Karen Schupp

Sherrie Barr

Higher education continually mediates long standing traditions while seeking new ways of thinking, creating a quiet tension as institutions respond to shifting and multiple socio-cultural values. Dance programs, not immune to these currents, must consider intersecting obligations to build a more equitable curriculum, meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, and prepare students for a wider array of dance-based careers. In view of their critical role in stewarding the next generation of dance artists-educators-scholars-leaders and fostering change in higher education, faculty must give more attention to the experiences of those committed to dance in higher education. This collection articulates and considers these lived experiences, revealing the inner workings of dance in higher education. Autoethnographic essays varying in style and scope illuminate the pressures encountered across one's career trajectory. By unearthing and contextualizing hidden challenges, expectations, and opportunities, the authors speak to possibilities for how proactive change in dance education can occur.

Essays on Dance in Higher Education

Stories We Dance / Stories We Tell

Doug Risner

Pam Musil

This book critically examines matters of age and aging in relation to dance. As a novel collection of diverse authors’ voices, this edited book traverses the human lifespan from early childhood to death as it negotiates a breadth of dance experiences and contexts. The conversations ignited within each chapter invite readers to interrogate current disciplinary attitudes and dominant assumptions and serve as catalysts for changing and evolving long entrenched views among dancers regarding matters of age and aging. The text is organized in three sections, each representing a specific context within which dance exists. Section titles include educational contexts, social and cultural contexts, and artistic contexts. Within these broad categories, each contributor’s milieu of lived experiences illuminate age-related factors and their many intersections. While several contributing authors address and problematize the phenomenon of aging in mid-life and beyond, other authors tackle important issues that impact young dancers and dance professionals.

Negotiating Age, Place, and Purpose

Dancing Across the Lifespan

Futures of Performance inspires both current and future artists/academics to reflect on their roles and responsibilities in igniting future-forward thinking and practices for the performing arts in higher education. The book presents a breadth of new perspectives from the disciplines of music, dance, theatre, and mediated performance and from a range of institutional contexts. Chapters from teachers across various contexts of higher education are organized according to the three main areas of responsibilities of performing arts education: to academia, to society, and to the field as a whole. With the intention of illuminating the intricacy of how performing arts are situated and function in higher education, the book addresses key questions including: How are the performing arts valued in higher education? How are programs addressing equity? What responsibilities do performing arts programs have to stakeholders inside and outside of the academy? What are programs’ ethical obligations to students and how are those met? Futures of Performance examines these questions and offers models that can give us some of the potential answers. This is a crucial and timely resource for anyone in a decision-making position within the university performing arts sector, from administrators, to educators, to those in leadership positions.

The Responsibilities of Performing Arts in Higher Education

Futures of Performance

Studying Dance: A Guide for Campus and Beyond is a comprehensive bridge for students transitioning into the first year of a college dance program. Through this text, students will understand dance in new and exciting ways, embrace it as an academic discipline, navigate and take charge of their dance education, and visualize potential careers after graduation. Studying Dance: A Guide for Campus and Beyond opens students’ eyes to all the artistic, cultural, and educational aspects of dance. By expanding their thinking, students will move to a deeper understanding of themselves as dancers and the world around them. The author demystifies the entire first-year experience while guiding students in the discovery of dance as a multifaceted discipline. Students will examine academic expectations, time management, the importance of staying focused, and balancing school and life. They will delve into the various areas of dance and a range of careers and paths available to them. They will learn the differences in types of college dance courses, the approaches used, and how to personalize their dance education through individualized instructional opportunities and peer collaboration. The text also will prompt students to visualize and plan their dance lives beyond campus so they can set clear goals for studying and succeeding as young professionals. Studying Dance: A Guide for Campus and Beyond contains many student-friendly features: • 15 easy-to-digest chapters provide the rules of the road that lead to a successful freshman year and future career • 49 interviews with current dance students, recent graduates, and dance professionals encourage students to reflect on and take charge of their learning • Web resource with learning activities, glossary lists, web links, and other tools personalize each student’s journey through the content With this text, teachers can help students expand their thinking about dance in ways that will lead to success on campus and beyond.

A Guide for Campus and Beyond

Studying Dance

Winner, Susan W. Stinson Book Award for Dance Education—University of North Carolina Greensboro Winner, Ruth Lovell Murray Book Award—National Dance Education Organization "Original and groundbreaking.... This is a pivotal text to propel dance education beyond the status quo tenants of 'best practices.'... This text may well be the driver moving personal, value-based pedagogies beyond methods-based instruction. An exciting read and an honest journey in meaningful decision making."--Susan Kirchner, Towson University. The first of its kind, this volume presents research-based fictionalized case studies from experts in the field of dance education, examining theory and practice developed from real-world scenarios that call for ethical decision-making. Dilemmas faced by dance educators in the studio, on stage, in recreation centers and correctional facilities, and on social media are explored, accompanied by activities for humanizing dance pedagogy. These challenges converge from educational policies and mandates developed over the past two decades, including teacher-proof "scripted" curriculum, high-stakes testing, standardization, and methods-centered teacher preparation; difficulties are often perpetuated by those who want to make change happen but do not know how.

Case Studies on Humanizing Dance Pedagogy

Ethical Dilemmas in Dance Education

Winner, Susan W. Stinson Book Award for Dance Education—University of North Carolina Greensboro Winner, Ruth Lovell Murray Book Award—National Dance Education Organization “Original and groundbreaking…. This is a pivotal text to propel dance education beyond the status quo tenants of ‘best practices.’…This text may well be the driver moving personal, value-based pedagogies beyond methods-based instruction. An exciting read and an honest journey in meaningful decision making.”—Susan Kirchner, Towson University The first of its kind, this volume presents research-based fictionalized case studies from experts in the field of dance education, examining theory and practice developed from real-world scenarios that call for ethical decision-making. Dilemmas faced by dance educators in the studio, on stage, in recreation centers and correctional facilities, and on social media are explored, accompanied by activities for humanizing dance pedagogy. These challenges converge from educational policies and mandates developed over the past two decades, including teacher-proof “scripted” curriculum, high-stakes testing, standardization, and methods-centered teacher preparation; difficulties are often perpetuated by those who want to make change happen but do not know how.

Karen Schupp

Books

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