Dancing the Curriculum: Exploring the Body and Movement in Elementary Schools

Abstract

English: Reports on a multiple-year qualitative study of three elementary dance/drama teaching specialists in an Ohio school system, examining the learning opportunities for the body in the school curriculum with a focus on dance. The history of dance education in U.S. schools is reviewed, and the curricular position of dance in the arts program is shown to be weak in relation to visual art and music. Detailed observations of the three teachers' classes are provided. The ways in which they handle each of the three key components of dance—rhythmic movement, conscious awareness, and form—are discussed. All three emphasize process over product, and the culminating event of the program in all three cases is an 'informance'—a presentation of a demonstration lesson. The approach is child-centered rather than transmission-centered. Topics investigated in the context of these observations include the relation between the child-centered and transmission-centered approaches to education, accountability versus exploration and creativity, the status of dance in the schools, and what skills are required to teach dance.