Table Of ContentDANCE EDUCATION AROUND
THE WORLD
Dance has the power to change the lives of young people. It is a force in shaping identity, a ffirming
culture and exploring heritage in an increasingly borderless world. Creative and empowering
pedagogies are driving curriculum development worldwide where the movement of peoples and
cultures generates new challenges and possibilities for dance education in multiple contexts. In
Dance Education around the World: Perspectives on dance, young people and change, writers across the
globe come together to reflect, comment on and share their expertise and experiences. The set-
tings are drawn from a spectrum of countries with contributions from Europe, the Americas, the
Middle East, Asia, the Pacific and Africa giving insights into and fresh perspectives on contrasting
ideas, philosophies and approaches to dance education from Egypt to Ghana, Brazil to Finland,
Jamaica to the Netherlands, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and more.
This volume offers chapters and case narratives on:
• Curriculum developments worldwide
• Empowering communities through dance
• Embodiment and creativity in dance teaching
• Exploring and assessing learning in dance as artistic practice
• Imagined futures for dance education
Reflection, evaluation, analysis and documentation are key to the evolving ecology of dance
education and research involving individuals, communities and nations. Dance Education around
the World: Perspectives on dance, young people and change provides a great resource for dance edu-
cators, practitioners and researchers, and pushes for the furtherance of dance education around
the world.
Charlotte Svendler Nielsen is Assistant Professor and Head of educational studies at the
Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, research group Body, Learning and Identity,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Stephanie Burridge lectures at Lasalle College of the Arts and Singapore Management
University, and is the series editor for Routledge Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific.
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DANCE EDUCATION
AROUND THE WORLD
Perspectives on dance, young
people and change
Edited by Charlotte Svendler Nielsen and
Stephanie Burridge
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Charlotte Svendler Nielsen and Stephanie Burridge
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Dance education around the world : perspectives on dance, young people and change /
edited by Charlotte Svendler Nielsen and Stephanie Burridge.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Dance—Study and teaching. 2. Dance—Cross-cultural studies.
I. Nielsen, Charlotte Svendler.
GV1589.D37 2015
793.307—dc23
20140387305
ISBN: 978-0-415-74360-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-74363-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-81357-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Jump for Joy
Photographer: Hu Hao-En
Circle of Life
Photographer: Lai Chih-Sheng from ‘On-Works’
Photos from the Dance and the Child International (daCi) and World Dance Alliance
(WDA) 2012 joint Global Summit Dance, Young People and Change hosted by the Taipei
National University of the Arts (TNUA) School of Dance in Taiwan.
CONTENTS
List of contributors ix
Foreword xv
Sir Ken Robinson
Acknowledgements xviii
Introduction xix
Charlotte Svendler Nielsen and Stephanie Burridge
PART I
Curriculum developments worldwide 1
Chapters
1.1 Applied dance curriculum: a global perspective 3
Susan R. Koff
1.2 An Australian dance curriculum for social justice: potentials and
possibilities 11
Jeff Meiners and Robyne Garrett
1.3 Reciprocal engagement in dance: empowering encounters in
New Zealand early childhood settings 22
Adrienne Sansom
vi Contents
Case narratives
1.4 From concept to classroom: challenges facing the implementation of
the dance curriculum in the Western Cape of South Africa 32
Sharon Friedman
1.5 Dance in the New Zealand classroom: making connections 35
Liz Melchior
1.6 Creative dance education in a Singapore primary school 39
Lim Mei Chian
PART II
Empowering communities through dance 45
Chapters
2.1 Exploring the rights of the First Nations child through the arts:
our dreams matter too 47
Mary-Elizabeth Manley
2.2 Dancing beyond the post-trauma paradigm: community projects in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories 55
Nicholas Rowe
Case narratives
2.3 The politics of dance education in post-revolutionary Cairo 64
Rosemary Martin
2.4 Traditional dance in Ghanaian schools: maintaining national identity
through the involvement of youth and children 68
Beatrice Ayi
2.5 Negotiating multiple spheres of identity: a Filipino dance community in
Toronto, Canada 72
Catherine Limbertie
PART III
Embodiment and creativity in dance teaching 77
Chapters
3.1 Dance as embodied dialogue: insights from a school project in Finland 79
Eeva Anttila
Contents vii
3.2 The transformative impact of dance experiences in Brazil 88
Alba Pedreira Vieira
Case narratives
3.3 Dialogue and ‘pedagogical love’: atmosphere and reflexivity in dance 95
Isto Turpeinen
3.4 Teaching for better lives: the philosophy of a Jamaican dance teacher 99
Carolyn Russell-Smith
3.5 ‘The Summer Workshop of Dance Education for Children’ at
Tainan University of Technology, Taiwan 102
JuanAnn Tai
PART IV
Exploring and assessing learning in dance as artistic
practice 105
Chapters
4.1 Rethinking standards and assessment in dance education 107
Susan W. Stinson
4.2 Exploring learning in dance as artistic-educational practice 117
Charlotte Svendler Nielsen
Case narratives
4.3 Stepping into skin: expanding empathy through dance 127
Kristen Jeppsen Groves and Marin Leggat Roper
4.4 Making the learning visible in creative dance education 131
Marc Richard
4.5 Watching dance to discover ‘new worlds’ 135
Liesbeth Wildschut
PART V
Imagined futures for dance education 139
Chapters
5.1 Dance education: embodied knowing in the digitalised world 141
Ann Kipling Brown
viii Contents
5.2 Partnerships for creativity: expanding teaching possibilities 149
Kerry Chappell and Veronica Jobbins
5.3 Stepping back to step forward: reflections on future directions for
dance education 161
Ralph Buck
Case narratives
5.4 Twinning: an intercultural approach to dance education 168
Maria Speth
5.5 The Post Natyam Collective: building a grassroots artistic
community online 173
Cynthia Ling Lee
Index 177
CONTRIBUTORS
Eeva Anttila (Ed.Lic, Dr of Arts) has been involved in dance education since the 1980s, focus-
ing on dance for children and youth and on contemporary dance pedagogy. Currently she is
a professor in dance pedagogy at the University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland. Her dissertation
(2003) focused on dialogical dance pedagogy, and her current research interests include somatic
approaches to dance pedagogy, embodied knowledge and embodied learning. She has published
widely in national and international journals and edited books. She is an active member in many
organisations of dance and arts education.
Beatrice Ayi, a graduate of Ohio State University, is a lecturer at the Department of Dance
Studies, University of Ghana. Her extensive roles, besides lecturing, include serving as a resource
person for dance workshops such as those organised by Ghana Education Service for its Cultural
Officers, and several summer programmes organised for international students. She also served
as an assistant choreographer of the dance piece staged at the opening and closing ceremonies
of the African Cup of Nations, which took place in Ghana in 2008. Currently, she is a doctoral
candidate in the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University, USA.
Ralph Buck (PhD) is Associate Professor and Head of Dance Studies, the University of
Auckland, New Zealand. His leadership has been recognised with an Excellence Award in Equal
Opportunities for Community Teaching, 2006; University of Auckland Sustained Excellence in
Teaching Award, 2008; and Academic Leadership Award, 2010. His research and teaching have
been presented in Korea, Sweden, Hong Kong, Brazil, Fiji, Australia and Finland. His work
with the World Alliance for Arts Education and UNESCO draws attention to potential roles of
dance as a dynamic agent for change within security, health and education concerns.
Stephanie Burridge (PhD) is the Co-chair of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific Research
and Documentation network. A dance writer and critic, she lectures at LASALLE College of the
Arts and Singapore Management University and is the Series Editor for Routledge Celebrating
Dance in Asia and the Pacific books on Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, the South
Pacific and Singapore. She was Artistic Director of Canberra Dance Theatre (1978–2001) and
was awarded the first Choreographic Fellowship at the Australian Choreographic Centre and an
ACT Lifetime Achievement award.
