There is a lack of research examining practitioners' beliefs, understanding and attitudes towards the teaching of dance in England. In order to address this gap in the evidence, this paper reports on a recent survey of dance practitioners (n = 198) living and working in Yorkshire, the largest county in England, on what they consider to be the most…

The post-apartheid Dance Studies curriculum in South Africa is attempting to offer school learners both an education and training in dance as an art form. The outcomes-based syllabi are intended to ensure that learners come to respect the diversity of South African society, and therefore a range of dance styles and genres are offered in order to…

In the past decade, much has been written about threats to boys' and girls' healthy participation in dance. This Viewpoints essay considers some of the causes and proposed remedies, which focus almost exclusively on the roles and responsibilities of dance educators and administrators. I suggest that what is missing from recent research,…

The article examines the experience of participating in Contact Improvisation by male prisoners. It specifically focuses on issues of touch for this participant group and how inmates can learn different ways of acting from acquiring Contact skills, contributing to their rehabilitation. The paper looks at the culture in prisons that propagates a…

As artists seek new ways to reflect an increasingly digital and global culture, theatrical dance in the UK and Europe has seen a growing collaboration and cross-fertilisation between forms of dance, theatre, visual art, film and technology. As the boundaries between artistic disciplines continue to blur, it seems clear that dance audiences need to…

Edouard Lock's dance film "Amelia" (2002) is the focus of this essay. Second-wave feminist and poststructuralist perspectives inform the analysis of this piece of contemporary dance. Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory and Julia Kristeva's theory of the semiotic and symbolic realms of representation are explored and critiqued, whilst Jacques Derrida's…

This research was designed to enhance dance technique learning by promoting critical thinking amongst students studying on a degree programme at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. Students were taught Cunningham-based dance technique using pair work together with the traditional demonstration/copying method. To evaluate the study,…

Combining traditional forms of research to fit unique populations contributes to understanding broad phenomena within the discipline of dance. This paper describes a methodological approach for understanding separate, but interrelated, case studies which illuminated a particular approach to teaching and learning about the body. In each case study…

The technique class can be an amalgam of frustration and joy, cautious imitation and mindless replication, being right and being wrong. Competing requisites, such as a desire for expressive freedom in relation to the demand that a movement be precisely structured, can unwittingly create a tension between teachers and students. The reasons for such…

This paper reports on "Web3D dance composer" for ballet e-learning. Elementary "petit allegro" ballet steps were enumerated in collaboration with ballet teachers, digitally acquired through 3D motion capture systems, and categorised into families and sub-families. Digital data was manipulated into virtual reality modelling language (VRML) and fit…

In this essay, the author talks about the aesthetic aspects of education with some special reference to movement in different senses. First, he discusses the aesthetic and its relation to education in a general way. He then explains the concepts of expression and embodiment in the appreciation of the arts. Lastly, the author talks about the…

This paper discusses research into the facilitation of academic writing for first year dance students using images, emails and the forum of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Taking place over several weeks in the early part of the academic year and within a core module entitled Personal and Professional Development in the single honours Dance…

Body image and self-esteem are examined through personal stories among Los Angeles college dancers who grew up in the Hollywood culture of the cult of slenderness. The study incorporates a body image survey, eating disorder screen, and an interview process capturing dancers' lived experiences with daily pressures. Dancers reveal their experiences…

This article introduces a phenomenological understanding of embodiment and discusses it in relation to a somatic approach to teaching dance. The nature of bodily knowledge is scrutinized especially through Maurice Merleau-Ponty's conceptions of perception, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity. The article offers insight into the relationship…

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) A Level Dance specification, offered by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), is the only GCE course of study in the UK that focuses solely on dance. Acquisition of subject specific knowledge is a feature of its aims, while assessment, as constructed by its objectives, is assumed to be a…