MA Professional Practice Dance Technique Pedagogy

  Response to Skype Discussion, Sunday 18 th  November 2018, 8pm It was interesting to learn about the interdisciplinary approach to training and how practice in other countries differs from our own. Often, we can get absorbed in our own environment and forget about what happens on a global scale. In a number of cultures there still seems to be a hierarchy with styles of dance, with ballet as for the elite and contemporary dance for the masses. The idea of dance being a divider or classifier of social status resonated with thoughts from the history of contemporary dance in Britain and how the public opinion was ballet as high art and contemporary as popular culture.  The versatility of students was also discussed and whether students who study more dance styles have better skills and make better dancers. The focus on the holistic well-rounded dance student, draws parallels with my own research, suggesting that better skills equal better teaching. We also disc...

Interesting thoughts were discussed about how knowledge is embodied at a practical and theoretical level. As dancers we have different ways of communicating knowledge on an emotional and kinaesthetic level, which are equally valid in the same way as verbal or written communication. From a teaching perspective there needs to be a deep level of understanding and choices provided by the teacher so our students can build up their own way of expressing themselves. Embodiment should not be about conforming to another person’s perspective it is about finding individual enlightenment.  Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory was mentioned with regards to how different people learn and how experience relates to learning. This is an example of a framework, we do not necessarily have to agree with, but it is useful nonetheless to help us find answers or make conclusions.  Whilst literature is not conclusive, it does offer a framework for discussion. For example, I ...