Doug Risner

Rehearsing masculinity: challenging the ‘boy code’ in dance education

Dance education experiences of boys and male youth are investigated in terms of dominant constructions of contemporary Western masculinity and the potential limitations these hegemonic discourses may place on male participation. Recent research on boys and male youth in dance, although limited, suggests prevailing social stigma, heteronormative assumptions, narrow definitions of masculinity, and internalized homophobia in the field. For boys and young males, however, choosing to dance may be an important vehicle for investigating dominant notions about masculinity, gender, sexual orientation, and the body. From emerging research, this review essay explores the ways in which male youth in dance confront heterocentric bias, gender norms, and gendered bodies, as well as peer pressure and dominant cultural ideology in dance training and education. Focal points include key social questions of difference, pleasure, marginalization, and the larger effects and limitations of contemporary masculinity.

Digital Dance Literacy: An Integrated Dance Technology Curriculum Pilot Project.

Although the technological methods in which dance artists create, develop, document and present their work have grown significantly over the past two decades, technology education in undergraduate dance curricula in the US often remains peripheral. Some dance programs in higher education, especially those with graduate programs, now include a general course in dance technology that often functions as an overview of documentation methods and basic dance production. Given the technological advances and their creative applications in dance over the past decade (computer‐mediated choreography, musical scores, and sound environments; interdisciplinary and mixed media; Internet2 live telematic rehearsal and performance), this curriculum development project sought to design and implement a comprehensive technology curriculum for undergraduate dance students in bachelors degree programs in the US. Four developmental design problems were confronted in this pilot project, including how to provide: (1) integrated delivery of technology in required, rather than elective dance coursework, throughout four‐year undergraduate degree programs; (2) student‐centred design and relevance, capitalising on students’ own technology capital and interest; (3) balanced content in both creative application, as well as practical technological aspects; and (4) completion of digital e‐portfolio in the undergraduate senior year. From these guiding research problems, the Digital Dance Literacy (DDL) pilot program at Wayne State University seeks to produce a comprehensive, user‐friendly curriculum for integrating advanced technologies into undergraduate dance curricula. This paper gives an overview of this project’s development and implementation, description and content of the DDL curriculum and coursework, the project’s current status, as well as student, faculty and administrative perspectives. Additional problems in the research and development are also discussed.

Current Challenges for K-12 Dance Education and Development: Perspectives from Higher Education

From an administrative perspective, this article investigates equity issues in dance education, and current challenges and opportunities for leadership in postsecondary dance programs involved in teacher education and certification. Although dance education is varied in content and environment, much is shared in terms of common goals for gender equity, curricular equity, status of dance education, and diversity in the field. The author urges dance educators and administrators to actively emphasize and act on commonly shared goals, rather than focusing on differences that have historically served to separate the field. The article provides recommendations and strategies for advocacy and development focused on enduring values of dance education rooted in art making, creativity, experimentation, and the importance of artistic expression in education.

Re-Educating Dance Education to Its Homosexuality: An Invitation for Critical Analysis and Professional Unification.

This article explores the ways in which gay male presence and contribution to dance education in the US is minimised in order to legitimate male participation and to gain wider social acceptance of dance. Current muted discourses regarding homosexuality in dance pedagogy are not only shortsighted, but also unwittingly reproduce narrow stereotypes of male dancers and deleterious homosexual mythologies for gay male youth in dance. The author suggests that critical analysis and professional unification focused around critical social issues in dance education are central to a more inclusive and liberating dance pedagogy.

A Survey of Teaching Artists in Dance and Theater: Implications for Preparation, Curriculum, and Professional Degree Programs

This study investigates teaching artists whose work is rooted in dance and theater. Although the term remains both ambiguous and debated, teaching artists provide a good deal of arts education delivery in P–12 and afterschool programs throughout the United States. Based on survey data from a range of teaching artists across the nation (N = 133), this study presents emergent trends including: (1) lack of preparation, (2) workplace issues and challenges, and (3) mixed attitudes regarding teaching artist professionalization and credentialing. We conclude with several recommendations for postsecondary curriculum development in dance and theater degree programs.

Bullying victimisation and social support of adolescent male dance students: an analysis of findings

This analysis (n = 33), drawn from the findings of the author’s larger mixed method research study, investigated bullying and harassment of adolescent male students (ages 13–18) pursuing dance study at the pre-professional level in the United States. Procedures for this analysis included review of primary and secondary sources from the international literature in psychology, adolescent and public health, paediatrics, sexuality studies, and dance education, an adapted version of the Dancer’s Social Support Scale, and data from online surveys and in-depth interviews. Findings indicate significant bullying of adolescent males engaging in western concert dance training. Analyses reveal pervasive heterocentric discourses and continued homophobic attitudes surrounding the adolescent male dancer and his experiences regardless of his sexual orientation. The importance of social support in and outside the dance studio especially support from his dance teacher-director, best friend in dance or school, and his mother figure prominently. Findings from research on bullying in the general and sexual minority populations are discussed. Pragmatic and critical approaches for understanding bullying and supporting bullied adolescent male dancers are presented.

Weaving Social Foundations Through Dance Pedagogy: A Pedagogy of Uncovering

Abstract Today’s dance educators enter classrooms populated by increasingly diverse students in which teachers’ pedagogical knowledge necessitates heightened understandings of race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality. Uncovering taken-for-granted assumptions, dominant stereotypes, and educational structures that reproduce social inequalities in schools requires teacher preparation in social foundations of education. This qualitative study examined an undergraduate dance pedagogy course weaving social foundations content taught through a critical feminist pedagogical perspective over a three-year period. Narrative data were drawn from student (n = 59) writing assignments and discussion posts. Inclusion approaches for social foundations are presented. The range and diversity of student narratives amplify the challenge of, and the need for, the inclusion of social foundations in dance teacher preparation.

Dance, Sexuality, and Education Today: Observations for Dance Educators

This special issue is the first of two issues of the Journal of Dance Education devoted to a comprehensive discussion of sexuality and dance education from multiple perspectives including public schools (K-12), private studios, conservatories, and higher education. Our primary concern is to give these special issues a shape that responds not only to the sociological and pedagogical impact of sexuality on the educational experience and perspective of dance students and teachers, but also to attend to the scope of dance education that our readership encompasses. Though the enormity of the subject matter as well as its diverse context-related implications makes constructing a comprehensive issue especially challenging, the significance of openly bringing these concerns to the forefront of dance education remains crucially important. Among innumerable potential topics emanating from this review of sexuality and dance education in the 21st century, we focus straightforwardly on today’s challenges for dance educators. Critically examining age appropriate dance, the hidden curriculum of gender and sexuality, the hyper-sexualization of children and adolescents, sexual harassment and abuse, sexual orientation, homophobia, HIV/AIDS, the impact of sexuality in contemporary culture and mass media, and finally, definitions of healthy sexuality, the authors highlight practical applications and provide insights and recommendations for today’s educational environment. As Alice Walker reminds us, it is in the “today” we have the opportunity to create what becomes the “tomorrow” with which we have the obligation to live.

The Politics of Gender in Dance Pedagogy

Abstract Dance education researchers interested in pedagogy have drawn considerable energy from the area of social foundations in education, especially in terms of schooling and its impact on gender identity. Borrowing from feminist thought, critical theory, gender studies, critical pedagogy, and most recently, mens studies, dance pedagogy literature has begun to articulate the ways in which socially embedded assumptions about gender and dominant structural power relations produce unjust educational and socio-cultural outcomes. Because traditional dance pedagogy schools for obedience and emphasizes silent conformity in which dancers reproduce what they receive, rather than critique, question, or create it, some approaches for confronting gender bias and inequity in dance teaching and curriculum have been identified. Key to these strategies is a committed effort to position the social construction of gender as a conscious variable in all aspects of dance pedagogy, as well as the validation and affirmation of individual differences in gender and culture. However, further pedagogical considerations in dance are necessary in terms of gendered teaching and gender asymmetries inherent in the dance populations teachers and learners.

The Politics of Personal Pedagogy: Examining Teacher Identities

Abstract These short essays address the political nature of teaching dance in higher education from various perspectives. Issues of identity, authority, power, expectation, and assumption are addressed within the context of the teacher-student paradigm. From personal perspectives, each author examines the ways in which who they are affects what and how they teach, how they perceive their students, and how students perceive them. Four topics include: the politics of gender in dance pedagogy (Risner); the politics of a Christian educator in the academy (Clemente); the politics of race in the classroom (Hubbard); and, the politics of teacher and student identity in a post-feminist era (Kerr-Berry).