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Dance Education in the 21st Century: A GlobalPerspectiveAnne Green Gilbert aa Creative Dance Center and Kaleidoscope Dance Company , Seattle , WA E-mail:Published online: 24 Feb 2013.

To cite this article: Anne Green Gilbert (2005) Dance Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective, Journal of PhysicalEducation, Recreation & Dance, 76:5, 26-35, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2005.10608250

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NDA Scholar/A.Sm« Lecture

A Global Perspective

ANNE GREEN GILBERT

Dance education around the world faces common challenges: who shouldteach, who should teach the teachers, and what they should teach?

HOW will dance evolve during the 21st century? How does the dancelandscape appear in 200S? What will dance look like in 21OS? Beforeaddressing these questions, we should perhaps take a brief look at the rootsof modern dance education.

A hundred years ago, a beautiful and intelligent young lady named MargaretH'Doubler was finishing high school in Madison, Wisconsin, and preparing to enter theuniversity. H'Doubler's philosophy and writings about dance influenced educators indance and physical education throughout the last century. Her formative years weredescribed by Gray and Howe (1985) in a fascinating article in Research Quarterly:

Margaret H'Doubler believed that dancing represented creative self-expression through themedium of movement of the human body. She was concerned with a type of dancing thatexemplified educational activity, rather than an outer acquisition of simulated grace, andwas convinced that dance as an art belonged in the educational process. H'Doubler believedthat dance was a vital educational force since it was entirely geared toward the totaldevelopment of the individual. She articulated these ideas as early as 1921 in her first book,A Manual of Dancing, after having taught dance for only four years at the University ofWisconsin.

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Anne Green Gilbert, 2005NDA Scholar/Artist lecturer

H'Doubler remained committed to this philosophy throughout her career as a dance educator.To her, teaching was a sharing of knowledge through vital experience so that the studentwould come to understand the relationship between the physical-objective and the inner­subjective phase of experience. The method used to attain this self-knowledge was creativeproblem solving rather than the imposition of stereotyped movement patterns. (p. 93)

Margaret H'Doubler graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1910 with a majorin biology and a minor in philosophy. Her studies were to define her teaching for therest of her career. Her favorite prop was a skeleton. She started classes lying on the floorand believed that certain exercises were fundamental to motor control and that motorcontrol was fundamental to expressive movement. She believed in technique, improvi-

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sation, composition, anatomy, and kinesiology. H'Doublerstarted a student dance group at the University of Wis­consin and named it Orchesis, a name since adopted bymany colleges and high schools for their student dancecompanies. She established the first formal, undergraduate,university dance major-and later master's and doctoraldegrees-in America. Her program at the University ofWisconsin-Madison was to become a model for most ofthe university and college dance departments across theUnited States.

Margaret H'Doubler brought the magic of modem danceinto the university system a century ago. But the revolutionin dance education that she initiated is far from complete.Who will bring the magic of dance education into the K-12school system in the 21st century? I think it will take avillage this time rather than one person, because the worldis a bigger and more complicated place. I believe the arts ineducation, and perhaps arts in general, are at a crossroads.Welive in conservative times when the arts and freedom toexplore them seem less valued than ever before and whenadvances in technology are occurring at an exponential rate.Daniel Catan, a composer of three modem operas, says,

No other century has dehumanized people as much as thetwentieth. Man has become a political animal, a tirelesstechnological wizard or the representative of scientificallydeduced historical trends; he is seen as a member of a socialclass, a spokesman for the sexual group he belongs to, anexample of success or a victim of society; a producer, aconsumer, a number. The individual, the person that feels,that smiles, that hurts, has been all but forgotten by a worldobsessed with statistics. (Dean, 2004, p. 9)

Although technology has created a world that can beconnected rapidly though space and time, human beingsstill seem bent on separating one another through gender,race, and religion. The arts, however, have always definedand celebrated diversity in a nonviolent way, while givingus the opportunity to feel, smile, and hurt.

Inventor and author Ray Kurzweil theorizes that, in 20years, advances in technology will allow humans to achieveimmortality (Associated Press, 2005). He envisions a worldwhere microscopic "nanobots" will keep one forever youngby swarming through the body, repairing bones, blood, andorgans. Would the idea of immortality destroy man's fear ofdeath? Would the destruction of this fear destroy man'sneed for power, property, and religion? If people knew theywould live forever, would they be forced to work together tocreate a global society of sharing and acceptance where thearts were as highly valued as in the Golden Age of Greece?Only time will tell.

Advances in technology have already had an impact onthe arts, and this evolution will certainly continue. Visualarts media has evolved,musicalinstruments have evolved,thehuman body and brain are evolving.What will dance look likein 100years?What will it look likein 20 years?Before trying toform suppositions about these questions, let us take a globalviewof what dance education looks like today.

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A Global PerspectiveAs I travel around the world teaching and talking withdancers, I discover that we have very similar problems. Mostcountries lack full-time dance programs in schools. Themajority of dance instruction takes place in private studios,Rather than dance specialists, physical education teachers,classroom teachers, and music teachers are the professionalscalled upon to offer dance experiences for school children.Some countries provide dance specialists for residency pro­grams. Other countries have conservatory high school pro­grams, where the primary dance form is ballet with extraofferings in modem, jazz,and hip-hop. Weall seem to sharethe same issues:not enough boys in our programs; poor pay;lack of school or government support; few certificationprograms; and lack of training in creative dance, appropri­ate teaching methodologies, or child development.

Last autumn I asked my fellow national representativesfrom the Dance and the Child International AdvisoryBoardto answer questions about dance education in their coun­tries. I am indebted to them for taking the time to respond.I think you will find that these responses from around theworld have a familiar ring.

South Africa. Jennifer van Papendorp (2004; also, per­sonal communication, September 5, 2004) writes aboutdance in South Africa.An introduction to dance through anArts and Culture class is compulsory for all students up tograde nine. However, few teachers are adequately trained todeliver this instruction, which should expose every child todance. Generalist teachers are primarily responsible for theArtsand Culture class,and therefore the standards of achieve­ment are low to nonexistent. When taught by a specialist, itis usually done so through the art form with which thespecialist is most familiar.

In the Western Cape area of South Africa, extramuraldance teachers may be found in primary schools. Some areexpected to teach every student in two different schools perweek. Others take self-selectedstudents out of classesmainlyfor ballet instruction. Few high schools offer dance as anelective. Students in high school may have had dance sinceprimary school or encounter instruction for the first time asa 10th grader. There are few tertiary dance programs inSouth Africa. The emphasis, as in so many American col­leges, is on technique and performance. Teacher trainingtakes on a minor role. South African dance educators aregrappling with the same issues we have in the United States:how to create standards and assessments mandated by thegovernment when there are so few dance specialists trainedfor teaching in public education and when class size may beso large and varied in level and experience.

Germany. Sonia Schulz (2004) explains that in Germanythere has been little dance in public schools for the past 20years. Most classroom teachers do not feel competent toteach dance, although time is available. Dance is primarilystudied in private studios. Amateur groups are formed in allstyles of dance outside of the public school setting. How­ever, due to a European study called "Pisa-Studie," in which

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Members of the author's youth dance company,Kaleidescope, learn taiko drumming during a culturalexchange with Japanese dancers in Fukui, Japan.

German students appeared to be behind other Europeancountries in their educational level, there may be a newinterest in bringing movement and dance into the publicschools. Where to find dance specialists trained to teach inpublic schools is another issue.

Croatia. Although Croatia, like Germany, has a strongand diverse adult dance culture, this country also offerslittle dance for children in the educational setting. There areno high school dance programs or dance departments atuniversities, so there is no possibility of receiving a diplomain dance teaching. Ivancicajankovic (personal communica­tion, September 22, 2004) explains an interesting paradoxin Croatia:

The only students that receive the fundamentals of teachingpractice (based on Laban's framework) are the graduates ofthe Ana Maletic School of Contemporary Dance in Zagreb....Though the A.M. School has in its curriculum (approved bythe Ministry of Education) a Teaching Dance Course, thegraduates are not certified in the field of teaching. This isunderstandable, the school being on a secondary level. Onthe other hand, with no Academy, they are the only onesactually qualified to teach! A few of the most prominentteachers from the A.M. School teach the fundamentals ofLaban educational dance by means of seminars, lecture dem­onstrations, and workshops to kindergarten educators, pri­mary school teachers, and physical education teachers.

Because of Laban's influence in Croatia, developingchildren's creativity should be an integral part of teaching.Ivancica notes that, unfortunately, repetition of movementsin technique class and learned choreography, rather thancreation of one's own choreography, may be more prevalent.

Jamaica. Barbara Requa (personal communication, Octo­ber 8, 2004) agrees that this is also a problem in jamaica.She reports,

There are a few schools that have dance teachers, but thereare not enough trained teachers in educational dance meth­ods. We have recently developed a school-leaving examina­tion in dance, however the Ministry has not set up satisfac­tory programs for delivery of the curriculum. Although the

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AJapanese dance company performs modern dance for theKaleidescope company.

college trains dance teachers, there are few jobs in the el­ementary and secondary schools that allow teachers to teachonly dance.

There are five to six dance companies of children thathave annual seasons and perform in public. The standard isvery high, but Barbara complains that they tend to dancelike adults. I believe we have a similar problem in the UnitedStates, most often seen in some recitals and dance competi­tions. Most groups study only technique, with little chanceto learn choreographic principles or processes. In jamaica,the exception to this is the junior Department at the Schoolof Dance, Edna Manley College, where senior students areencouraged to choreograph.

Barbara finishes with this comment:

It is important to point out that Jamaica has a strong danceculture-much like the African culture where dance is a wayof life. Children are exposed to our cultural forms, traditionaland popular, from an early age and grow up seeing thedances and doing them (particularly the popular forms ofReggaeand dancehall). What Jamaica needs is to capture thisexperience and use it for educational purposes. The CXCprogram is designed to do this ... unfortunately it is still in thegrowing process.

Japan. Kumiko Mikami and [unko Nakatsuka (personalcommunication, October 5, 2004) shared information aboutdance education in japan. There is little experience withdance education in the schools, but japanese teachers arestudying European and American models. Dance in japa­nese schools is the responsibility primarily of the physicaleducator, who may have had some dance classes in collegeor in private studios. These teachers mostly teach folk danceand some "creative" dance. junko writes,

I remember my high school days-in PEclasses we decided atitle and the music and we created dancing. We had aperformance to compete with each other. The representativegroup of the school competed against other school groups.

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There is no dance certification necessary to teach dancein the schools. Most of the dance instruction occurs inprivate studios and cultural facilities. The most commonform of dance taught in Japan is ballet, but jazz, tap, con­temporary, and hip hop are also offered in the privatestudios. Traditional Japanese dance, such as Kabuki andNihon, is usually studied one-on-one in a studio. There aredance competitions for children in Japan, as in America.Someschoolsofferchoreography, especiallyin Modern danceclasses. Kathleen Kampa Vilina, a daCi member teaching atSeisenInternational School in Japan, presents workshops increative dance and folk dance; she also brings teachers fromAmerica for master classes and invites traditional Japaneseteachers to share Japanese dance with her students.

Asia. In China, South Korea, and Taiwan, studio ballet isalso the norm. However, there is an increasing interest increative dance throughout Asia. My book, Creative Dance forAll Ages, has been translated into Korean, and I have hadteachers from Taiwan, the Phillipines, Indonesia, SouthKorea, and China study creative dance teaching methodswith me in Seattle.Marcia Lloyd has brought creative danceto Malaysia, where her book, Adventures in Creative MovementActivities (1990), served as a guide for Malaysian teachers.

Brazil. The situation in Brazilis very similar to the UnitedStates, as dance educator Isabel Marques explained to me(March 10 and 14, 2004). Since 1997, dance has been in­cluded in the official national standards as part of the ArtProgram. However, it is not compulsory because few teach­ers are prepared to teach dance. There are many physicaleducation graduates, as well as general art teachers, teachingdance. Although many students are graduating from uni­versity programs with a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance,their diploma does not entitle them to teach dance in publicschools; only students with a physical education or artdiploma may teach dance. Dance education (teaching dance)is a separate course for those who have finished their Bach­elor of Arts degree in dance.

In addition to these problems, the pay for dance teachersin Brazilian schools is very poor, and most school adminis­trators think there is little difference between a physicaleducation teacher teaching dance and a trained dancerteaching dance. As in the United States, dance courses inhigher education are very comprehensive in theory andin practice. They include history, music, anatomy, kinesiol­ogy, aesthetics, sociology, contemporary, ballet, Labanstudies, drama, modern dance, improvisation and composi­tion, and production, but no dance education or certifica­tion. It is interesting that there is no African and very littleBrazilian repertory in higher education, perhaps becausethese are an integral part of the culture and also taught inthe studio setting.

Denmark. Like most countries, Denmark has a strongtradition of classical ballet training. However, in 2000, agroup of dance educators formed the association Dance inEducation (DIU), which currently has approximately 250members. For a country the size of Denmark, this is an

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encouraging number. According to the daCi national repre­sentative from Denmark, Charlotte Svendler Nielsen (2004),dance for children and young people has been expandingat all levels since this organization was formed. I havebeen to Denmark on two occasions to train teachers increative dance teaching methods, and I found the teachersto be very responsive. Dance in Education receives eco­nomic support primarily from the Minister of Culture andto some extent the Minister of Education. With this sup­port, DIU has been able to employ two full-time danceconsultants who plan dance projects, make political con­nections, and arrange courses and seminars for professionaldancers and classroom teachers. The membership of DIUcomprises teachers from public schools, teacher-trainingcolleges, and universities and members of the artistic com­munity. Current projects focus on codifying the qualifica­tions needed to teach dance and strengthening existing tiesto the professional community.

Susanne Frederiksen, daCi member, author, and danceeducator in Copenhagen, sent me additional information(personal communication, February 28, 2005). The Schoolof Modern Dance, part of the Danish National School ofActing, offers a one-year course in dance pedagogy.Toenterthe program you need to have a solid background in dance.Dance is not a compulsory subject in the Danish publicschools, but it can be taught through physical education.However,the teacher-training courses in physical educationoffer dance courses only in connection with sport and other

Theclosing ceremonyof the Danceand the Child Internationalconference in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, featured a camivaleprocession that included all the attending dance companies.

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Kaleidescope dancers join with traditional Maori dancers in Auckland, New Zealand.

physical educational tools. Dance is also being taught in thebig cities of Copenhagen and Arhus through projects likeUng Dansescene, which Susanne conducts, and DIU. UngDansescene has offered classes in creative dance in theschools in Copenhagen since 1997 to the youngest stu­dents, ages six to nine, once a week for half a year. Theseclasses are taught by dance educators who are professionaldancers and choreographers. Also,artist-in-residence projectshave been offered to interested schools for older students,ages 10 to 14, running for about one to two weeks as atheme-based teaching project. Ung Dansescene has beenrunning the Junior Company since 1999 for young dancers(14-18 years old). Susanne feels that dance in education isgrowing in Denmark, but more qualified teachers are neededto continue the growth.

Finland. Like Denmark, Finland has a very strong focuson dance in general and childrens' dance in particular. Ihave conducted three different pedagogy courses on cre­ative dance in Finland over the past seven years. Danceand the Child International has a strong presence in Fin­land under the dedicated leadership of dance educatorsEeva Anttila, Meri Tegelman, Satu Sihvoin, and MarkettaViitala to name a few. DaCi Finland presents workshops,courses, and festivals for dance educators. Finland has anumber of children's performing groups and a large popula­tion of boys in modern dance. Vocational schools andstudios provide excellent dance training in ballet, contem­porary, and folk dance, but like most countries there is nodance certification for teaching in public schools. Theprestigious Kuopio Dance Festival, held every summer inKuopio, offers courses for children, adults, and teachers aswell as nightly performances by some of the best companiesin Europe. The Full Moon Dance Festival showcases thebest in Finnish contemporary dance. Tango is another very

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popular dance form in Finland.United Kingdom. According to the Na­

tional Dance Teachers' Association website (www.ndta.org.uk) and AnnaMansbridge (personal communication,February 2005», NDTA is a volunteerorganization serving the United King­dom. it is governed by a team of danceteachers, advisers, and lecturers from allphases of education. The NDTA wasformed in 1988 in response to concernsarising from the Education Reform Actand the proposed national curriculum,which at that time did not mentiondance. Since then the NDTA has beenactive promoting dance as an essentialpart of the curriculum.

The aim of the NDTA, which is simi­lar to the National Dance Associationand the National Dance Educators Orga­nization in America, is to ensure that allyoung people in the United Kingdom

have access to high-quality dance education in schools.However, as in America, quality dance programs in K-12settings are not widespread, and dance is under the um­brella of physical education rather than the arts. There aredance exams that may be taken at age 16 and age 18, whichare aimed at making dance a viable subject in the uppergrades. There are strong dance programs in ballet and con­temporary dance in higher education, but as in the UnitedStates, the focus is more on performance and choreographythan on learning to teach children.

Australia. In Australia, the Australian Dance Council,known as Ausdance, is the country's professional danceadvocacy organization for dancers, choreographers, direc­tors, and educators. Their mission is to be a national voiceand to provide leadership for dance in Australia. Ausdanceprovides a dance information network through servicesbased in national, state, and territory offices. Exploringtheir web site (ausdance.org.au), I saw little in relation todance in education. I have been told that dance teachers donot necessarily have to be certified, but those with qualifica­tions and experience are more successful at finding work. Ihave been contacted by a number of dance and musiceducators in Australia inquiring about courses on teachingcreative dance for children outside of Australia, because ofthe lack of resources in their own country (Cressida Bradley,personal communication, September 20, 2004).

New Zealand. Iannas Zalesky, daCi USA chair, wrote aboutdance education in New Zealand in a daCi USA newsletter afterspending time in that country on a Fulbright Scholarship:

At Colleges of Education all students studying how to be­come teachers, learn to teach the arts-l do believe it isn'tenough time but it is a beginning. So it is natural that thedelivery of Professional Development and the creation of

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First Nations dancers perform for the Dance and the Child Internationalconference in Saskatchewan, Canada.

support materials needed for classroom teachers toincorporate dance into their teaching be handled byhigher education. The Ministry of Education sets thetone with their Curriculum document, then puts outa call for the delivery of professional development inthe six regions. By and large it is institutes of highereducation that are contracted to deliver professionaldevelopment. Each regional team is then available toall of the public schools in their region. The supportmaterials (books &; videos of classroom teachers teach­ing dance) are also created by institutes in highereducation and are distributed countrywide. It is thehope that ALL students Pre-K to 12 receive quality,creative, hands-on dance experiences with dance mak­ing at its core. (Zalesky, 2001, p. 11)

Although New Zealand dance education has adocument on standards and assessments in dancefor guidance, they also have problems similar tothose in the United States. Professional dancersreceive training and then go out into schools andmentor classroom teachers who are expected todeliver dance education. What is different fromthe United States is the level of support for the artsby the New Zealand government.

Canada. Ann Kipling-Brown,chair-elect of daCiand a professor at the University of Regina inSaskatchewan, writes,

I can attest to the public school curriculum-cer­tainly Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbiahave placed dance in the arts education curriculum,and other provinces have some dance through thephysical education curriculum. In the public schoolsystem, dance teachers must hold a teaching certifi­cation awarded through the province's departmentof education. In Saskatchewan, dance may be taughtby the classroom teacher, a specialist, or itinerantdance teacher. The Saskatchewan Department for Educationmandated that dance be part of the core curriculum andshould be allocated SO minutes per week for all students K-9.Unfortunately, not all classroom teachers teach dance, andthere are no courses in the elementary programs that providein-depth work in dance. Schools do not hire arts educators ordance specialists to teach in the schools. However, things arelooking up-consultants are offering professional develop­ment in dance so that classroom teachers are beginning toinclude dance. And for the higher grades there are differentpossibilities-arts educators who have some experience indance or dance specialists are being hired or invited to workin schools on specific projects. In high school some dance,mainly folk and social, may be offered through the physicaleducation curriculum or a dance specialist may be hired tooffer dance. (personal communication, September 14, 2(04)

Having presented numerous workshops in British Co­lumbia over the past 15 years, I am aware of the stronginterest in creative dance and dance in education in Canada.However, as in America, dance is still not a consistent part ofthe school curriculum.

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Bobbi Westman, executive director of Alberta Dance Alli­ance, notes that "dance in this country [Canada] is drivenby the commercial studio industry and competition whenwe are talking about dance and children" (personal commu­nication, September 14, 2004). She goes on to say,

Ninety-five percent of children are not given creation/com­position classes until they enter into a college or universityprogram. Many young choreographers just learn by trial anderror and sheer talent. The government funding (as inAmerica) seems to foster a great appreciation and access toprofessional dance artists especially in the disciplines ofballet and contemporary dance in this country. To this day, Iknow it has been a funding struggle for the best known andmost toured children's companies in Canada.

Bobbi finishes with a statement that I have heard echoedover and over by dance educators around the world: "It ishoped that in the future all provinces can have dance in theK-12school systems and we can have funded and supportedopportunities for youth dance in Canada."

It appears that, in all the countries I mentioned, the

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biggest stumbling blocks to providing quality K-12 danceprograms are the lack of teacher education, certification,and funding.

Foundations of Dance EducationI believe it is the right of every child to have quality danceeducation from preschool through grade 12. During thepast century, starting with Margaret H'Doubler, dance edu­cators have written volumes on the values of dance foryoung people. This literature is articulate and persuasive.During the last 20 to 30 years, educators such as Paulo Freire(1970), William Glasser (1969), and Howard Gardner (1983)introduced educational theories such as critical pedagogy,democratizing the classroom, and multiple intelligences.These theories have greatly strengthened the support for theinclusion of the arts as core subjects in schools.

During the last 10 years, articles have appeared in scien­tific and educational journals on such topics as the rise ofobesity in children; the increase in drugs prescribed, butoften untested, for children with behavior and learningproblems; the decrease in opportunities for unstructuredplay in early childhood; the detrimental amount of timethat young people spend watching television; the escalationof violence in youths; and the lack of empathy exhibited byyoung people. All of these problems can be diminished, Ibelieve, through weekly involvement in quality dance-edu­cation programs.

Also in the last 10 years, scientists have made great stridesin understanding the biology of the brain and how we learn.This research proves that sensory-motor activities improvethe brain and that we learn best through a cycle of sensing,connecting, and acting. We know for certain that deeplearning does not take place through the passive receptionof information. We cannot teach to the test, and when wedo we "dumb down" and disengage our students.

A number of documents have also advanced the cause ofdance education in the last 10 years. The national dancestandards (National Dance Association, 1996), written in1994, provide an excellent guide for teachers regardingdance content. The Opportunity-to-Leam Standards for ArtsEducation (Consortium of National Arts Education Associa­tions, 1995) offer valuable information concerning the con­ditions (regarding curriculum and scheduling, staffing, ma­terials and equipment, and facilities) necessary for effectivelearning to take place in dance. To Move Forward, a policystatement by the Consortium of National Arts EducationAssociations (2001), identifies accomplishments in a num­ber of areas in arts education and suggests a reasonablenumber of next steps to advance student learning and movearts education forward.

The last century has provided dance educators withenough experience, theory, research, and documents toclearly demonstrate to policymakers and parents the over­whelming benefits and values that appropriate dance edu­cation offers to all children. But with only 4 percent ofelementary schools in America receiving dance instruction

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by a dance specialist and 13 percent of secondary schoolsoffering dance as a discrete subject (Hanna, 1999, pp. 187­188), how will we make dance education for all students areality in this century? And if dance education really canhelp solve so many current problems in society, why isdance not already a core subject in all schools?

Barriers to Dance EducationOne often overlooked reason may be that dancing does notrequire much in the way of supplies or equipment. Thebody is the instrument. All a teacher really needs are stu­dents. One of the reasons why 94 percent of public second­ary schools offer music education may be that corporationsthat sell musical instruments, song books, band uniforms,sheet music, and music textbooks are powerful lobbyists formusic education. These corporations help fund the MusicEducators National Conference (MENC). With this fundingthe MENC has money to hire researchers, writers, and mas­ter teachers to promote music education in public schools.The National Dance Educators Association has no suchcorporate support. Just recently Sportime, a corporate sup­porter of AAHPERD, started supporting the National DanceAssociation's Teacher of the Year program. Their supportfunds a few dance workshops around the country in returnfor promoting Sportime products. Perhaps dance educatorsat all levels need to start demanding more equipment, suchas state-of-the-art sound systems, rhythm instruments, dancevideos for historical and cultural study, sprung floors, avariety of manipulative props, therapy balls, yoga mats,computers, digital cameras, CDs, and dance textbooks. If wehad dance suppliers lobbying for dance in the schools,would we have more dance in the schools? Although thisidea may seem farfetched, it might work for dance as it hasfor music.

Who Should Teach? A second deterrent to having wide­spread dance education programs has been confusion overwho should teach dance. Dance in higher education inAmerica was "born" by visionary female physical educatorssuch as Margaret H'Doubler, and it has primarily remainedin physical education departments to this day. It is onlyrecently that dance has fought for its place in fine artsdepartments on university and college campuses. Renowneddance educator Elizabeth R. Hayes (1980) wrote about thisproblem in a IOPER article:

The association with physical education was both good andbad .... The unfortunate result of this association ...was andstill is that dance has been looked upon by physical educa­tion administrators as just another physical activity, such asgolf or swimming, and has been treated accordingly in termsof budget, faculty increment, and curriculum development.Dance as a performing art has been of little significance tomost physical education administrators. (p, 59)

Because dance and physical education both revolvearound movement, it is assumed that all physical educatorscan teach dance and, if need be, dance educators can teachphysical education. This is an erroneous assumption. Dance

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Many dance teachers in higher educationhave had little or no experience teaching

children, nor are they interested.

is an art form and physical education is a sport form. One isbased on aesthetics and the other on athletics. Dance has itsown curricular content, as does physical education. Whileteachers of each subject may integrate some concepts fromthe other, both subjects cannot reasonably be fully coveredby one teacher. The same applies to music teachers, whomay be the more appropriate choice for teaching dance,as they teach another art form. However, they have acomprehensive music curriculum to present. While theymight include movementin their curriculum, theycertainly do not have timeto teach the full spectrumof dance concepts.

So, who should teachdance in K-12?As a tool toteach other subjects, move-ment may be used in all classes from math to music bygeneralist teachers and other specialists who have had train­ing in this area. Asa discrete subject, dance should be taughtby properly trained dance specialists. I do not considerprofessional dancers or studio teachers to automatically fallinto this category. When a dancer without teaching skillsworks in a public school, the program receives a majorsetback. It may take years to convince a school to try danceagain after just one bad experience. On this subject Hayes(1980) wrote,

On the other hand, if the role of dance education is to makeevery teacher an artist, it may also be the responsibility ofeducation, insofar as dance is concerned, to make perform­ing artists into good teachers. Certainly the majority of danceperformers must teach to survive.... Dance artists, though theyare certainly able to inspire, often lackan understanding of thepsychology of working with people. (p, 62)

We need dance educators in K-12 who understand learn­ing processes, child development, critical pedagogy, dancetechniques, choreographic principles and processes, somaticpractices, dance history, cultures, and philosophy. We needteachers who want to spend a lifetime learning.

TeacherTraining. A third problem is the lack of an answerregarding who should educate these teachers. In 1961,Beatrice Richardson, a professor at Scripps College, wrote,

Unfortunately the efforts of both public and private schoolsto offer something more real to American childhood havebeen hampered by lack of adequately trained teachers in thefield. Progress has been slow, too, because it has necessitateda change of attitude on the part of parents. That dance can bea very vital part of growth and education for all children isstill not understood by many. (p, 1)

This problem has continued into this century. Currentlythe majority of colleges and universities do not train dancespecialists who have a deep understanding of dance educa­tion for young people. Many dance teachers in higher edu­cation have had little or no experience teaching children,nor are they interested. They go into higher education

JOPERD • Volume 76 No.5· May/June 2005

because they enjoy working with an older population. Thisis perfectly understandable and reasonable, but it meansthat they may not be the best people to inspire elementaryand secondary school dance specialists.

Another factor that hampers teacher training is that thefunds to expand and improve university and college pro­grams have disappeared in many cases. One rationale for notproviding in-depth teacher training at the university level isthe perception that there are no jobs for teachers in K-12

schools. One of the big­gest challenges in this cen­tury is to stop the viciouscycle of not certifyingdance teachers becausethere are no programs inthe schools and having noprograms in the schools

because there are no certified teachers!Until more universities and colleges are able to offer

comprehensive and well-rounded dance education programs,perhaps private organizations and individual master teach­ers will have to take on the training. This is not impossible,and the last century provided models for this very idea.With advances in technology, distance learning will becomemore and more prevalent. While this currently has somedisadvantages for dance training, some of the courseworkcould be handled via the Internet.

Another challenge in the area of teacher training is thelack of certification standards. We need a reasonable na­tional policy for dance certification that is recognized andreciprocated by all states. Qualified dance organizations andschools, as well as universities and colleges, should be ac­credited to offer dance certification. There are already anumber of organizations-such as the Language of DanceCenter, Luna Kids Dance, Dance Education Laboratory, andCreative Dance Center, just to name a very few-that areoffering excellent inservice courses for dance specialists. Bypartnering with local universities or expanding their cur­riculum, these organizations could offer certification in­stead of certificates.

The second part of Richardson's statement speaks aboutthe attitude of parents. Because I have directed a privatestudio for 2S years, I am well aware that the students'attitudes toward dance are what keep the studio thriving. Ifstudents of any age feel safe, happy, and engaged they telltheir parents they want to keep dancing. Parents want theirchildren to be happy. If we could make sure that students inpublic schools loved dance so much that they told theirparents they could not do without it, we would have apowerful lobby behind us. This will not happen withoutgood teaching.

Curriculum. A fourth problem has been arguments overwhat should be taught. It is only in the last 10 years thatdance educators have had the national dance standards(National Dance Association, 1996) to guide them. How­ever, this document is necessarily general and open-ended. I

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strongly support creative and modern dance as the founda­tion for a K-12 program. Martie Barylick (2004), a 30-year­veteran high school dance teacher in Mamaroneck, NewYork, articulately states the case for modern dance:

Modern dance is inclusive. It accepts all movement as fodderfor art-making, including the various established modernstyles, ballet and jazz techniques, folk and ethnic dancemovement, movement from popular culture, and the weirdthing one of your students just discovered he can do whilebalancing on the proscenium molding. It does not discrimi­nate or set up hierarchies based on technical achievement,body type or willingness to wear spandex or tulle. (pp. 127-128)

Pedagogical Method. I also strongly advocate a conceptualapproach, rather than a steps-only approach. All the litera­ture and research on best practices in education for thepast 20 years have advocated a move away from receivingknowledge and replicating ideas (or steps) as the sole methodof learning.

In The Art of Changing the Brain, James lull (2002) de­scribes a learning cycle that engages the wholebrain, provid­ing deep and balanced learning. First, the student has aconcrete experience relating to input from the sensory cortexin the forms of touch, position, Vision, hearing, taste, andsmells. Next, the back integrative cortex of the brain isactivated as the student reflects on this experience, makingconnections and meaning from sensory input. In the firsttwo parts of the cycle, the learner is passively receivinginformation. This relates to the part of dance class whenstudents replicate steps, read about dance history, hear alecture on bones and muscles, or view a video on culturaldance, for example. Atransformation from receiving knowl­edge to using knowledge must occur in order to move to thethird part of the cycle. Now, the frontal integrative cortex isactivated as the student generates new ideas through ab­straction. During this third part of the cycle, the studentdevelops plans for future actions, compares and choosesoptions, and manipulates images and language to createnew mental arrangements. The last part of the learningcycle takes place as the student activates the motor cortex inorder to actively test the new ideas generated during abstrac­tion. Students may take action through writing, speaking,or dancing. The cycle would begin again as the studenthears, sees, or feels the teacher's response to her actions. lullrelates this cycle to the four pillars of learning: information,meaning, creation, and action. This idea ties in perfectlywith the arts education standards that focus on knowing,perceiving, creating, and responding (Consortium of Na­tional Arts Education Associations, 1995).

lull discusses the lack of balance in our educationalsystem, in which the first half of the learning cycle, receiv­ing knowledge, is emphasized over the second half of thecycle, using knowledge. Dance teachers who teach onlysteps and routines, or lecture on dance history and anatomy,are asking their students to use only the back part of thebrain cortex and be passive learners. But lull also cautionseducators not to focus solely on the last two parts of the

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learning cycle. Dance teachers who ask students to impro­vise, choreograph, discuss, or write about dance withoutexperience in or an understanding of technique, danceconcepts, history, culture, or aesthetics stress abstractionand action without information and scholarship. Thesestudents use only the front part of the brain cortex, andtheir actions or products lack meaning or substance.

Teachers provide a balanced, in-depth curriculum byincluding concepts (dance vocabulary, history, anatomy,etc.), technique (steps, patterns, fundamental movement,etc), improvisation or choreography, and verbal or writtenfeedback and reflection (by students and teacher) in everydance class. Each class may focus more on one aspect thananother, but rather than segregate or compartmentalizethese four areas, I advocate including all four parts in an age­appropriate way in every class. Of course, in order to accom­plish this, dance teachers of the 21st century have to betrained differently than those of the 20th century.

The other important factor in learning is the role thatemotions play. lull (2002) explains: "Emotions influenceour thinking more than our thinking influences emotion"(p. 74). "There are two fundamental things that our brainswant: to be safe and happy" (p. 49). "Feelings always affectreasoning and memory" (p. 86). lull talks about emotionsbeing the mortar that holds everything together. In the past,dance teachers in private studios have often used fear andcriticism as a way to "inspire" students. This may be anotherreason that we do not have dance in schools across thenation. While a few dancers may accept abusive behaviorfrom their dance teachers as the norm, the majority ofstudents eventually drop out of class because they do notfeel safe or happy. I have encountered numerous adults whorecount stories of traumatic dance experiences. If we wantparents and administrators to promote dance in the schools,we need to find ways to heal these traumas-assure theseadults that we will not teach their children as they weretaught-and train the next generation of teachers to valuethe role that emotions play in learning. This includes anunderstanding of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Humansmay first be lured to a subject through an extrinsic rewardsuch as a trophy. But ultimately, intrinsic rewards such asreceiving positive and immediate feedback, being in controlof one's learning, and feeling passionate about a subject arewhat create a lifelong desire to learn.

What Must Be DoneMalcom Gladwell (2000) in The Tipping Point talks aboutwhat causes ideas, trends, and norms to "tip"-to becomepopular, turn into a fad, or spread like an epidemic. Since Iread the book in 2003, I have been asking myself, "Whatmight be the tipping point for dance education?" How canwe use this information to create an epidemic in whicheveryone is infected with the dance bug? I believe that wemight attack the problem on several fronts. Gladwell's Lawof the Few suggests that there are exceptional people that hecalls connectors, mavens and salespeople who are capable

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of starting epidemics. We have articulate leaders in dancearound the world who believe in quality dance educationfor all young people. There are master teachers in exemplarydance education programs in public and private schools inthe United States. Now it is time for us to do what we sooften ask of our students: collaborate. We need to movebeyond territorial instincts and mere survival to a place ofcollegiality and sharing. We must reach out to create a widenetwork of educators with common goals who can effectpolicy changes at all levels.

Another way Gladwell (2000) says that epidemics spreadis through the "stickiness" factor. He believes, "There is asimple way to package information, that under the rightcircumstances, can make it irresistible" (p. 132). With allthe philosophy written and research conducted over the last20 years about the necessity and power of the arts, I thinkwe might package arts education in a very alluring way.In fact, one of my concerns is that K-12 arts education willtip without dance, spreading through the schools in thenext 10 years, but with dance left behind because therewill be too few qualified or certified dance educators to fillthe positions.

Wecannot allowthis to happen. Wemust do the following:• Come to a consensus on what the K-12 dance curricu­

lum is. Can we agree on dance vocabulary, content, style,and assessment?

• Package all the documents (standards, research, philoso­phy) that we have been writing for decades into one irresist­ible document and disseminate it to policymakers. How canwe use technology and the Internet to market ourselves?

• Create a strong lobby of dance merchants and parentswho demand quality K-12 dance education. How might weencourage the supporters of dance competitions to supportdance for all children in public schools?

• Form partnerships between institutes of higher educa­tion, private organizations, and schools to educate andcertify many, many more dance specialists who have thetools to teach brain-compatible K-12 dance classes.Howcanadvances in technology help in this pursuit?

• Collaborate by sharing research, ideas, and networks.Will dance educators around the world work together todemand that all children receive comprehensive and devel­opmentally appropriate dance education?

I truly believe that dance educators can change govern­ment policies if we speak with a united voice. In the 21stcentury, the arts will be more important than ever becausewhen the arts suffer, people suffer. In his poem, "Adviceofthe Popeswho succeeded the age of Raphael," William Blakesaid, "Degrade first the arts, if you'd mankind degrade" Weare at a critical point in our history. The government ap­pears to undervalue the arts, as reflected in diminishingfinancial support for the arts. If this continues, the dehu­manizing process that Daniel Catan speaks of will acceler­ate. Alternatively, through the collaborative efforts of artseducators, parents, and policymakers, the arts could "tip."Comprehensive arts education programs worldwide would

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change the face of education and, therefore, society. I envi­sion a world in which people feel, make connections, andcreatively solve problems-a society that is engaged, en­lightened, reflective, and inclusive. Dance must playa lead­ing role in the 21st century.

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Anne Green Gilbert (agilbert@creativedance.org) is the artisticdirectorof Creative Dance Center and Kaleidoscope Dance Com­pany, in Seattle, WA.

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