This article is concerned with the lack of a solid cultural foundation upon which theoretical and historical analysis of dance can be practiced. It argues for the cultivation of dance literature ...through the use of notation systems as an opportunity to establish and contribute to libraries of valuable reference material. A method of analysis for assessing the capability of three leading notation systems to effectively elucidate movement concepts and provide greater application for use by the dance community was developed. This evaluation maintains that Labanotation's structure offers a framework that may be utilized to develop computer applications that facilitate the use and education of Labanotation.
The Foundation for Community Dance is the national lead body for community dance in the UK. It has been at the forefront of the development of community dance in Britain continuously for over twenty ...five years. It began, in 1986, as the National Association of Dance and Mime Animateurs (NADMA). This professional association of dance practitioners (referred to at the time as animateurs) sought to raise awareness of a newly identified profession and provide a forum for the dissemination of the forms, working processes and techniques needed to work successfully in community settings. This paper seeks to instigate a critical assessment of NADMA's work by considering it in relation to theoretical debates concerning cultural provision and pedagogic practice of the time and, subsequently, to the theory of communities of practice. The paper considers the cultural and educational policy contexts within which the dance animateurs, who formed and ran the association, worked. This helps explain the multiple demands and tensions, inherent in the cultural and pedagogic politics of the time, to which the profession was subject. The paper suggests that these were ultimately managed through the cooperative and collective working of NADMA members. In the five years following NADMA's formation some key parameters for dance development in Britain were established. The paper suggests that NADMA made a significant contribution to such development by helping to create a more integrated, adaptable dance profession and an infrastructure for participatory dance that pre-figured the national dance agency network of the 1990s.
This dialogical article reflects stories of encounter. The unexpected collision of our worlds and thoughts, and the familiarities and tensions we came to recognize in each other's experiences when ...facilitating collaborative research in two communities of dance teachers, has given birth to this shared line of inquiry. We have come to acknowledge that our collaborative endeavor to better understand our experiences facilitating dance professionals in exploring their cultures of dance teaching and pedagogical practices has offered reassurance, inspiration, even discomfort, as it has led us to newfound awareness of our ways of doing research and facilitating inquiry. Our two-year dialogical journey has led us to consider the chaotic and continually shifting, transformative process of constructing oneself as a researcher in the midst of converging locations, spaces, time and others. In this article, we consider how perspectives gained from our experiences facilitating dance teachers in inquiry, and our conversations about theses encounters, might align with, challenge or present new ways of looking at collaborative inquiry as a mode of research, learning, discovery and change.
Dance, ballet and modern in particular, is culturally defined as a feminine activity in the United States. The purpose of the present study was to examine the experiences of professional male modern ...and ballet dancers in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 current professional ballet and modern dancers. We examined the ways in which the dancers initially became involved in dance, any support or opposition they may have confronted, and the ways in which they negotiated the stereotypical assumptions surrounding men's involvement in dance. Four emergent themes are discussed: (1) exposure to and entrance into dance; (2) the gay stereotype; (3) negotiating the gay stereotype; and (4) homophobia within the dance community. The social significance of this study is rooted in the ways in which our culture constructs gender, the body, and movement, restricting both males and females from using and exploring their bodies in ways not deemed gender-appropriate. Attention is also given to the ways in which we can create and nurture meaningful experiences for a greater number of individuals.
This essay asks how notions of intellectual property played out among African American vernacular-dance communities during the first half of the twentieth century, when copyright law did not extend ...to choreography and when racial segregation governed the dance world. On the one hand, tap and jazz dancers' liberal borrowing of steps from one another defied the logic of US copyright law, with its prohibition against the unauthorized reproduction of another's original work; but on the other, the extra-legal measures that performers developed to protect their moves bore notable affinities to Western constructions of intellectual property. The examples provided by these dancers also prompt a reconsideration of the fit between copyright law and dance more generally.
Issues surrounding what works best in balancing autonomous exploration of dance making with provision of learning about choreographic process for university dance students are explored in this paper. ...Two personal narrative perspectives are provided. A lecturer reflects on what works best in structuring learning that encourages students to explore different approaches to dance making, and also relates how integrating teaching, learning and research in an active nexus was adopted as part of striving to build a community of discovery. As part of the continuum of the nexus, a postgraduate student contextualises her research into choreographic process in relation to developing university-community partnerships.
This article explores the rapid growth of participation in Aztec dance in Mexico, the increasing transnational movement of Aztec dancers across national borders, and the mixed receptions experienced ...by dancers in their efforts to forge networks with indigenous communities on a global level Examining a discourse of conquest that has been reinvigorated and recirculated over centuries, I suggest that such ideas may thwart Aztec dancers' alliance-building efforts and may raise important questions about indigenous identity, appropriation, and group boundaries.
The authors are conducting research into the meanings of social dance for groups of participants who are entering or have entered the 'third age'. The research focuses on people around the age of 60 ...and above who participate in dance events in two inner city, southeast London boroughs and in the country of Essex. Presents a preliminary account of the research so far. (Quotes from original text)
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