TOWARDS A SYNERGY BETWEEN DANCE PEDAGOGY AND PRAXIS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The initial objective of dance education was to development the art form and harness it’s potentials for societal development. That dance education in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions of learning is largely seen as an isolated and purely academic exercise with little or no relevance to the real sector is hardly in contention as several studies attest to that reality. What is of concern is how to make it more relevant to the present milieu. Against universal trends, major developments in dance in Nigeria are driven by forces independent of academic influences. Various reasons have been advanced by scholars (Ikideh, 1987; Adeyemi, 2010; Onyemuchara, 2017; etc.) Onyemuchara, for instance, contends that the paucity of practice-based curriculum is the bane. Drawing from related disciplinary paradigms, this paper explores the possibility of synergizing the efforts of both the academic and professional/industry dance practitioners to make dance more relevant to national development.

The creation of a nudging protocol to support online student engagement in higher education

Combining nudge theory with learning analytics, ‘nudge analytics’, is a relatively recent phenomenon in the educational context. Used, for example, to address such issues as concerns with student (dis)engagement, nudging students to take certain action or to change a behaviour towards active learning, can make a difference. However, knowing who to nudge, how to nudge or when to nudge can be a challenge. Providing students with strategic, sensitive nudges that help to move them forward is almost an art form. It requires not only technical skills to use appropriate software and interpret data, but careful consideration of what to say and how to say it. In this article a nudge protocol is presented that can be used in online courses to encourage student engagement with key course resources that are integral to supporting their learning.

Teaching Literature in a Post-Dictatorship Country

Albanian literature curricula in a high school system has incorporated in a few years a lot of concepts, authors and methodology pretending in absorbed and integration of knowledge worldwide on literature teaching process and environment. Analyzing the academic process of constructing the base and the theoretical axis of the teachers, which actually are teaching literature can be noticed easily that a large number of them in their last ten years of their professional carrier has nothing to do with it. Their studies in university stage was only ideologized and focused on socialist realism. The university’s curriculum was strictly handicapped and based on the communist ideology on “creating the new people- the communist one”, as the literature itself, and every art form was “shaped” as it. Being such a teacher nowadays in Albania you have to face a challenge: You feel prejudged by your “experienced” colleges, who has not accepted and never “known” really the perspective of reading a fiction text as a “open text”. You felt yourself “trapped” in textbooks, their sources and their perspective is limited on their authors theoretical backgrounds. Having a parenting and student tradition, mentality as their academic success is based only on “the book” (even if in Albania we have more than 10 years practicing “altertext”-as a possibility of performing the subject program through the book chosen by teachers between three or four possibilities) makes it difficult to provide an “open” experience on learning through a based bibliography. The academic coordinators in pre-university system, aren’t always ready for the teacher who want to realize the teaching process leaded by the ideas of globalization, open minded individual, constructive perspective of the personality of the student, on national history and tradition versus “the other”.

Performance Art in the 1990s and the Generation Gap

In the 1990s, the question of the legacy of historical performance was posed with a particular sense of urgency. In the context of most pioneers of the art form having retired from live performance, reenactments not only reproduced past works but positioned artists within the genealogy of performance. The sense of the passage of a generation and the transmission of the memory of past performances were made explicit by Marina Abramović in The Biography (1992), a theatre piece in which she stages the very process of accounting for her past, as well as by Takashi Murakami and Oleg Kulik, who emerged on the art scene in the 1990s and mimicked live works from the past.

Translation of Contemporary Expression of Traditional Culture of Ci Fu "Luo Shen Fu" and Traditional Dance of "Luo Shen Water Fu"

Henan TV’s "Traditional Culture Series" has pushed the contemporary expression of Chinese traditional culture to a climax. Especially with the rejuvenation of domestic traditional culture, the dance "Luo Shen Water Fu" re-creates the traditional poetry "Luo Shen Fu" in five aspects: the creator's perspective, art form, expression technique, character image and creative power. The new expression of modern form has produced a strong contemporary traditional cultural effect. Through a case analysis of this successful act of traditional culture, the article analyzes the translation techniques of contemporary expressions of traditional culture, and provides useful enlightenment for stimulating the creative vitality of traditional culture and boosting the future trend of traditional Chinese culture.

Kollaasista montaasiin, taidemuodosta toiseen

Magda Dragu’s monograph analyses the uses and development of collage and montage in the early avantgarde. Dragu analyses how these techniques were intermedially transposed from one art form into others, and discusses their use in painting, photography, cinema, literature and music. Although the emphasis is on the formal analysis of these techniques, the study also examines in detail the diverse ways that they were used to produce meanings.

Understanding the Creation of Abstract Concepts beyond the Intangible and Tangible Materials of Land Art

Background and objective: Understanding abstract art as an art form requires depth of thought. Moreover, understanding land art as abstract art is challenging, given its focus on the minimalism and abstract concepts. Much focus, research, and work were actively conducted in the 1970s, as it represented an abstract expression of minimalism. The characteristics of minimalism connote abstract meanings in the use of materials. Nevertheless, the original research of works or artists has often been mentioned, but few studies have analyzed the abstract language of land art materials. The aim of this study is to thus determine the abstract meanings of materials in land art from the 1970s to the 2010s.Methods: Art-based research was employed to address the aim. This study classified the land art materials into intangible and tangible materials, where intangible materials focused on lines, circles, and labyrinths, and tangible materials focused on the earth, stones, wood, and snow.Results: Intangible and tangible materials of land art conveyed various abstract meanings. Intangible materials were reflective of connection and symbiosis with nature, delivering abstract languages of ‘take-nothing,’ ‘reflection’ and ‘opportunity.’ Tangible materials reflected the abstract concepts of ‘intervention,’ ‘resistance,’ ‘unliving,’ and ‘change,’ and conveyed caveats. In other words, taken together, intangible and tangible materials were presented in symbiosis–and with caveats–and delivered messages for the present and the future. Interestingly, intangible materials inherently reflect symbiosis and communicate caveats in works based on a non-contextualized present and future.Conclusion: Interpretation of the abstract languages derived from intangible and tangible materials could imply a symbiosis between humans and nature, while conveying the message that caveats, to humans, are still ongoing. This relationship plays a significant role in an artist’s selection of a medium, which is reflective of abstract beliefs reflected in contemporary, nature-based works created on Earth.

Siguiendo la estela de Enrique Morente

Flamenco is an art form that traditionally has been taught orally. The Taller de Musics opened its doors in Barcelona in the year 1979 providing another cultural frame (Martí, 2002b) to learn flamenco. In the present article the objective is to find the influence of the cantaor and creator Enrique Morente in the artist Rosalía through her cante teacher José Miguel Vizcaya Sánchez Chiqui de la Línea, first at the Taller de Músics and later at the ESMUC. Both, Enrique Morente and Rosalía recorded their first album being twenty-five years old, although their backgrounds, learning and realities were different. Later on, Morente’s album Despegando became a deep inspiration that conditioned Rosalía as an artist and creator that will be revealed throughout the article. It seems like the transversal influence of Morente helped Rosalía take of “con altura”. El flamenco es un arte que tradicionalmente se ha enseñado de manera oral. El Taller de Músics abrió sus puertas en Barcelona en el año 1979 proporcionando otro marco cultural (Martí, 2002b) para aprender flamenco. En el presente artículo se pretende analizar la influencia del cantaor y creador Enrique Morente en la artista Rosalía, a través de su profesor de cante José Miguel Vizcaya Sánchez Chiqui de la Línea, primero en el Taller de Músics y después en la ESMUC. Tanto Enrique Morente como Rosalía grabaron su primer álbum con la edad de veinticinco años, aunque desde procedencias, aprendizajes y realidades diferentes. Más adelante, el álbum Despegando de Morente se convirtió en una inspiración de gran calado que permeó en Rosalía en su faceta como artista y creadora que se desvelará a lo largo del artículo. Todo apunta a que la influencia transversal de Morente ayudó a Rosalía a despegar “con altura”.

THOLPAVAKOOTHU:A STUDY ON THE PERFORMING ART OF SHADOW PUPPETRY IN KERALA

Tholpavakoothu is a form of shadow puppetry which is the ancient art form found only in Kerala and it is a ritualistic worship for Goddess Devi. The main theme of tholpavakoothu is based on Kamba Ramayan and puppets which are chiseled out beautifully on the animal skin are used for the puppetry. Unlike other puppetry, it is the black shadow of puppets that forms on the white screen in the presence of oil lamps that portrays the tale of Ramayana. The study is for the deeper understanding of the origin, style, forms, and themes of tholpavakoothu and also to find out the different influences of applied puppetry in tholpvakoothu. This study uses a qualitative approach using interviews with the artists and performances. It has given a deeper understanding of the uniqueness of tholpavakoothu compared to other puppetry forms. This form basically emphasizes the concepts of mythology and how the form has taken a transition to contemporary issues to cater to all types of audiences.

The Development of Postmodern Art: A Historical Overview

In general, modernists see the art form as a pure form independent of the art form itself. They give priority over what is shown. Or more importantly, the form or medium of representation they use is themselves. Based on this opinion, it seems that in its development the post-modern travel model can roughly be distinguished between those that are deconstructive and constructive or revisionary. Actually, one of the most prominent characteristics of modernism that distinguishes it from previous cultures such as romanticism, realism or naturalism is the existence of a systematic and amazing categorization. The energy that appears in each part is recognized for its strength. As in this case are the schools: post-impressionism, symbolism, cubism, vorticism, imagination, akmeism, and neo-plasticism. The term modernism was first used in 1890 by the Nicaraguan writer Ruben Dario to distinguish between Latin American literature and Spanish literature. Until the 1920s, modern artists managed to maintain by inspiring and integrating various art groups as a cultural force. These artists include; novelists James Joyce, Marcel Proust, and Andre Breton. In post-modernism also emerged conceptual art, a movement that attaches great importance to concepts. Often the work of conceptual artists is not shown in reality, but the work is limited to sketches and texts in which the artist's ideas are depicted. Post-modern thinkers are disillusioned with grand visions of the past such as Marxism and various religions. According to postmodernists, these visions bring only misery. These old views are being erased and replaced by more personal ideas.