How can high potential in childhood be transformed into outstanding adult accomplishment? Research indicates that individuals who become outstanding performers and producers have more than just raw talent in the domain or opportunities to develop their talent--they have the will, drive, and focus to take advantage of the opportunities with which…

In 2016, professors representing Biology, Dance, Music, and Theatre and dance program students created "Dunes," a performance piece that depicts the ecological succession of Michigan's sand dunes. The process used to make this work is a direct representation of the steps that Team Hyena Puppet, a collective of teaching artists and…

The questions that this paper poses are placed at the intersection of a Liberal Arts approach to education and the pedagogy of traditional Indian dance forms. These questions are explored through my ongoing pedagogical experiment with teaching the art of "abhinaya" in the university classroom. This paper charts the journey of exploring…

The act of teaching is constituted by tensions between contradictory influences of national educational systems, teachers' professional/personal identity, cultural and social values. Qualitative research methods can explore this complex situation. Indeed, narrative methods have explored teachers' "life histories". This article provides a…

Studies indicate that female dance students are more preoccupied with weight, eating habits, and body image than girls in the general population and are in greater danger of developing eating disorders. In this study, questionnaires were distributed to 90 females aged 15-30; 47 dancers or former dancers and 43 non-dancers. Consistent with prior…

This mixed methods study investigates the juncture of dance science, somatics, and contemporary modern dance training, and how they intertwine with learning processes and skill execution through transfer theory. The effects of a novel somatics training program are analyzed through six case studies using data reduction and interpretation of…

This article narrates the performance pedagogies created by the Rivers of Meeting project in the Afro-Indigenous fishing community of Cabelo Seco, Marabá, in the Brazilian Amazon. Performed on the thresholds between paradigms of "good living" and industrial development, three short stories show how young arts educators contribute to the…

The results of the 2016 British referendum on membership of the European Union and the presidential election in the United States of America initiated political changes that will arguably have resounding impacts, within and beyond the UK and the US for years to come. Much of the rhetoric accompanying these political victories appears to confront…

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of the dance makerspace, a learning environment designed to support STEM engagement through making and embodied experience for a group of African American youth dancers. It looks at how participants in a 4-week summer camp program at an urban creative arts center-turned-makerspace, constructed embodied…

In this paper, we discuss findings from a recent academic development project in which we engaged with students in an exploration of "how" they think and "what" they think about in the process of creating solo-authored choreography. The project emerged from a revisiting of the reflective frameworks identified in the validation…

Ensemble practices have been essential to the performing and visual fine arts over centuries. The skills of working in ensembles, including team work and collaborative learning, are increasingly understood to be critical and transferable professional attributes. However, much teaching of ensembles is practical and embodied, relying on tacit…

Dancers are "artistic athletes." They must possess the strength, agility, power and flexibility of any athlete and perform with perfect musicality and emotion, demonstrating the artistry of the dance. As an art form dance continues to push the physical boundaries of the human body, increasing the inherent risks to the dancers. Most…

The aim of this study was to investigate: a. the effect of an interdisciplinary program of Greek traditional dance by the means of the teamwork method of teaching social skills to students. b. whether this effect was similar for boys and girls. The sample of the study constituted of 206 elementary school pupils (4th, 5th, and 6th class). The…

In this article, the author reflects on how somatic values, which are interrelated to yet distinct from somatic principles, direct her pedagogical approach to and the content of an eight-week module for postsecondary dance major students in the United States titled Applied Personal Movement Practices I. The prioritization of somatic values (the…

This paper questions whether are we able to foster uncertainty and ambiguity within higher education arts programmes, specifically alongside current institutional demands and embedded pedagogies. If not, then what effect does this have on current dance graduates? I attend to these questions through critical reflections upon my work as a pedagogue,…