from the care perspective includes modeling, dialogue,
practice, and confirmation (Noddings 2007, 226). I am interested in these steps and
their resonances in the studio dance class, where we can incorporate movement into
each. Could using our bodies as an integral part of our caring practice, transfer to
caring, physical action in areas outside of the classroom? In other words, can dance
pedagogy serve as a vehicle for embodying care and also link with a physical
outcome of doing something with the care? This idea established support for my
preliminary question about experiencing abstract concepts through our bodies in
motion.
The Community Performance Reader, a collection of essays about
community art, performance, and community performance includes the chapter,
"Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire (1921-1997), a Brazilian educator
whose work centered on issues of empowerment and dialogue. Offering a
pedagogical philosophy for oppressed peoples, he calls for a "humanizing
pedagogy in which the revolutionary leadership establishes a permanent
relationship of dialogue with the oppressed" (Friere 2007, 26). His pedagogy
encourages students to take control of their learning and development. Within the
34
research design of this study, I strove to create opportunities for the students to
make decisions inside of the classroom and encouraged them to express themselves
with movement and verbal dialogue. Think-Pair-Share was one pedagogical
strategy that I utilized when teaching in order to give them time to think
independently, to speak with a peer, and then to share aloud in the group. It is
important to note that inviting dialogue within a context that is unfamiliar for
. young students necessitates a high degree of care, nuanced listening, and time in
order that they might disclose their movement and voice. In the chapter
"Compositions: The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange," Jan Cohen-Cruz, professor at
New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, speaks of how Lerman's
company integrates its work into that of the community in which they are working
to blend their aesthetics with community participation. "She [Lerman] applied
political organizing principles to dance - 'meet people on their own turf, affirm
what they already know, bring them together' - as a way to build community"
(Cohen-Cruz 2007,244). Both Freire and Cohen-Cruz speak to meeting people
where they are, honoring what they know, and engaging in consistent dialogue.
These works easily intersect with Nel Nodding's theory of care and provided some
value-based landmarks for navigating through the experience with both summer
dance programs that I conducted in this study.
35
Review of Related Work
This section of the review presents another significant component within
the initial phase of the study. This was the research that went into selecting the
experiential components of the study's design.
During the summer of2008, I attended Anne Green Gilbert's Summer
Dance Institute for Teachers, a two-week course in Brain-Compatible Dance
Teaching Methods. Gilbert is the director of the Creative Dance Center and
Kaleidoscope Dance Company in Seattle and is recognized as a leading dance
educator in the United States. She regularly presents at the National Dance
Educators Organization's annual conference and has written many books and
articles on dance in education. The Institute for Teachers presented her research
and resultant pedagogical applications of the interconnectedness of dancing and
learning. Participation in the Institute for Teachers guided me toward an interest in
the unique ways learning takes place in dance and how it relates to values,
philosophies, and best practices in dance pedagogy for teachers. A performance by
the Kaleidoscope Dance Company closed the training. Bill Evans choreographed
one of the works.
At the time, I knew very little about Evans but the following summer, when
I learned that Cornish College of the Arts was hosting the Bill Evans Dance
Teachers Intensive, a five-day workshop that offered a range of technique classes
and conceptual tools for dance educators, I decided to attend. Prior to the Dance
36
Teachers Intensive, I read several articles written by and about Bill Evans, most
notably his 1999 article "Teaching What I Want to Learn: A Lifetime of Dancing
Lessons" in Contact Quarterly where he discusses his values and beliefs as they
relate to teaching and learning dance. Evans cites the following passages as
significant to his dancing and teaching practice. "First, 'dance is primarily an
activity of the human spirit;' second, 'I teach what I want to learn;' third,
'technique is not working if it shows;' and fourth, 'everyone has the right to
experience dance' "(Evans 1999,43).
For the Dance Teachers Intensive, Evans partnered with Kitty Daniels,
Chair of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, and Don Halquist,
professor in the Education and Human Development Department and the Dance
Department at the State University of New York, Brockport. Daniels is nationally
known for teaching Ballet and Kinesiology. She worked clinically with dance
kinesiologist Karen Clippinger and has presented workshops and published articles
dealing with anatomically sound practices in dance training. Halquist holds a PhD
in Language, Literacy, and Socio-cultural Studies. One of his areas of
specialization is Early Childhood Development. I recognized that these three
educators represented a wide range of expertise, relevant to my work in the
University of Oregon Dance Department as well as to the two youth populations I
was planning to work with for my research.
37
The teacher training offered a wide range of pedagogical experiences and
was a great follow up to Anne Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible Dance Education
workshop I attended the previous summer. Each course at Cornish was also taught
from a conceptual perspective and offered an in-depth study ofBartenieff
Fundamentals. An explicit through-line in the workshop was the expectation for
participants to regard the living body as our primary teacher and guide. High value
was placed on anatomically sound teaching strategies, through which teachers
strove to invite students to take an active role in their learning process. All three
teachers presented their information within a larger framework of personal values,
sharing how the information was relevant to their own practice. Similarly, they
encouraged participants to consider how to best integrate the new information into
our lives and work as teaching artists. We were constantly asked to contemplate
how what we were learning intersected with our own practice, our beliefs, and our
values in order to make meaning of the experience. This was done through
discussion, improvisation, and collaborative work. Participating in the Dance
Teachers Intensive was significant in that I was able to experience practical
applications of certain best practices and values in dance pedagogy related to what I
had previously read in the textual analysis.
Perhaps the most revealing and valuable component of the research was
interviewing the master teachers. All three teachers allowed me to interview them
regarding my research interests and they spoke generously on how these did or did
38
not intersect with their work. I asked them the three theoretical questions that
resulted from my preliminary research. Their insights both challenged and focused
my preliminary questions. They also provided practical strategies and language for
addressing these in the classroom. Further detail and integration of themes with
practical applications will be presented in the Chapter IV.
Identifying and planning the teaching component of the research design
required a review of teaching opportunities available in my community of Eugene,
Oregon. For the University of Oregon College of Education's Summer Enrichment
Program, this included studying materials, applying, and interviewing to teach
dance courses of my own design. For the Lane County non-profit organization
ShelterCare, this included attending staff meetings to propose the dance class,
working with site managers to learn about the consumers, coordinating site visits
for meetings with the staff who regularly worked with the kids, and studying their
materials to align the class work with the values and culture of the institution. The
process of applying for SEP and proposing the class at ShelterCare was an
important part of the review in terms of gaining further insight into the philosophies
of the organizations, which were not immediately evident.
Post-Experiential Review: Responding to the Study
In reflecting on the experiential components of the research design, I
identified critical thinking as a through-line underlying all parts of the study. I
39
began to think about my three initial questions as ways in which dance can offer a
unique and full bodied version of critical thinking. Conversely, I was interested in
how critical thinking, as a skill, can complement the study of dance. The post-
experiential portion of the review acknowledges critical thinking as an emergent
theme.
Doug Risner is one of the Editors-in-Chief for the Journal ofDance
Education. He is also an Associate Professor of Dance at Wayne State University
in Detroit. In a 2008 editorial in JODE, "Equity in Dance Education: Momentum
for Change," Risner warns against the trend in college dance to move away from
liberal arts courses toward an emphasis on studio arts classes. Reporting "a 30%
increase in BFA programs with a 32% decrease of dance education degree
programs" (Risner 2008, 76) in America since 2004, he explains that this shift
reflects a problematic hierarchy placing the role of artist over educator within
university dance departments.
Jan Van Dyke serves as the head of the Dance Department at the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro where she teaches courses such as technique,
choreography, repertory, career management, and dance administration. In a 2009
editorial in JODE, "Redefining Excellence," she responds to Doug Risner's
editorial, and echoes his message by calling for dance educators to consider the
education they are providing. "No matter how excellently we dance, without a
broadly based educational background, we are vulnerable and relatively powerless
40
outside the studio" (Van Dyke 2009, 4). At the heart of this statement lies the
question, which continues to be relevant for dance educators, what is in the reach
ofan education in dance? Van Dyke's editorial is significant because like many
others, she speaks of dance as a full and vital art form, one that requires an array of
skills and intelligences. In her words, "... we need to stop thinking that the studio
is enough" (Van Dyke 2009,3). Like all disciplines, it is important that we
continue to develop our language (verbal along with kinesthetic) in order that we
can better communicate with ourselves and with others. This involves
contextualizing our work in terms of historical, cultural, and personal relevance for
the students and ourselves. I view Van Dyke's article as support that my project is
both timely and relevant to the current academic and artistic discourse of our field.
It is significant to note the first tenet ofthe Ul'JCG Dance Department's Vision
Statement from the department's website, "The Department of Dance will be a
community committed to: engagement in creative and critical inquiry in dance as
an arts practice and interdiscipline." This statement provides support for
examining ways in which learning dance promotes critical thinking and establishes
inquiry as a cornerstone for the dance educator.
Carey Andrzejewski's article, "Toward a Model of Holistic Dance Teacher
Education," presents a model which identifies four tenets, essential to training
dance teachers: "focus on the whole person, integrated curriculum, explicit identity
development, and apprenticeships in relevant communities of practice"
41
(Andrzejewski 2009, 21). These tenets, particularly her discussion of dance teacher
training as focusing "on whole person development-intellectual, emotional,
physical, social, aesthetic, creative, and spiritual development" (Andrzejewski
2009, 21), should inform how we address the complex needs and interests of all
dance students, even those with no interest in teaching. "Students [training to be
dance teachers] should engage in practice that is grounded in theory, and they
should refine or develop theory based on their practice" (Andrzejewski 2009,21).
This assertion is pertinent to the teacher as she explores methods for inviting
students into the multi-level, complex inquiry that is unique to learning dance.
Linking theory and practice might be one way to present to students how dance
knowledge can transfer between studio work and other areas of interest.
Synthesizing theory and practice from the master teachers and applying to my own
pedagogy was a significant challenge within my research.
Svetlana Nikitina is a Research Specialist with Project Zero, an educational
research group at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. According
to their website, their "mission is to uriderstand and enhance learning, thinking, and
creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the
individual and institutional levels." In Nikitina's 2009 article "Movement Class as
an Integrative Experience: Academic, Cognitive, and Social Effects" in The
Journal ofAesthetic Education, she interviews Biology, Math, and Neuroscience
students at Harvard who take Claire Mallardi' s Movement for Actors and Directors
42
class. She looks for connections the students made between this course, their
academic concentration, and other areas of their lives. Nikitina asks, "What were
those connections that students made from their dance class experience to their
academic and social development? And, what in the teaching and nature of the
course supported this highly integrative experience that allowed students to reach
beyond mastering an artistic medium and become better learners in general"
(Nikitina 2009, 54)? This article conveys that dance, with its emphasis on
movement and bodily intelligence, can offer a unique vantage for students to
discover how they learn as well as demand a more complete perception of learning
in which the whole self is engaged. Examining the transfer of information from the
studio dance class to other areas and the objective of developing both artistry and
critical thinking were most essential to my project in addition to reinforcing the
importance of movement in deep, meaningful learning. I am specifically interested
in Nikitina's observation about students' learning. "Attention to movement
brought with it a realization in some students that body is an important source of
information .... Perceptual acuity, access to body as 'the ultimate mode of
thinking' " (Nikitina 2009,57), is identified by students as a significant benefit of
the class experience.
To try to understand why my classes at SEP were deemed by the
administrators to be lacking by their very nature in higher order thinking or
complex problem solving, it was important to investigate higher order thinking
43
itself in more general, non-dance specific terms. The Higher Order Thinking Skills
(HOTS) program started in 1985, with a primary goal of decreasing the
achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. The plan was
developed to increase thinking and socialization skills and test scores without extra
drill (repetition) or teaching to the test. "HOTS was also designed to work in the
years after grade 3, when progress from earlier interventions dissipates, gaps
rewiden, and disadvantaged students fall increasingly further behind. The program
was eventually adopted on a large scale, in approximately 2,600 schools, serving
approximately half a million disadvantaged students" (Pogrow 2005, 65). Stanley
Pogrow, a professor ofEducational Leadership at San Francisco State University
and leader ofthe HOTS movement notes, "The approach HOTS took from the
beginning was to generate a very creative and intensive conversational
environment" (Pogrow 2005,65).
Lauren Resnick is a professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at the
University of Pittsburgh. In her 1987 book Education and Learning to Think,
written not long after the HOTS program was implemented, she provides
characteristics of higher order thinking. These descriptors are general, and do not
denote a particular academic discipline:
Higher order thinking is nonalgorithmic. That is, the path of action is not
fully specified in advance.
Higher order thinking tends to be complex. The total path is not "visible"
(mentally speaking) from any single vantage point.
Higher order thinking often yields multiple solutions, each with costs and
benefits, rather than unique solutions.
44
Higher order thinking involves nuancedjudgment and interpretation.
Higher order thinking involves the application of multiple criteria, which
sometimes conflict with one another.
Higher order thinking often involves uncertainty. Not everything that bears
on the task at hand is known.
Higher order thinking involves self-regulation of the thinking process. We
do not recognize higher order thinking in an individual when someone else
"calls the plays" at every step.
Higher order thinking involves imposing meaning, finding structure in
apparent disorder.
Higher order thinking is efJortful. There is considerable mental work
involved in the kinds of elaborations and judgments required (Resnick
1987,3).
In a 2005 article, "HOTS Revisited: A Thinking Development Approach to
Reducing the Learning Gap After Grade 3," Pogrow, essentially reviewing himself
twenty years later, identifies the success of the HOTS program citing increases in
test scores and transfer to other subjects. Further, the curriculum, built upon the
belief that participating in consistent, meaningful conversation can guide students
toward the "key cognitive processes that underlie all learning: 1) metacognition,
i.e., the ability to think about, develop, and articulate problem-solving strategies; 2)
inference from context; 3) decontextualization, i.e., generalizing ideas and
information from one context to another; and 4) information synthesis" (Pogrow
2005, 66). These cognitive processes can serve as a foundational definition for
higher order thinking.
Roger Benjamin is the President of The Council for Aid to Education
(CAE) in New York City, where he serves as principal investigator and project co-
director of CAE's Collegiate Learning Assessment project. In his 2008 article in
45
Change: The Magazine ofHigher Learning, "The Case for Comparative
Institutional Assessment of Higher-Order Thinking Skills," he writes, "the higher-
order thinking skills ... thought to be particularly important in the knowledge
economy, and shared by most educators as key aims of instruction [are]: critical
thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and writing" (Benj amin 2008, 51).
This more recent breakdown of categories within HOTS helped provide a
framework within which to consider the cognition that I recognized in the studio
dance class and more specifically, my three original questions and insights from the
interviews with the master teachers. My study demonstrates what forms higher
order thinking can take within the academic and artistic discipline of dance.
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom led a group of educational psychologists who
developed a taxonomy of cognitive behavior. From low to high, the categories
were knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Between 1995 and 2000, Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom and David
Krathwohl, a partner in Bloom's original work on cognition, led a team to revise
the cognitive domain. The new taxonomy within the cognitive domain is as
follows, moving from lower to higher level thinking: remembering, understanding,
applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Anderson and Krathwhol 2001,30-
31). For my research, it is significant that the highest level within the cognitive
domain is creating. This supports the connection of high level thinking with
creating, which is common practice in studio dance classes.
46
Currently, the terms higher order thinking and critical thinking are used
somewhat interchangeably in practice and in the literature. And it is important to
note that critical thinking and creative thinking have major points of intersection as
well. The Thinker's Guide to the Nature and Functions ofCritical and Creative
Thinking examines both forms of inquiry across contexts and disciplines. This
reader is written by Dr. Linda Elder, President of the Foundation for Critical
Thinking and Dr. Richard Paul, the Director of Research of the Foundation for
Critical Thinking. It discusses the distinct yet, interconnected domains of critical
and creative thinking "... [E]ven in art, where creativity of the highest degree is
essential, critical thinking plays a vital role .... But in art, as in every other
domain of human achievement, criticality and creativity go hand-in-glove, mutually
dependent, mutually interacting, mutually influencing each other" (Paul and Elder
2008, 28). This is particularly relevant for examining the work that goes on inside
the studio dance class, a place where thinking and learning spring from the
coupling of cognitive and sensory investigation. Clarifying the interdependence of
the two domains is relevant because I learned first hand at SEP that critical and
creative work are sometimes placed in a hierarchy that is inaccurate, does not fully
represent either category, and ultimately may inhibit making connections between
the two. Teasing out meanings here helped me to more clearly examine the
multiple levels of work in the studio dance class.
Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is another educational methodology currently
47
being explored in universities across the country_ IBL is built upon educational
theories of several philosophers including American philosopher John Dewey's
ideas on connecting learning with action to the Socratic method of teaching through
asking questions, rather than telling answers. As is the case with higher order
thinking, scholars and practitioners hold different definitions for inquiry-based
education. One working definition proposed in an article from the International
Journal ofHigher Education and Educational Planning, called "An Exploration
into Inquiry-Based Learning by a Multidisciplinary Group of Higher Education
Faculty," describes inquiry-based learning (IBL) as a "learning environment focused
on process in which asking questions, thinking critically, and solving problems are
encouraged" (Friedman et al. 2010, 767).
In 2008, Mark Aulls and Bruce Shore co-authored Inquiry in Education
Volumes 1 and 11. In Volume I, Inquiry in Education: The Conceptual Foundations
for Research as a Curricular Imperative, the authors combine expert opinion and
writings on inquiry from different academic disciplines and traditions. "The goals
of inquiry instruction are not only to acquire traditional knowledge but to learn how
to think like an inquirer and how to go about theorizing, solving problems,
searching, and transforming information so inquiry knowledge is useable" (Aulls
and Shore 2008, 9). Inquiry in the studio dance class was central to this study. In
dance technique, improvisation, and composition, the cornerstones of our work are
inquiry, experimentation, and problem-solving. And perhaps even more exciting is
48
that these occur simultaneously on multiple levels - physiological, psychological,
intellectual, and others. Within our discipline, these are not separated but rather,
treated as part of a complete, full-bodied system of learning and working. Master
teachers at Cornish, in their pedagogy and in the interviews, discussed evidence of
inquiry and exploration in the studio dance class.
While inquiry is being advocated in K-12, I have been unable to find any
writings or discussion for the studio dance class. Relevant to my research is how
teachers can more explicitly introduce inquiry as a class norm within the studio
dance class and continue to investigate the unique forms of learning that take place
through dance. I also suggest that dance-specific inquiry, which involves
movement and other aspects, is useful to dance educators and administrators in
advocating for the value of dance in education. Within both works citing IBL in
my review, it seems the conceptual framework is somewhat defined but that
educators are working to discover best practices for implementing the instructional
methodology within their discipline. I have some ideas and strategies, which will
be elaborated in Chapter IV.
49
CHAPTER III
METHODS
My research was serial in nature. Each component built upon and was
informed by the previous. As with the review of literature, the methodology is
divided into phases reflecting the complete research design.
Phase I: Research Design
. The methodology for my qualitative study began with preliminary research,
including textual analysis, aimed to discover points of intersection between selected
writings taken from dance education, educational theory, and philosophy dealing
with lived body experience. Engaging these texts through retroductive inference,
"the originating of ideas, concepts, hypotheses, and theories from other concepts
and theories" (Hanstein 1999, 78), I proposed three themes that emerged from the
intersection of the texts andpresented them as theoretical questions.
Phase II: Dance Teachers Intensive and Interviews
I attended a five day Dance Teachers Intensive with Bill Evans, Kitty
Daniels, and Don Halquist at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where I used
50
postpositivist methodologies "including but not limited to observation, participant
observation, document analysis, and interviewing" (Green and Stinson 1999, 94).
In addition to participating in the training, I read articles and watched videos on the
master teachers.
Most notably, I conducted an interview with each of the master teachers at
Cornish, regarding their pedagogical background, what they perceived as the most
important beliefs related to dance pedagogy, and then asked them my three
philosophical questions in order to see if and how they intersected with their work.
See Appendix A for the list of interview questions. By participating in their
training, reading their documents, and then interviewing them, I was able to explore
the relationship between their practice and theory.
Phase III: Teaching
The third phase of the research design was creating a curriculum for and
implementing two different summer dance programs for youth. The programs were
informed by my preliminary research, participation in Anne Green Gilbert's
Summer Dance Institute for Teachers, the Dance Teachers Intensive at Cornish and
open interviews with Bill Evans, Kitty Daniels, and Don Halquist. I had the
opportunity to experience fIrst hand how the new information from these sources
translated into practical applications for curriculum development and
implementation in the two summer dance programs. See Appendix B for
51
background information on the Summer Enrichment Program and Appendix C for
ShelterCare.
Phase IV: Post-Teaching
The final phase of the methodology examines critical thinking and inquiry
unique to the studio dance class, which is discussed in Chapter IV Findings and
Discussion. During this phase, I spent time synthesizing the master teachers'
words and work as well as reflecting on my own classroom experience.
52
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter discusses practical pedagogical answers to my initial theoretical
questions. Interwoven are experts' insights, experts' pedagogical strategies,
pedagogical strategies I applied in my classes at SEP and ShelterCare, and finally, a
discussion on how dance can contribute to critical thinking development, with
examples of dance-specific critical thinking. This narrative is somewhat nebulous,
reflecting my own non-linear learning process. Not all of my questions proved to
be equally relevant or revealing and there were no magical one-to-one relationships
where a certain pedagogical strategy perfectly transplanted into another scenario.
All parts of the research design utilized synthesis, adaptation, decision-making,
creating, and critical thinking.
How Does Dance Pedagogy Allow Students to Engage with the Functions and
Processes of Their Bodies?
Expert Insight and Pedagogy: In responding to how dance can allow us to
engage with the processes and functions of our bodies, Kitty Daniels, cited
53
"awareness" as the essential component. "It's about being able to listen for little
whispers of information coming back in the body. To me it is a constant back and
forth between the perceiving and the self-directing" (Daniels June 29, 2009). In
Daniels's Anatomy-Based Ballet Class, she encouraged listening and perceiving
during a movement study at the ballet barre by asking us to consider, from where
do I choose to move at this point (June 28, 2009)? She instructed us to sense and
notice within our bodies what was happening as we executed a certain movement.
She presented ideas about what our objectives should be and then shifted the
responsibility to us to use our bodies to figure out what to do with the information
to ultimately meet our objectives. Her language revealed the beliefthat students
must take ownership of their inquiry in the studio dance class.
What I tried in my teaching: Subsequently, within my classes at SEP, I tried
to encourage students to engage their bodies, by asking questions (while they were
moving and between repetitions) such as, What are you feeling here? What are you
thinking about? What are you working on as you do this? The students, very few
with previous dance training, had a variety of responses. Some would stop moving
to think. Others would keep going and say nothing, but then respond later in their
journal, and for others, there was no perceivable response so I didn't know their
responses unless they joined in the discussion following the investigation.
I also explicitly asked the students on the first day of class to anticipate
paying close attention to their bodies, that one of our goals would be to experience
54
what it is like to think, experiment, and problem solve while moving, i.e. in motion.
Another way of framing this idea within a specific movement study was to ask
them to track their experience, or actively notice themselves and their experience of
moving within the given movement study.
Overlapping quote or pedagogical example from another expert: Pedagogical
cuing from Bill Evans also related to engaging with oneself in movement. In his
classes, Evans utilized what came across as a mantra; "there are many options"
(June 28-July 2, 2009). I understood this to mean that there are many ways to
address all movement challenges and very few set rules. Similar to Daniels, Evans
stressed that it was inside the process of engaging with our living body (soma) that
we find our answers. He iterated again and again that the value was in the "going
inside" (June 28-July 2, 2009) of ourselves. And this was not just to solve
problems but also where we go to discover what is alive, meaningful, and relevant
for us as artists and human beings. Clearly, teachers can't do this work forthe
students. Students must actively participate in their own investigation.
Insights into dance-specific critical thinking: Cultivating awareness of how
internal experience (sensation, feeling, impulse) interacts with decision-making and
external cuing in dance is one way to explore a robust, full-bodied critical thinking
iQ the studio dance classroom. Introducing this expectation of rigor on the first day
of class gives students a chance to register the expectation for their engagement as
well as to introduce the language and culture ofthe class. This seems relevant
55
(perhaps for different reasons) for those with, and without, previous dance
experience. Something I had to come to terms with was that students might not
understand what I meant right away. However, the strategy to explicitly introduce
engaging with ourselves in motion, and then giving students time and space to
experience this concept throughout the class helped keep them engaged and moving
forward in their work.
An illustrative example from Kitty Daniels's interview was her observation, "I
think there is a conceptual and perceptual dialogue that is at the heart of deep
learning because you can understand fully what your pelvis is supposed to be doing
but ifyou can't feel it, it is nowhere. And if you can feel things but you have no
idea what you are supposed to be doing with that information ..." (Daniels June
29, 2009). Her pedagogy, which calls for mutually exploring the conceptual and
perceptual is one way that education in dance challenges traditional modes of
learning to "reconceptualize cognition," thus validating "feeling, sensory concepts,
and exquisitely varied forms ofhuman representation that give us insight into what
it means to be in, relate to, and comprehend" (Siegesmund 1998, 211 ~ 212). The
meaning I discern here is that dance, with its ties to movement, sensation, and
cognition, might allow dance educators to bring the body and a more complete,
expanded conception of knowing into our scholarly and artistic discourse.
56
Does Dance Pedagogy Allow Students to Experience Abstract Ideas Through
Physical Action? If So, How? If Not, Why?
Expert Insight and Pedagogy: In responding to this question, both Evans
and Halquist agreed that images are powerful tools for embodiment and "bringing
the abstract into reality" (Halquist July 1, 2009). Evans specifically cited Rudolf
Laban's Space Harmony work, explaining how in this work there "are abstract
concepts (example platonic solids) that become very clearly physically embodied
and we sense them on a physical level, the pull/counter pull and we visualize these
different crystalline forms in this series of destinations through the kinesphere"
(Evans July 1,2009). During Evans's technique class, he asked us to "crystallize
the shape" (Evans June 30, 2009) as a way to achieve clarity in movement. We
responded to this external cue by creating the three dimensional shape and then
used our sensory imagination to crystallize it, thus moving into it, through feeling
and filling out the shape as an embodied inquiry. I understood Evans's pedagogy
here to mean that he wanted us to use our creative and critical physicality, or dance
thinking, not to simply replicate the shape he was after, but to simultaneously
engage ourselves within it.
What I tried in my teaching: One of the abstract concepts I presented to
students at She1terCare was teamwork. For young students, with little or no
exposure to dance, I chose this concept because of its easy extrapolations into
57
concrete examples in hopes that they would connect our work with their previous
and future experiences. The class started with introducing this concept on the
marker board and asking the kids to think of a time when they practiced (chose this
word intentionally over "experienced") teamwork. We did a movement study,
taken from Ann Green Gilbert's book Brain-Compatible Dance Education called
Shape Fence where everyone stood in a line and made a shape and then the person
on the end moved along the line to the end and added a complementary shape. The
line kept moving and everyone got several tries. The idea was for students to look
at each other and work together to get ideas from the other students in order to add
their own movement to the tableau. The same day the class also learned
movements and rhythms from the Guinean dance Cou-Cou. I asked the students to
think about how the dancers and drummers were working together. The majority
of the students said nothing, were very quiet, listening and looking around intently.
Then I asked them to create a movement that expressed teamwork, to incorporate
into what we had already learned about Cou-Cou. An older boy (who made sure to
tell me at the beginning of class that he was only there for the drumming)
volunteered a movement idea and proceeded to teach it to the rest of us. This was
the most overt physical and verbal response from any student throughout all of the
classes at ShelterCare. It is difficult to relay the spirit of the experience in narrative
but during that class we were able to listen to, watch, and even teach each other.
The young boy actively participated in the class, he taught the other students and
58
me his movement ideas, thus working in both follower and leadership roles. The
other students were able to learn from their peer through the physical action of
dance and movement. In other words, we moved beyond talking about the concept
teamwork; we got to do it. Although it was a small step, I feel that through dance
we were able to experience teamwork with our bodies in motion, i.e. through
physical action.
Overlapping quote and pedagogical example from another expert: This
question was met with curiosity from Evans, Halquist, and Daniels in the
interviews. All three, in their own way, asked what I meant by the word abstract so
I gave them examples of space and relationships. Through reflecting and analyzing
within the research design, I now have a clearer, albeit open understanding of what
I mean by the term. It is something we know exists but that is intangible, with fluid
interpretations depending on the individual experiencing it and the context in which
it is experienced. These are things that one can never fully know the way in which
another person experiences them. They are hard to talk about and write about, but
we can work within a loose, collective assumption, that allows us to roughly know
what they are. All of the experts were inquisitive about how I came to be
"interested in the notion of abstract" (Halquist July 1, 2009). In this question, I was
most confronted with limitations oflanguage, my own and the field's. What I was
trying to capture was a dialogue on how dance and movement might give us the
opportunity to think through and physicalize different ways of moving ourselves,
59
taking up space, and embodying particular ideas. This question, while admittedly
vague and difficult to discuss, did reinforce for me the importance of investing
rigorously in both the experiential and its verbal counterpart in dance. While I
recognize that the verbal will never fully suffice for illuminating the experiential
and kinesthetic, I believe one major component of the dance teacher's critical
thinking work is cultivating verbal language and insisting the same of our students
in the studio dance class.
Insights into dance-specific critical thinking: In presenting the task of
experiencing abstract concepts though physical action, I was ultimately asking
students to use their imaginations, while simultaneously revealing this process via
movement. Some real challenges I found in both SEP and ShelterCare were that I
had to figure out how to encourage students to accept the relatively high level of
ambiguity, coupled with no pre-determined path toward success. This was
challenging because the students preferred to work on specific tasks, "I like having
something specific to work on and then persevere" (SEP student, Dance Technique
Sampler, July 22, 2009). When working toward the goal of embodying abstract
ideas, I found it helpful to contextualize the work for the students in terms of how
the specific study related to dance training as a whole, why it was important or
interesting for composition, how it connected to their interests and how it
connected to other scenarios when they might have to think on their feet. This was
a strategy Bill Evans shared in his technique class at the Dance Teachers Intensive.
60
It was important to inform the students that everyone would be on the edge of
knowing. Using Kent De Spain's article "The Cutting Edge of Awareness: Reports
from the Inside of Improvisation" as a point of departure, I shared with them that
we were going to treat the class as a physical experiment by pushing thinking and
moving as closely together as possible, perhaps even considering the terms as
interchangeable (De Spain 2003, 27). Moving as thinking, and again, with the body
and self (in as full a sense as we can imagine it) as our site of knowledge.
We also had to talk about what it feels like to be watched, as we are working
and problem solving. I asked students to think about how we can recognize the
self-consciousness, feel how it feels, and then move forward. Some of the students
at SEP were open about their opinions here, saying they would just keep trying.
This suggests an underlying confidence and sense of security that from my
perspective was not present in the classes at ShelterCare.
In addition to utilizing imagery in cuing, strategies for facilitating this type of
experience and incorporating critical thinking, took the form of asking questions
like, what does swing feel like? What does swing look like? How does thinking of
water as you move affect your dance? The challenge was to invite students to
respond in movement without stopping to think. It was a physical, intellectual, and
conceptual problem solving. We were working through ideas while moving and
after, we would reflect and discuss in order to put verbal language to our
understanding of thinking, feeling, and moving. This dance-specific form of
61
critical and creative engagement required a dynamic fluctuation between thinking
about the objective(s), returning to what we were experiencing at the moment, and
back again.
I identified a few specific pedagogical strategies of the master teachers to be
particularly illustrative of the idea of experiencing abstract ideas through physical
action. For example, Daniels shared that thought and intent shape outcome.
Similarly, Evans emphasized that how we start a movement determines how we
finish it. I found a commonality in both of these examples, that starting with
thinking, more specifically, the unique kind of in-movement thinking (which
includes sensing, intuiting, feeling) that we do at the moment of initiation directly
correlates with the quality of our movement.
How Does Dance Pedagogy Allow Students to Draw Connections from the
Classroom to Other Areas in Their Lives?
Expert insight and pedagogy: In their interviews and pedagogy at the Dance
Teachers Intensive, Kitty Daniels, Don Halquist, and Bill Evans emphasized
meaning making, i.e. asking students to consider what the given information means
and how it is relevant for them, their work, and their life. Participants were asked
to think about the information, to feel it, to synthesize it, to physicalize it, and then
choose how to use it to meet their technical and artistic objectives. I identify
62
meaning making, as a skill, to be closely related to the transfer of knowledge and
experience amongst different contexts. Evans's pedagogy evidenced this idea.
During an exploration of the concept of the dynamic relationship between mobility
stability, he asked us to focus on that relationship within the choreographed
movement. He closed the study by asking us to reflect kinesthetically on mobility
and stability, in a self-directed way, resembling an open-style reverence. After, he
asked the class, what this information meant to us and we discussed our answers
together (July 2, 2009).
In his interview, Don Halquist shared that helping students make meaning is a
priority for him as an educator (Halquist July 1,2009). On the first day of his
Pedagogy Seminar, he asked participants to write down and then discuss with a
partner what was personally meaningful, significant, troubling, or inspiring that we
discovered during class that day. He then asked how or why that was relevant to
our work as a teacher and artist. He prompted our discussions and free writes with
big questions, questions that have many answers and were intended to allow us to
think about our own process. Like Evans and Daniels, Halquist established the
conceptual framework for all topics of discussion. He also shared practical
strategies to invite our students forward to take an active role in their own
development and to help us create a nurturing environment where our students are
asked to learn and to feel challenge and growth. He taught us strategies for
incorporating reflection and dialogue into our classroom. I especially appreciated
63
that he presented broad, overarching concepts and then directly related them to our
work with Evans and Daniels earlier in the day. We got non-dance specific
pedagogical instruction and then he helped us to weave in our subject from other
work in the intensive. Thus, his Pedagogy Seminar seemed built upon the
expectation for transfer.
What I tried in my teaching: Because the objective of meaning making was
emphasized consistently and explicitly at the Dance Teachers Intensive, I tried to
establish it as a class norm at ShelterCare and SEP. To help students to consider
how our class work transferred to other areas of their life, I borrowed language
from the Dance Teachers Intensive, asking them questions like, what does this
mean for you? How is this information helpful? What does it remind you of?
How will you use this later? Why do you care? Why don't you care? These
questions served as writing prompts and when appropriate, I would use one or two
while verbally cuing an improvisation score. I quickly discovered that students
would take on broad, philosophical questions but I had to set them up with context.
Starting with an open-ended question was usually not effective but they were able
to transition from specific to general with relative ease. One example ofthis took
place at SEP in the Improvisation and Composition class. I asked the students to
think about choreographed movement and improvised movement. Then in their
binders they responded to the following questions. Are both dance? Should one be
introduced before the other? What is the relationship between the two? There was
64
a range of answers. One student said all dance was improvisation at one point.
Another suggested that it was easier to have structure or choreography first and
then improvisation. What stands out most was a student observation that
improvisation is exploring yourself but choreography is just moving in the
choreographer's way (SEP students, Composition and Improvisation July 13,
2009). Our process ofmeaning making was never linear but we were in a constant
(at times, exhausting) volley between moving, talking, and watching each other. It
felt important to dance with them, have them dance together, talk with them, listen
as they talked with each other, and to constantly remind everyone that we were all
learning. Information was moving in and out of all of us throughout the class. We
were learning from each other and experiencing the collaborative nature of the
studio dance class environment.
Overlapping quote and pedagogical example from another expert: In
Anatomy-Based Ballet, Daniels said, "the job contract for a dancer is to make
meaning" (June 30, 2009). She gave us specific, anatomical information on a given
exercise and then shifted the responsibility to us as students for synthesizing the
information and applying it directly and immediately to our movement. One
example was addressing movement efficiency as it related to core support. She
taught us the specific muscles that make up the core, talked about an approximate
percentage of muscular effort needed for core support, but then said it was
ultimately up to us as dancers to synthesize the information and decide (in terms of
65
core support), "What do I need to work more? And what do I need to work less"
(Daniels, Anatomy-B(ised Ballet June 29, 2009)? Evans emphasized that meaning
making required context, "without context there is no meaning. I can't just give
you the visual, but I have to share with you the context in which it became
meaningful to me and help you see how it is relevant to me as well as to you ..."
(Evans July 1, 2009). In the interview Don Halquist shared "one of the things I
constantly am trying to negotiate is being relevant and by that I mean helping
students make connections to their past experiences, their present, and the potential
future experiences. So images that I use, the questions that I ask, are all kind of
centered around helping people make connections to their prior experiences ..."
(Halquist July 1,2009).
Insights into dance-specific critical thinking: Considering the implications for
meaning making on the multiple levels necessary in dance (cognitive, sensory,
intuitive, etc.) creates an opportunity for bringing together internal and external
engagement. Meaning making is an example of critical thinking because it asks
students to think about what they are going to do with the information and in dance,
there is an immediacy of needing to synthesize the information and apply it to the
work both conceptually and perceptually. Bill Evans spoke to the creative and
critical nature of this work in his interview: "Part of the process through which one
must learn is creative problem solving; playing with solving problems and using
66
the imagination to come up with unique solutions ... to create problems. So that is
part of the dance we do" (Evans July 1, 2009).
In regards to transfer and meaning making, perhaps the most valuable take
home message that I gained from teaching at ShelterCare was the importance of
asking students questions that connected our work in class (teamwork example)
with other areas of their life, even if! felt certain they wouldn't physically or
verbally respond. In other words, considering the ephemeral nature of the
discovery moments in dance, we may not see immediate results from students or
have any measurable insight into the students' process of understanding. Stanley
Pogrow, leader of the HOTS program, speaks to this challenge in a manner that
fully aligns with my experience with students at SEP, but more particularly those at
ShelterCare:
It is hard to communicate in print 1) how undeveloped disadvantaged students'
initial ability to reflect upon and articulate their ideas and strategies for solving
a problem can be, 2) how much patient work is needed to bring out their natural
ability to discuss ideas and make generalizations, and 3) how counterintuitive it
is for teachers to persevere in patiently questioning, month after month, while
the majority of students still do not respond (Pogrow 2005, 71).
However, this strategy of best practices demands no less from the teacher. Every
student deserves to be asked about her experiences, thoughts, and ideas. Every
student needs time and space for his own meaning making. And to invite this level
of engagement, teachers must allow for time, open and encouraging cuing, and the
students need a baseline of feeling safe. The physicality and sensory investment in
67
dance make this especially true. The responsibility of asking students to merge
ideas, knowledge, and action requires a heightened sensitivity and awareness by the
teacher. This includes an open, yet gently adamant insistence that everyone's
movement voice is invited and needed for effective learning by all.
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CHAPTER V
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER INQUIRY
I am not the first person to identify critical thinking as relevant to dance
education. But my work is part of a continuum centered on best practices in dance
education. As a researcher, I was able to fluctuate between theory and practice,
trying to understand insights from the experts and distilling these in a personal way
through strategizing practical applications when teaching. The research study is
unique in that it proposes conceptual frameworks and practical strategies for
explicitly introducing dance-specific critical thinking in the studio dance class. In
addition, it suggests ways in which critical thinking, as a skill is important in dance
training.
I am invested in dance-specific critical thinking and the forms it can take in
the studio dance classroom. While my research has not formulated the way that
dance enhances critical thinking or the way critical thinking can complement dance
training, the message is that when treated as a form of inquiry, dance can promote
critical thinking and multiple levels of meaning making via a full bodied, curious,
and rigorous engagement of ourselves in motion. If"the goals of inquiry are
discovery, being inquisitive, being a problem finder and problem solver, being a
69
thinker, and doing what you can to create meaning on your own," (Aulls and Shore
2008, 23) then dance education is poised to lead the way toward more inclusive and
integrated approaches to advanced thinking, perceiving, moving, thus expanding
traditional conceptions of knowledge.
In summary, this study has provided me with new information to continue
exploring. Moving forward in my career as a dance educator, I will be more
explicit with my language in everything from course descriptions, to lesson plans,
to in-class instruction, that practicing dance-specific critical thinking is a significant
component of the studio dance class. I will continue to investigate what forms
dance-specific critical thinking can take, partnered with a continual reexamination
of how to best implement the strategies. Further, I am interested in how these
might transfer to adult and advanced students in the studio dance class. There is
also the big question of discerning and assessing student experience. What does
dance specific-critical thinking look like? Change and growth, as well as
complacency are challenging to evaluate in students. I see here a unique critical
thinking opportunity for me as a studio dance class teacher: to cultivate tactics to
more clearly see my students. Another potential direction of this study is to work
with students to develop an adapted dance and movement equivalent to Bloom's
taxonomy to implement as a class norm. While I do not believe that dance
pedagogy should solely attempt to serve educational goals outside of its domain, I
support experimenting with ways in which learning dance enhances critical
thinking. Similarly, exploring dance and movement-specific inquiry is a way we
can grow our field and continue to effectively respond to and reflect back what is
happening in our world.
70
71
APPENDIX A
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Opener: As a new teacher I am interested in the relationship between learning to
dance and dancing to learn. I am asking three theoretical questions and seeing
iflhow they are addressed in this teacher training and how they play out for me as I
teach in two new communities this summer. I am looking specifically at dance in
the classroom.
As a master teacher, I understand your interests lie in teaching to the whole person
- not separating personal growth from technical and artistic development.
1. If you had to choose one or two guiding philosophies or values that you carry
into your many teaching experiences, what would they be?
2. Have these shifted throughout your career? If so, in what ways?
3. Do you find these philosophies/values vary greatly with different
groups/scenarios?
4. In your experience, how does dance pedagogy allow students to engage with the
functions and processes of their bodies?
5. In your experience, does dance pedagogy allow students to experience abstract
concepts through physical action? If so, how? If not, why?
6. In your experience, how does dance pedagogy allow students to draw
connections from the classroom to other areas in their life?
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APPENDIXB
SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
The Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) is one of the Youth Enrichment
and Talented and Gifted Programs offered through University of Oregon's College
of Education. Summer 2009 was SEP's 30th year. The program seeks to offer
challenging and fun classes that serve as an extension of students' normal class
work as well as an introduction to college level scholarship. Below is an excerpt
from the SEP website detailing the structure and goals for the program.
SEP is a two-week residential summer program providing
challenging academic coursework and a wide range of social activities for
gifted and highly able 6-10 grade students. Students are encouraged to
largely construct their own academic and social schedules while at SEP,
allowing them to cultivate their interests while simultaneously promoting
their independence and self-assurance. Students must be working above
grade level but do not have to have formal TAG identification to participate
in SEP.
During each two-week session, students live in university residence
halls and attend six classes chosen from a slate of roughly 36 options.
Classes are offered in a variety of subjects, traditionally including
mathematics, science, social science, law, visual and performing arts, media
studies, journalism, literature, ecology, and creative writing (course topics
vary annually, ensuring that returning students will always have fresh
options to chose from). Curriculum is designed to be challenging, with
courses running from advanced early-high school to advanced early-college
in difficulty level. There are no exams or homework and classes do not
qualify for college credit; students are instead encouraged to let their
interest (and their peers' interest) in the course material drive their learning.
73
APPENDIXC
SHELTERCARE SUMMER DANCE PROGRAM
ShelterCare is a Eugene-based non-profit organization that works with
families who are homeless or at the risk of homelessness and adults who have a
mental illness or brain injury. I taught a three-week summer Dance Program at
ShelterCare, from August 10th until August 28th. ShelterCare is a non-profit
organization in Oregon's Lane County. As advised by the ShelterCare counselors,
class was held two days a week, on Wednesday and Friday, and lasted
approximately one hour, from 10:00-11 :00 a.m.
74
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