In this essay, the author notes a danger concerning the general approach to teaching about the arts through improper use of the concepts "aesthetic" and "artistic." Observing that both concepts are often used interchangeably, with "aesthetic" being seen as the more generic term, the author argues that these concepts are separate and should be…

This study compared the creative thinking abilities of students taking dance class in high school to nondance students (n = 286). The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was the basis of the comparison using a pre-test/post-test format. Dance subjects were enrolled in classes that included a variety of dance forms plus some creative work.…

This essay discusses issues of cultural difference in dance studies and presents specific pedagogical strategies for engaging the students' embodied knowledge as a research tool in both historical and cross-cultural investigations. (Contains 2 notes.)

This paper represents an attempt to document some of the methods and processes involved in creating a new dance work. I observed, over a 5-week period, the making of a contemporary dance piece with a group of 19 3rd-year BA dance students at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. The choreographer was Melbourne-based Dianne Reid, who…

Many UK universities now recognise that artistic practice can constitute a form of research in its own right; increasingly, practising artists are sponsored or employed to work creatively within the academy, whilst the regulatory frameworks of research degree programmes have evolved to enable practical doctoral submissions. These developments have…

The purpose of the "Perspectives" section of "Research in Dance Education" is to make available valuable material relating to dance education that is out of print and, therefore, difficult to obtain. In this issue's "Perspectives" contribution, the author raises issues that are significant for dance education and possibly as relevant today as…

The purpose of this research is to instigate a debate about the way in which professional ballet dancers are trained and the content of that training. The literature on the teaching of ballet has always focused on two areas: ballet vocabulary and training. The former is treated as both a fixed and autonomous form, and, for the latter, methods of…

This paper provides an opportunity to share experiences and perceptions of the first 5 years of a degree programme for professional dancers. A partnership developed in the mid-1990s between the UK's Birmingham Royal Ballet and the University of Birmingham, Westhill (now School of Education), to provide a part-time, post-experience, flexible study…

The numerous ways that postsecondary students benefit from experiential education across the academic disciplines have been well documented in the scholarly literature. One exception, however, is in the field of dance, where these effects have not been researched as extensively. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods,…

This paper introduces the reader to Wild Child--a CD-ROM resource for dance education (Schofield & Smith-Autard, 2001) and aims to disclose how research undertaken by the dance educator (author of this paper) in partnership with multimedia expert, Jim Schofield, has led to advances in pedagogy. Focusing on the teaching of dance form, the paper…

UK Higher Education Institutions are being required to reflect on the balance between academic and vocational aspects of their course provision and to identify more clearly how they are preparing their students for employment. This is not a simple matter. The UK arts and cultural sector is highly complex, with the characteristic features of a…

Examined how the Feldenkrais Method of somatic education informed a series of contemporary technique classes in a professional setting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Collaborative research findings highlighted three themes: transfer of learning, movement awareness facilitation, and construction of the dancing bodies. This study works toward a shift…

Uses the author's experiences as a performer, choreographer, artistic director, and teacher to investigate the notion of the performer's presence in dance, providing examples from her teaching a graduate module in performance making (choreography) to illustrate how performance practice and poststructuralist theory can influence each other. Three…

Describes an innovative approach to using information and communication technologies in teaching choreography. A group of dance students ages 9-18 in three countries created an original piece of choreography through an Internet collaboration process, sharing their choreographic ideas via movies and text. The asynchronous communication method…

The paper proposes that existing methodologies for dance studies can be extended through consideration of recently developing methodologies from social archaeology. It is first argued that an archaeological perspective on dance is enriching for archaeology, whose recent interest in dance as a focus of investigation can be seen as an attempt to…