Sharing dance: a participatory action research project in online community dance education

"As a dance and movement workshop leader for over five years I have seen the benefits that dance education offers students first hand. While on tour across Northern Ontario with the Cree language opera Pimooteewin: The Journey, I had the opportunity to share creative dance workshops with students living in remote locations. These students had limited access to dance education and most schools I visited had no integrated dance curriculum. I found this surprising since the inclusion of dance in Ontario public schools is a requirement. Dance was incorporated into the 1993 Common Curriculum and the 1998 Ontario Curriculum (Ministry of Education). Many teachers I spoke with while on tour mentioned they did not have access to high quality, free dance education materials, and did not feel comfortable teaching the subject. This experience drew me to develop an applied research project with Canada's National Ballet School's (CNBS) community outreach initiative, Sharing Dance. Unlike other online dance education organizations, such as the Council for Ontario Dance and Drama Educators (CODE) that works on a subscription model, Sharing Dance offers teachers easy access to dance education materials for free, potentially overcoming location and socioeconomic obstacles"--From introduction, page 1-2.

Sharing dance: a participatory action research project in online community dance education

"As a dance and movement workshop leader for over five years I have seen the benefits that dance education offers students first hand. While on tour across Northern Ontario with the Cree language opera Pimooteewin: The Journey, I had the opportunity to share creative dance workshops with students living in remote locations. These students had limited access to dance education and most schools I visited had no integrated dance curriculum. I found this surprising since the inclusion of dance in Ontario public schools is a requirement. Dance was incorporated into the 1993 Common Curriculum and the 1998 Ontario Curriculum (Ministry of Education). Many teachers I spoke with while on tour mentioned they did not have access to high quality, free dance education materials, and did not feel comfortable teaching the subject. This experience drew me to develop an applied research project with Canada's National Ballet School's (CNBS) community outreach initiative, Sharing Dance. Unlike other online dance education organizations, such as the Council for Ontario Dance and Drama Educators (CODE) that works on a subscription model, Sharing Dance offers teachers easy access to dance education materials for free, potentially overcoming location and socioeconomic obstacles"--From introduction, page 1-2.

Do Dance Majors Need Entrepreneurial Skills?

Dance majors take courses in technique, history, theory, choreography and production, but do not often take entrepreneurship-based classes. It might be said that if dance majors wish to be dance entrepreneurs or business owners, they should supplement their education with specific courses/certificates/degrees that teach those skills. It could be argued, however, that all dancers need these skills to have a sustainable career. Looking at the dance industry from the vantage point of a 25-year career, I wonder: Are we cheating dance students and the dance industry by not consistently incorporating entrepreneurial skills into a formal dance curriculum? This opinion paper delves into this very question. I sent an online survey to dance studio and company owners to evaluate the hard and soft skills they are seeing from current and potential employees with dance degrees. I also provide a brief overview of degree plans in the nation’s top dance programs. The results of the survey suggested a gap in both hard and soft skills needed to be an entrepreneur. The results of the overview indicated that few departments have robust required offerings in career/marketing/entrepreneurship-based performing arts courses. These findings are a springboard for further research and conversation regarding whether there is a need for entrepreneurship-based courses in dance majors’ course of study.

Story Dances

The motivation of this chapter is to add to the literature about the practice of teaching dance with a critical and somatic approach and to contribute to illuminating the reality of negotiating power in the dance classroom and the complexity of the influence of cultural values on this dynamic. This chapter reflects on the process of teaching a dance curriculum that explores identity to three different cultural groups in order to gain knowledge of best practices for nurturing somatic authority and providing meaningful choice opportunities while developing dance skills.