Maria Koutsouba

LEARNING AND DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT OF DANCE - THE CASE OF GREEK TRADITIONAL DANCE IN YOUTUBE

Abstract The incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education has changed the educational procedures through the creation and use of new teaching and learning environments with the use of computers and network applications that afford new dimensions to distance education. In turn, these emerging and in progress technologies, render new practices in many fields including the field of dance offering a fertile quest to everyone involved in the dance. Yet, a critical evaluation of the content of YouTube dance videos has not been carried out though what is eventually learned through YouTube is a key question. Based on the above, the aim of this study was to critically examine the way YouTube network channel as Computer Based Learning-CBL functions both as a learning tool and as a teaching result concerning the field of dance having as example a Greek traditional dance named Karagouna. YouTube dance videos were gathered through observation, while the dance exemplar used was based on ethnographic research. For the dance recording of the Karagouna performances examined from YouTube, Laban’s notation system (Labanotation) was used. For the analysis of the dance performances, the dance structural-morphological and typological method was adopted. Finally, for the comparison of the Karagouna dance performances examined from YouTube with the exemplar of the dancing community, the comparative method was used. It was proved that someone with little or no relation to dance is likely to learn dance with the use of YouTube, yet it is questionable what kind of dance will actually learn since in a number of cases the dance videos do not correspond to the performance of the dancing community. In addition, the outcome is different if someone with prior knowledge on the field of dance (dancer, dance teacher, dance student etc.) uses YouTube as a teaching and learning tool as, in this case, its use is useful and interactive.

The Positive Effects of a Combined Program of Creative Dance and BrainDance on Health-Related Ouality of Life as Perceived by Primary School Students

Abstract The combination of Creative Dance and BrainDance within the context of physical education could be a promising innovation. This combined program can be implemented in primary school to help students achieve a better and more holistic assessment of their Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), covering aspects of physical, emotional, social, and mental functioning and well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact that a combined Creative Dance and BrainDance program based on the Laban Theory of Movement Analysis has on HRQoL perceptions of primary school students when this program is implemented within the context of the physical education curriculum in primary school. For this purpose, an eight-week educational intervention was designed combining Creative Dance and BrainDance into one single program. The survey sample consisted of 32 fifth- and sixth-grade primary school students. The Kidscreen-52 questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis was performed with the use of descriptive statistical indices and mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA). Although the results showed no differences between the beginning and end of the educational intervention, a fact that might be due to the small sample and the time of the implementation of the program (limited to 8 weeks), its implementation produced very good results with regard to improvisation, body control, balance, and coordination, as well as kinaesthetic awareness and musical rhythmic skills. Creative Dance and BrainDance promote imagination, creativity, improvisation, and self-esteem in general, particularly in primary school students..

Cybernetic Approach of the "Κ’na" Dance: The Construction of Ethnic and National Identity in Nea Vyssa, Thrace , Greece

Abstract The research field of this project is the area if Greek Thrace, which is a great geopolitical-cultural unity that was divided - due to political process - in three subareas that were distributed to three different countries: Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. A dance happening that took place before the lining of the boundaries to date in the Greek and Turkish Thrace is that of “K’na”. “K’na” is a female dance happening which is danced to date by the people of both areas in spite of their religious beliefs, social - economic and cultural development. The purpose of this project is to study the different expressions of this dance in Nea Vyssa and examine if these are related to matters of search and conformation of ethnic and national identity of this group under the terms of the social cybernetics. Data was gathered through the ethnographic method as this is applied to the study of dance and the interpretation of the data was based on the theoretical visuals of the social-cybernetic according to the inspection model of identity that Burke proposed. From the data analysis, we established that the dance of “K’na” in Nea Vyssa constructs and reconstructs not only the ethnic but the national identity of the groups who use them in order to react to the messages they receive via the communication with “the important others”.

Critical Literacy and the Multiliteracies of Dance: A First Approach

Abstract Greek traditional dance’s transition from its “first” to the “second” existence took place in the context of the urbanization as this took place in Greece. This transition was accompanied, among others, with its teaching into a classroom that had to follow the principles governing every educational process. In this new context, the dance teaching is subject to literacy processes, which, in this case, are related to a literacy of dance and therefore of culture, that is to a dance and cultural literacy. The aim of this study is to look at dance as an educational subject that can lead to critical literacy through dance’s multiliteracies as a synthesis of dance, movement, cultural and art literacy, with specific reference to Greek traditional dance. For this, literature-based research methodology is adopted that includes analysis and evaluation of relevant published literature. The literature review showed that Greek traditional dance, in the modern education framework, can be perceived in the light of critical literacy based on its multiliteracies, which are related to the concepts of movement, dance, art and cultural literacy.

From symbols to movement: ‘LANTD’, the design and implementation of a Laban notation-based method for teaching dance

Abstract The aim of this paper is to present the design and evaluate the impact of a Laban Notation-based method for Teaching Dance (LANTD) on novice dancers’ performance, in the case of Greek traditional dance. In this research, traditional dance is conceived in its second existence as a kind of presentational activity performed outside its community of origin. One hundred and six second-year university students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, Athens, Greece, participated in a five-week programme randomly assigned in experimental groups A and B. Experimental group A was taught a repertoire of Greek traditional dances by the LANTD method with the use of Labanotation symbols and multimedia tools, i.e. Labankido© tutorials, while experimental group B was taught the same dances only by reproducing the teacher’s performance. The Dance Performance Assessment Instrument (DPAI) was used to collect pre, post and retention data on discrete Labanotation and Effort/Shape parameters of dance performance. Intra- and inter-person comparisons were conducted for group and gender. Results showed that dance performance improvement of participants in group A was superior to that of their peers in group B. As LANTD promoted Greek students’ dance performance overtime, it is suggested to be implemented in other dance genres.

Social Structures, Gender Dimensions and Semantic Implications in Dance: The Sergiani Custom in the Village of Megala Kalivia (Trikala)

Abstract Throughout the world there are rites and customs that take place in the context of a specific time and place. The dance act is a reflection of the local society, as it represents a way of validating or questioning the local structures, interpersonal and gender relations, as well as the community policies. Such custom would be the custom of sergiani in the community of Megala Kalyvia (Trikala). The aim of this paper is to examine the custom of sergiani and the role of the dance in that community. The collection and processing of data is based on the principles of ethnographic study. In order to examine the form of the dance, the structural-morphological model is used, while the dances were notated using the Labanotation system. The interpretation of the dance is based on the methodological optics as established by Hanna (1988), according to whom, in order to reach conclusions regarding the society and gender relations, dance must be taken into account. By controlling the patriarchal sovereignty in that community, the female gender would always find mechanisms to show resistance and renegotiate women’s role, position and relation not only against the opposite sex, but also within women. Those mechanisms are triggered through customary and dance practices, such as the sergiani custom.

The End of a Custom: A Social Necessity or a Lust for “Modernisation”? The Case of Sergiani in Megala Kalyvia (Trikala, Greece)

Abstract The custom as an act inherently includes the concept of compulsory repetition and expresses the community as a whole. Through custom and ritual, every local or wider community discovers its own identity, but also the ritual is the vehicle through which the inhabitants of the local community give shape to that identity and are influenced by it . The custom of sergiani was a cultural act performed by the inhabitants of the Megala Kalyvia municipality, as the latter forms part of the wider Karagkounides group. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the custom of sergiani performed in Megala Kalyvia (Trikala, Greece), as well as to emphasise on the reasons why the custom stopped being performed. The collection and processing of data is based on the principles of ethnographic study. The new socioeconomic, historical and cultural facts that prevailed let to the discontinuance of the custom and the accompanying dances, as it occurred with other cultural and dance practices, and it was sealed by the historical structure a dependent - in a broader sense - local social and cultural identity. The president of the municipality, as an expression of the occidental perception with foreign cultural influences contrary to the perceptions of its inhabitants, contributed, with his actions, to the alienation of the local cultural identity.

The Transformation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Dance through State Education and Politics in the Ritual of a Rural Greek Community

Abstract In many cases, dance, as an embodied practice reflects habits, views, relations and juxtaposition and thus constitutes a “vessel” of meanings, is used by the ruling class as a means of enforcement or manipulation, whereas by the people, as a means to resist or express opposition to the policies of the respective ruling class. In such cases, dance stands as a symbol that carries values and meanings, embodies cultural classifications, reflects social relations and diversifications, and defines integration and exclusion. Dance, as “an inalienable structural component” of the “Gaitanaki” ritual in a community of Central Greece, i.e. Skala in the Nafpaktia province, is one of such cases. Thus, the aim of this paper is to study the transformation of dance during the “Gaitanaki” ritual as a result of the manipulation by the ruling class through the Greek formal education in the 20th century. More specifically, the paper investigates the way in which the respective ruling class influenced, manipulated and guided the dance during the ritual and how this contributed to the transformation of its dancing form from the middle of the 20th century until now. For this purpose, ethnographic research was carried out as it applies to the dance research. Data analysis was based on “thick description”, whereas its interpretation on Wright’s (2004) notion of political and politicised culture as this derives from Bourdieu’s (1990) “habitus”. It is proved that national cultural policy promoted through formal education transformed aspects of dance during the ritual as well as its symbolism.

Response From Giossos, Koutsouba, and Mavroidis

After studying carefully Professor Farhad Saba’s constructive comments and arguments on our article, we considered that a reply to them would offer us the opportunity to provide some further clarifications to the article from our point of view. Let’s start with our belief that transactional distance as a topic is open to many and different approaches. In fact, this is one of the reasons for its being at the core of distance education’s debate until recently. Furthermore, in one of our previous articles (Giossos et al. 2009), by developing a series of arguments we had concluded that “transactional distance is nothing more than the lack of common or mutual perception of knowledge, thoughts, approaches, needs and emotions between teacher and learner.” On this basis, we conceptualize transactional distance in an alternative way. By proposing this conceptual definition, we believe that the problem of tautology that Gorsky and Caspi (2005) highlighted is overcome. In any case, our focus is not on the theory ad hoc. From our point of view, transactional distance is a key concept that can be used for explaining psychological aspects of the relation between learner and teacher in distance education. In this respect, transactional distance can be used not only as a tool for developing and managing distance education programs (the main aim of the theory) but also as a way to measure and explain emotional and psychological responses in the context of distance education courses (our proposal for the concept). Regarding the critique of Professor Saba on the positivist paradigm in science, we have different epistemological assumptions because it seems that Professor Saba rejects it as a method to be used in the context of complex concepts such as learning and transactional distance. In addition, as teachers in distance education, we think that it is necessary to have tools so as to comprehend the interaction between learner and teacher. In this respect, transactional distance is an important conceptual tool to understand and measure this interaction. As all such tools, it has its own assumptions and limitations, but this is not a reason to reject its use (of course under the precondition that its assumptions and limitations are taken into consideration, a precondition that we are aware of). Finally, we thank Professor Farhad Saba for his comments and arguments on our article that gave us the opportunity for these fruitful, as we believe, clarifications.