Dancing to Learn by Judith Lynne Hanna

Author:Judith Lynne Hanna [Hanna, Judith Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2014-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 3.6. Dance Program with Staying Power

Courtesy of Glen Burnie High School. Anne Arundel County Public School.

A Liberal Art—Dance Integrated with Other Subjects

The K–12 dance curriculum emphasizes the process of students creating dances—the paths students take to find and solve problems and explore symbolic connections among environment, body, and mind through choreography and its realization—rather than the product and performance. Focus on the context, or ecology, of dance makes it a liberal art, part of the humanities and social and behavioral sciences. In the history, anthropology, and sociology of dance, individuals explore the culturally specific nature of dance, as well as the commonality of all of dance. Dance is within the domains of psychology and philosophy when individuals learn to critically perceive, respond to, and judge the elements of dance and their connections, and to realize the qualities of dance that contribute to an aesthetic response. The business of dance places it in the spheres of economics, arts administration, and law. Being corporeal, dance is a physical art in the science domains of anatomy, biomechanics, kinesiology, health, neuroscience, physiology, computer science, and physics.

As a California state-certified social studies/English high school teacher and a dance educator, I saw how dance engaged students in my dance-centered course at Gill/St. Bernard’s High School. Students eagerly worked on other subjects. For example, in addition to the benefits of aesthetic immersion, students developed English skills when they wrote critiques of the dance concerts they saw in NYC’s Lincoln Center and then compared their critiques with what was written in the New York Times the next day.

Connections between dance and the other arts or between dance and other subjects are of two types: correlation and integration. Correlation approaches show specific similarities or differences (e.g., how the nonverbal expression of dance and the verbal expression of poetry both use vocabulary and grammar). Integration approaches use dance and other disciplines so that they are mutually reinforcing.

Classes in different disciplines can work on a common thematic inter-arts or inter-disciplinary project. For example, students could study the solar system in science classes while dance students use the solar system as the subject of exploring movement and making dances. Students in the other arts would explore the solar system from their respective disciplines’ perspectives. All would share their new knowledge and products.

In dance-integrated curriculum, dance is the approach to teaching and the vehicle for learning. Students meet dual learning objectives when they engage in the creative process to explore connections between dance and the nondance subject. Teaching dance through an interdisciplinary lens leads to books plus dance doubly inscribing learning.

Local, state, or national dance standards for specific grade levels as well as the relevant other subject matter norms guide instruction. Teachers who teach dance and accept faculty requests to develop dance productions that illuminate history and English curricular themes become advocates for dance education.

Dance may be complementary to, or part of, another subject, such as music, social studies, literature, language, science, or physical education. In this dance-enhanced curriculum, objectives in the dance form may not be explicit nor the teachers trained in dance.

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