The thesis has argued that the discipline-based art education approach to dance should be considered in relation to the development of dance education programs in secondary school. Such an approach values the discipline-based while concurrently recogn...
The thesis has argued that the discipline-based art education approach to dance should be considered in relation to the development of dance education programs in secondary school. Such an approach values the discipline-based while concurrently recognizing that there is no one right way to teach the dance content and skills embraced by the discipline-based approach.
If we are serious about dance education within the secondary school setting, and by implication the preparation of professional dance educators, we must look to developing approaches to dance education that reveal the comprehensive depth and breadth of the dance discipline. Student need to know dance not only kinesthetically, or through participating in dance but also through leaning about dance as a body of specialized knowledge and how it connects with culture and society.
The greatest strengths of discipline-based dance education lie in its advocay of compreensive discipline knowledge and fundamental belif in the expertise of dance educators to communicate and share that knowledge in challenging and enjoyable way appropriate to diverse learners. DBDE has a number of far-reaching and profound implications for the community at large. It requires a fundamental change in how we conceptualize dance education by acknowledging the equity of dance as a curriculum subject with content derived from dance-making, history, criticism, aesthetics.
If we want our student to experience the joys of dancing and creating dancing images; if we want our students to have opportunity to acquire the skills that make such joys possible; if we want our student to develop the sensitivity to see, describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate critically the subtle and complex qualities of danceworks and transfer theses skills to daily life; if we want our students to understand the relationship of dance to culture, to our past and present, and to anticipate the future; if we want our students to learn how to participate in appraising, judging, and valuing the dance work, then we need to skillfully develop and successfully implement DBDE as an approach which aims to comprehensively develop and secure these knowledges and understandings.