Dance as a subject is marginalised in academic discourse as an passing, performance-focused topic, its power articulated through the organic structure. In UK schools it
is a physical topic with an aesthetic rubric, pine awaying at the underside of the academic hierarchy, conceptualised as art but located within physical instruction in the national course of study ( Toss offing et al, 2003 ; Brehoney, 2005 ) . Puting extra accent on public presentation at A degree besides undermines the development of dance surveies more widely within a capable hierarchy that places literacy, instead than incarnation, as a cardinal factor of high-status cognition.
Beyond the confines of the dance course of study, these alterations illuminate Foucault ‘s averments that power and cognition are interconnected and that power produces cognition ( 1979, 1980b ) . He outlined three nucleus procedures for exercising disciplinary power: observation, scrutiny and normalising opinion. Bentham ‘s Panopticon, a prison with cells constructed around a cardinal tower, demonstrates how discipline and control can be transferred to the captives themselves. The inmates are ever potentially seeable to the guards and so must act at all times as if they are being watched. They are their ain guards, controlled by the regard: ‘Just a regard. An inspecting regard which each person under its weight will stop by internalizing to the point that he is his ain superintendent, each single therefore exerting this surveillance over, and against, himself. A brilliant expression: power exercised continuously and for what turns out to be minimum cost ‘ ( Foucault, 1980b, p. 155 ) . Foucault ‘s 2nd disciplinary engineering, standardization, is the manner in which behavior can be aligned with society ‘s criterions, to rectify what is seen as pervert. The 3rd,
scrutiny, is the combination of the other two and exemplifies ‘power/knowledge ‘ as it both establishes the truth and controls behaviour. This article illustrates how these processes work in the context of dance in instruction. Taking into history Foucault ‘s suggestion that the traditional manner of depicting power in negative footings as something that ‘excludes ‘ or ‘represses ‘ should halt, that it is the productive facet of power that creates world, the article explores how dance in instruction
might be seen as both literate and a physical activity suitable for anyone, and therefore to hold more power in the twenty-first-century course of study.
Yet dance is more than merely public presentation: to disregard it as purely organic structures in action is to disregard non merely the linguistic communication of its ain structural conventions but besides the linguistic communication in which it might be recorded. Presently there is small indicant in school that dance, like music, has its ain complex systems of notation. The current discourse of dance in instruction has normalised it as an illiterate art signifier and the remotion of the notation constituent at A degree has entrenched that perceptual experience. Furthermore, the thought that dance surveies is entirely about ‘beautiful organic structures in gesture ‘ , the sole chase of slender, flexible females, is an unhelpful design at a clip when there is a demand to
promote more physical activity to battle lifting degrees of childhood fleshiness. So if pupils are non to self-exclude from dance whether on evidences of perceived organic structure type, gender or deficiency of academic currency, so there needs to be a more inclusive, valued and therefore more powerful signifier of the topic in the course of study.
Dance in the Curriculum: an overview
Dance developed as a portion of public instruction in the UK during the 1880s when Swedish pedagogue Martina Bergman Osterberg brought Ling ‘s physical instruction thoughts to London. Physical preparation
was introduced in 1909 into what were so called simple schools to better fittingness degrees and promote subject and cooperation in immature work forces. The dance facet was perceived as an entirely female chase ( Brinson, 1991 ) . Western dance tradition is still strongly associated with the female ; as Ferdun points out, ‘the term “ dance ” is normally associated with misss and feminine qualities by a important part of the dominant civilization. Labeling dance as female prevents it from working to the full as an educational medium. It limits engagement by anyone, male or female,
who does non desire to be associated with stereotypic gender images and patterns ‘ ( Ferdun, 1994, p. 46 ) . Whilst dance still remains a portion of the PE course of study, McFee ( 2004 ) argues for the typical nature of dance as an artistic activity, for its value in the course of study within an instruction system that demands answerability. He adopts a personal question position of instruction which stresses the importance of personal development. Pulling on the work of Lawrence Stenhouse ( 1975 ) and David Best ( 1991 ) , he argues that dance is a ‘suitable medium ‘ for such an educational enterprise. However, whilst for McFee dance should be treated as an artistic activity that has intrinsic value, the impression of dance being understood in such a manner as to do it accountable is at the bosom of his text. His accent on answerability resonates with statements around high-status cognition and with the demand for robust appraisal in public scrutinies. Dance can be assessed as a sub-section
of physical instruction and is besides available as a separate topic at GCSE ( normally taken age 16 at the terminal of mandatory instruction ) and at GCE A degree ( advanced-level topics, taken two old ages subsequently, which normally form the footing of university entryway ) .
Jointing the Power of Dance: Political orientation into Practice
Dance requires the development of physical accomplishments merely as other featuring activities do, but differs in that proficient accomplishment is non the terminal in itself. That accomplishment must be used to make significance ; its chief concern is aesthetic experience. Unsurprisingly, as McFee ( 2004 ) points out, many PE instructors have small involvement in learning dance. Not merely does it necessitate an apprehension of dance technique if it is to encompass ‘masterworks ‘ – that is, known plants in current repertory – but it besides has an aesthetic facet that makes it typical. Indeed, when combined with the peculiarly female orientation of dance, it seems slightly dry to put it within a section that is
culturally perceived as masculine and basically in resistance. But in malice of the deduction that to set dance with PE is to neglect to underscore the topic ‘s aesthetic qualities, the dance as art theoretical account has become the prevailing manner of analyzing it. And this is a cardinal job for dance in instruction: the aesthetic dimension inherent in dance as an art signifier and expected by the national course of study, at GCSE and at A degree, leads to this topic holding no obvious section in which to sit.
All dance scrutiny course of study in school reflect the dance as art theoretical account. Equally good as holding traditional written facets, GCSE and A degree have a practical constituent, transporting 70 % and 55 % of the entire Markss severally ( AQA, 2009 ) . When first examined in 1986, the A-level course of study required campaigners to demo ability to choreograph ; to execute ; to be able to read and utilize notation ; to demo cognition of the constitutional signifier and characteristics of dances and their historical and
societal contexts ; and, eventually, to be able to construe and measure dances ( University of London Schools Examination Board, 1986 ) . Changes to the course of study in 2008 resulted in dropping the notation demand ; they besides streamlined the choreographic undertakings and placed an added accent on wellness and safety in preparation and public presentation. The specification besides removed the proficient survey and alternatively buttockss proficient competency through the solo stage dancing undertaking. The power of the dance itself is examined through pupils ‘ ability to analyze the choreographic construction of
masterworks in essay signifier and to utilize defined compositional constructions in their ain stage dancing. It is besides assessed through their ability to execute. The proportion of Markss allocated for the practical constituents at both GCSE and A degree reflects the demand non merely to understand dance in theory but besides to utilize that cognition in pattern. It besides points to the centrality of the organic structure as the instrument through which the power of dance is articulated and made accountable through appraisal. But scrutiny is, in Foucault ‘s footings, under the power of the regard. The regard, whether on the dance itself or on the wider impression of dance surveies in the academic hierarchy, influences what is seen, what is valued, what is deemed to hold power. It influences the sort of review itself. If literacy is valued in the academy, so how might dance be written, read, considered and ‘interiorised ‘ under its inspecting regard?
Dance is a linguistic communication with its ain systems expressed through stage dancing and public presentation. The word stage dancing itself derives from the Greek, choreia, intending choral dance, and graphia, intending authorship. But if, as Cohan provinces, ‘dance speaks in a really particular linguistic communication, both to the actor and the spectator. It speaks of things “ read between the lines ” , things that are impossible to set into words ‘ ( Cohan, 1986, p.10 ) , how can school pupils articulate those ‘impossible ‘ qualities, have
the power to show them in a manner that is accountable, to utilize McFee ‘s ( 2004 ) term? Not merely toread and compose about dance, but to read and compose dance itself? Foster provinces: ‘Literacy in dance Begins with visual perception, hearing and experiencing how the organic structure moves ‘ ( 1986, p. 58 ) . From the high civilization of classical concert dance to the 1890ss ‘ resurgence of Lindy Hop, from modern-day technique to street dance, the dance ‘reader ‘ must recognize the qualities of those motions, see their characteristics, retrieve and place forms. The course of study, whether at GCSE or A degree, refers to constituent
characteristics and compositional devices that should be understood, and subsequently ‘read ‘ in the masterworks studied for the latter. These include motion constituents ( action content, kineticss and spacial agreement ) ; terpsichoreans ( Numberss, gender, build, function ) ; physical and aural scene ; and the development of dance thoughts. Choreographic devices such as motive development, fluctuation and passage are besides required.
The cultural position
Reading dance is non merely about its internal construction, it is besides about its topographic point within
civilization: it is complex. The reader must understand the ‘choreographic codifications and conventions that give the dance its significance ‘ ( Foster, 1986, p. 59 ) . This complexness is reflected in the manner stage dancing is examined, for illustration, at A degree. The written documents inquire both for treatment of the constituent characteristics of a dance, but besides to show how the dance relates to its cultural context. In other words, the documents ask the campaigner to be able to ‘read ‘ the dance in footings of signifier and context – for illustration, to understand non merely how Christopher Bruce creates the power of
‘Ghost Dances ‘ ( 1981 ) through proficient agencies, but why such a powerful and scorching indictment of political subjugation, the disappeared of Pinochet ‘s Chile, was important. The practical scrutiny calls for the pupil to ‘write ‘ dance, to compose both solo and group stage dancing. The compositional constituents described supra are to be used in this authorship. But as Adshead ( 1986 ) points out, dance composing, where the elements of dance are put together in a recognizable building, is merely the beginning of stage dancing. ‘Understanding the
crafting of the piece merely takes us so far and while it might in rule be the facet of stage dancing most understood, dances are inventive buildings designed to make far more than threading stairss together in a neat and tidy manner, or even in an untidy conglobation of motions ‘ ( Adshead, 1986, p. 20 ) . The power of stage dancing is non merely about utilizing signifier right, it is about making significance and its effectual communicating to the audience. Dance in instruction, so, as examined at GCSE and A degree, requires pupils to ‘read ‘ dance through understanding its ain linguistic communication of compositional devices, doing mention to the cultural context of the practicians and masterworks studied. There is besides the demand to ‘write ‘ dance utilizing those same compositional constructions, and the solo must reflect the features of a
specific practician. Having envisioned and created meaningful artistic relationships derived from cognition about dance, the pupil must hold the proficient accomplishment to gain them in pattern. Those qualities have to be conveyed to the perceiver through the terpsichorean ‘s instrument, the organic structure. Young observed that ‘it is power, non knowledge, that counts in instruction ‘ ( Young, 2008, p. 94 ) . And power can be constructed as the power of Foucault ‘s regard ( Foucault, 1980b ) . Dance cognition encapsulated in its internal constructs of literacy may non hold position in the eyes of those who have the power to make the course of study and back its values ; it has small power as academic
currency. Dance as articulated through the organic structure is likewise debatable: Ugandan shilling ( 2004 ) develops Bourdieu ‘s construct of the organic structure as physical capital which needs to be ‘converted ‘ into other signifiers in order to hold value. But harmonizing to Foucault, the organic structure itself has a complex relationship with power.
As former danseuse Jennifer Jackson notes, ‘The focal point on the organic structure, as against the individual who dances, links criterions of flawlessness to the instrument of the dance instead
than the terpsichorean or the dancing itself ‘ ( Jackson, 2005, p. 32 ) . Dance in instruction does non instantly look to portion this professional compulsion with proficient flawlessness either in the national course of study or at GCSE and A degree. Syllabus paperss
do no mention to proficient excellence ; no statements are given to bespeak criterions by comparing to proficient makings. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance ( AQA ) grade strategy for the 2009-10 choreographic subdivision of the GCSE degree paper which asks campaigners to demo ‘appropriate and sensitive usage of terpsichoreans ‘ accomplishments and attributes to pass on the dance thought ‘ ( AQA, 2009, p. 4 ) , and my treatments with practical testers reiterate the impression that terpsichoreans are
used to ‘illustrate ‘ the stage dancing, that their public presentation is non assessed, for a choreographer ‘s accomplishment is, in portion, to utilize what abilities the terpsichoreans have. In this position, the organic structure is pushed aside, as if dance can merely be reduced to representation, non embodiment. But this is artful: the power of dance is necessarily mediated through the organic structure and the organic structure can non be removed from that representation, go forthing incarnation and representation in irresolvable tenseness. A professional choreographer can so ‘tailor ‘ the dance to the strengths of the performing artists, but those terpsichoreans will already be in ownership of the docile organic structure created through old ages of
technique categories. School-level pupil choreographers making dances for scrutiny have to work with terpsichoreans who might – but every bit might non – have proficient accomplishment. And so the proficient accomplishments of the terpsichoreans available to the campaigners will impact both their pick of stairss and the aesthetics of the public presentation. As one dance instructor co-worker observed, ‘I am certain you could look
at a dance performed by two different campaigners and think that one was better because you are more impressed by the public presentation of one – because she was a better terpsichorean, or slimmer, or more elegant ‘ Even with the best purposes, it is really hard to take the consequence caused by a hapless public presentation and a organic structure that does non conform to normalised outlooks because the two are so inextricably linked. And so the self-correction of the docile organic structure is non limited to proficient excellence but is besides
affected by the expected organic structure form, even at school degree. Foucault describes the ideal organic structure of the soldier, the muscular build and bearing that replaces the ‘peasant ‘ . In dance, as in society, there is an ‘ideal organic structure ‘ myth, the normalised organic structure
constructed as the aesthetic criterion, the object of the perceiver ‘s regard. Following Foucault, Green ( 2002 ) describes the ideal organic structure of the female terpsichorean as seen by her pupil participants, the long legs, the flexible, scraggy organic structure with no curves, thin face, long hair. An ideal, invariably striven for, self-policed, ‘light as a plume. Never eat Sweets ‘ ( Green, 2002, p. 135 ) , underscoring the sentiments of pupils and teacher referred to above. The ego in the mirror is non checked merely for proficient truth but for any extra fat. The scraggy terpsichorean, bing on caffeine and coffin nails, is portion of the
dancing myth, if struggled against in world. But the importance of – so compulsion with – keeping the perfect dancing organic structure can take to a scope of eating upsets ( Thomas, 1995 ) . Possibly turn toing this concern might be one of the ‘benefits ‘ referred to in the restructured GCSE specification – that is, an apprehension of wellness and safety in dance. Additionally, seeking to oppugn the objectification of the organic structure can ensue in a deeper apprehension of the nature of dance and of its function in society ( Shapiro, 1998, p. 10 ) .
The male professional terpsichorean ‘s organic structure is more contested, particularly within the basically patriarchal constructions of concert dance. In the 19th century he was caught between two viing discourses: if he looked muscular, strong and vigorous, he appeared excessively contrasting to the lissome danseuse who took the cardinal function. But if he looked excessively aeriform and aesthetic, anxiousness was generated in the theatre-going public through perceived homosexual overtones, a nexus that still persists whatever the world. Male terpsichoreans in the modern-day parlance are perceived as more masculine than their classical opposite numbers, in portion emphasised through the differences in classical
and modern-day technique and choreographic rules, yet doubts sing sexual orientation still remain in popular idea ( Burt, 2007 ) . The movie Billy Elliot, in which Billy struggles to be permitted to dance, illustrates this absolutely: male childs should play football or learn packaging – dance is for misss.
What is more, in theatrical dance, the organic structure is on position – and most often a female organic structure – and with it historically, a nexus with moral laxness. The female organic structure has long been regarded as a beginning of strife and danger to the patriarchal order, through ‘distraction from cognition, seduction off from God, capitulation to sexual desire, force or aggression, failure of will, even decease ‘ ( Bordo, 1993, p. 5 ) . Churches preached against societal dance on evidences of immorality in the close physical propinquity of male and female organic structures, whether it was the debut of the walk-in in
Victorian England or the sensed corruption of the tango and Charleston in the 1920s ( Brinson, 1991 ) . The theater itself was the sphere of adult females of questionable ethical motives. Foucault saw the organic structure to be cardinal in the operationalising of power. Since the female organic structure is repressed in a patriarchal civilization and cultural representations of it ( Fraser & A ; Bartky, 1992 ) – that is, it is seen as the ‘other ‘ to be controlled by the male, the relationship between dance and gender is influential in jointing the power of dance. The female organic structure can be seen in footings of viing discourses and societal
control. If the power of dance must be expressed through the organic structure, and that organic structure is female ( or if male, so with potentially homosexual overtones ) , so the dance expresses non power but subservience within that patriarchal hierarchy. And in the school course of study, the organic structure is likewise positioned and manipulated, its worlds hidden ( Oliver & A ; Lalik, 2001 ) .
Bakhtin ( 1968 ) argued that these ‘impure ‘ significances around incarnation could be
overturned. Taking the universe of medieval and Renaissance carnival as depicted in Rabelais ‘ novels, he showed how the worldview was upturned, where usual power constructions were inverted and the boundaries between what was considered pure or profane could be crossed. The organic structure image itself moved to a jubilation of the grotesque but at its utmost – ‘it ne’er presents an single organic structure ; the image consists of openings and convexnesss that present another, freshly conceived organic structure. It is a
point of passage in a life everlastingly renewed, the unlimited vas of decease and construct ‘ ( Bakhtin, 1968/1984, p. 318 ) . But carnival is ephemeral: participants can merely be temporarily free of Foucault ‘s disciplinary engineerings. In professional dance, the power of the stage dancing is basically expressed through public presentation, and – outside a carnival universe position – the lithe, trained terpsichorean is considered unambiguously able to construe the choreographer ‘s thoughts with the docile organic structure.
Dance and the Curriculum 2: Notating Dance
But if in school the stage dancing is simply to be ‘illuminated ‘ by the performing artist, so possibly an alternate manner of covering with the possible intervention from the usage of ( inadequately ) docile organic structures would be to inquire dance campaigners to compose down their purposes, to let the power of their choreographic picks to be examined in isolation from the power of the acting organic structure. The inquiry so arises of how this might be achieved in a course of study that does non admit the being of dance notation.
There are two chief systems of notating dance, Labanotation and Benesh. Labanotation, devised by the influential dance figure Rudolf Laban, was published in 1928 and is used to enter motion across a scope of dance manners. Without notation, there is small opportunity of being able to accurately reproduce the motions ; one can merely cognize about the dance and its function within that peculiar civilization. In malice
of its handiness, notation was used really small, with a attendant deficiency of documented dance tonss ( Redfern, 2007 ) although the figure of tonss is now bit by bit increasing. In the United States, for illustration, the Dance Notation Bureau, located at the University of Ohio, uses Labanotation to make a record of dance plants, so that dance tonss can be accessed and used in the same manner as music tonss. Other establishments in Europe and elsewhere are likewise collating notated dance
plants. These plants are so available for reading, as are other art signifiers. And, as Redfern ( 2007 ) points out, increasing the figure of readings of an art work increases its stature ; the power of the dance can be enhanced by ask foring different ‘readings ‘ of its texts. Equally good as making records of dance, notation usage can besides hold learning-outcome deductions. Goodman ‘s ( 1976 ) theory of notation suggests that the created mark defines a organic structure of cognition. Warburton ( 2000 ) goes on to reason that seeking to show that cognition verbally can be counterproductive because of what he refers to as the ‘ambiguity and redundancy ‘ of spoken
linguistic communication. He illustrates this by explicating how the verbal description ‘to semivowel ‘ for a ballet measure called a ‘glissade ‘ sets up outlooks of the sort of motion to be completed – that ‘gliding overlaps the significances of going and jumping… furthermore, to state the terpsichorean to execute a travelling-leaping-action-that-skims-across-the-floor permits a assortment of readings ‘ ( Warburton, 2000, p. 195 ) . The anecdote he tells goes on to research the jobs of description and how one peculiar concert dance kept woman resolved this by demanding repeat until he performed the measure decently – the power of the dance expressed through the organic structure, non through words. But although a dance measure is a bodily experience, seldom conceptualised in footings of its constituent parts,
notation, he asserts, might supply the agency for this conceptualization in a manner that linguistic communication can non. He concludes that ‘if the end of dance instruction is to assist terpsichoreans increase their abilities to utilize dance constructs, to “ read, compose, and dance ” dance, so notation-use is a good tool for making so ‘ ( Warburton, 2000, p. 210 ) , since it enables motion, construct and notation to be linked, which improves acquisition.
Dance notation has ne’er been a demand for entree to dance classs, whether at degree degree or for professional preparation. Few establishments offered the peculiar AQA specification in which it appeared, and so many possible pupils would hold been unable to analyze it. It is available for survey in professional preparation classs at specializer dance schools and besides characteristics in some dance grade classs as an option. But at school degree, the state of affairs is instead different. From its origin in 1986 until restructured and examined for the first clip in its new format in 2009, notation was a
portion of A-level dance, both for conveying the proficient survey to the instructors and their pupils and besides as a separate trial. Originally, harmonizing to one tester, it was included at A degree, ‘for chiefly cultural grounds. Dance has been regarded as an illiterate art for excessively long. There are few books or records of stuffs, so dance is seen as a time-based art, disadvantaged in comparing with play or music. We wanted to assist convey it into line with the other humanistic disciplines ‘ ( Ridley, 1992, p. 37 ) . Literacy, as
used here, can be defined by the ability to read and compose dance tonss utilizing either Benesh or Labanotation. At that clip, the latter was the dominant pick of campaigners ; subsequently testers ‘ studies note the ability of pupils in both signifiers ( AQA, 2008 ) .
The first – and instead indirect – trial of notation accomplishments at A degree was through directing the mandatory proficient dance survey to Centres in notated signifier. However, unless the pupils were highly confident with notation, above the criterion required for the test itself, they were unable to read the complex scores themselves and therefore were reliant on their instructors for their pick. This had of import reverberations. Possibly the first classical survey might be slow, a piece of proverb necessitating balance, control and strength, whilst the 2nd might underscore velocity, lift and elaborateness, a piece of allegro. Dancers tend to be more comfy, and therefore more competent,
in one instead than the other. If the instructor decided to learn both surveies so campaigners would be able to take their preferable option ; if non, so some pupils would hold to larn, execute and be assessed on a proficient survey which did non reflect their best acting ability. One solution was the option to purchase video recordings from the National Resource Centre for Dance at the University of Surrey. However, this raised a farther job: any public presentation is necessarily an
reading of the notation, non the unequivocal reply. The Resource Centre attempted to understate this by offering a male and a female reading of each piece, but the indispensable job remained. Students hence copied the reading when possibly they could hold offered an every bit valid, or perchance even better, reading from the mark itself. The power of the dance as notated and to be interpreted was subsumed into copied proficient public presentation. The specific notation constituent was besides examined practically: pupils were tested in groups of six, each campaigner holding a different dance mark. They were given 16 bars of their
chosen notation ( either Benesh or Labanotation ) to decrypt and execute. The bars were repeated in public presentation, to make a thirty-two-bar sequence. Thirty proceedingss were given in which the notation non merely had to be understood but besides memorised, so fitted to music and a creditable public presentation rendered which was itself ranked. Campaigners had to get by with distraction every bit good as holding to race against the clock: the music was played sporadically during the 30 proceedingss, which was potentially deflecting if, at that minute, the person was non ready to set the stairss to
music but was possibly decrypting a specific subdivision. The memorization facet besides meant that whilst a campaigner might be able to read the notation and execute it with mark in manus, Markss would be lost if they could non execute it accurately without the mark. If notation is a tool of dance, a manner of entering motion, so memorization and public presentation can barely be a just trial of the ability to read it. One could read a verse form for a trial, but merely because those lines were non remembered accurately would non be a ground to presume the individual could non read. This memorization facet
shifted the accent from reading the notation to one of showing that understanding by manner of perfected public presentation. The undertaking was non a straightforward trial of notation literacy but instead one of memorization demonstrated through bodily accomplishment. The power of dance was one time once more articulated through the acting organic structure.
However, consecutive testers ‘ studies throughout this period indicated the increasing acquaintance of pupils with notated tonss, and therefore an increasing ability to get by with them. For illustration, in 2008, the study noted: ‘As stated in old old ages, some campaigners are to be congratulated on their accomplishments. It was delighting to see a figure of campaigners dance the whole 32-bar mark and addition high Markss in this constituent of the Unit 5 scrutiny. This continues to be a positive patterned advance over the past twosome of old ages, bespeaking an increasing assurance in fixing Reconstruction accomplishments ‘ ( AQA, 2008, p. 4 ) . Yet the restructured 2009 A degree removed the examined notation constituent wholly. AQA suggested a ‘summary of benefits ‘ of the new course of study, which included encouraging critical battle with dance as an art signifier, supplying a suited foundation for prosecuting dance in higher instruction, supplying experience of stage dancing and public presentation, and, eventually, promoting a healthy life style ( AQA, 2008 ) . However, harmonizing to the National Dance Teachers Association ( NTDA ) , the notation constituent was dropped because AQA was concerned about the ability of instructors to cover with this facet of the class. ‘Too few instructors were able to learn notation to a high plenty criterion and… testers had seen excessively many shouting campaigners trying the notation portion of unit five. It seems that we as instructors have failed to run into the criterions required to present this portion of the class successfully ‘ ( NDTA, 2008, p. 13 ) . Those instructors trained to utilize the system acknowledged the troubles it posed, but however the result can merely be seen as a retrograde measure. Rather than naming for an betterment in instruction criterions, this important facet of dance scholarship was dropped. The regard of the literate hierarchy was rejected, non interiorised. So whilst schoolchildren may routinely be expected to understand that music has its ain signifier of linguistic communication –
that is, music notation – there is no such outlook for dance ; dance in schools is taught as if it were an ‘illiterate ‘ art signifier – that is, as if its notation does non be. An unfortunate consequence of this is, as Redfern ( 2007 ) points out, that ‘a deficiency of involvement in dance tonss is possibly what makes for, or at least reinforces, the inclination to concentrate on public presentation instead than the work ; and this absence of a tradition of analyzing a dance book in the manner that it is imperative for instrumentalists or histrions to analyze their tonss or texts means that comparatively small has been expected or demanded of
the terpsichorean in regard of interpretational ability ‘ ( Redfern, 2007, p. 197 ) . Notation is therefore of import for the development of dance surveies. It allows dance plants to be
recorded and studied other than during the public presentation itself, giving dance a linguistic communication equivalent to music. It can besides heighten larning. But reading and construing through notated tonss ( nevertheless unskilled ) is no longer a possibility at school degree, and whilst authorship tonss was expected merely at a really basic degree, this excessively has gone. In add-on, complex and analytical notation gives academic weight to a topic so frequently seen as unsuitable for serious survey. It is besides assessable in a
manner in which the more passing facets of the topic are non. The absence of notation at A degree can non assist but reenforce the centrality of the organic structure in jointing the power of dance.
Bauman ( 2009 ) argues: ‘Today ‘s civilization consists of offerings, non norms. As already noted by Pierre Bourdieu, civilization lives by seduction, non normative ordinance so why should the “ cognition bundle ” obtained during one ‘s stay in school or college be exempted from that cosmopolitan regulation? ‘ ( Bauman, 2009, p. 1 ) . Dance may presently be conceptualised as an illiterate public presentation topic for scraggy misss, but it does non hold to remain that manner. Redfern ( 2007 ) argues that whilst technique and a good public presentation can non be ignored, she believes that the cardinal focal point should be on the work
itself if it is to be appreciated as art. Given that course of study paperss stipulate the dance as art theoretical account, so the foundations are already in topographic point.
Drum sanders ( 2008 ) high spots that appraisal of dance at A degree is debatable in that the power relationship between cognition and appraisal, as evidenced in the specification, limits the manner its capable cognition might be conceptualised. I argue that the manner dance is presently held to be accountable by inordinate focal point on public presentation bounds it still further. If removing notation at A degree might do dance more appealing as an scrutiny topic for manque terpsichoreans, it has efficaciously alienated possible campaigners in two cardinal ways. First, an overemphasis on physical
public presentation brings with it normalised outlooks of what a terpsichorean should look like. The standard for flawlessness ( whether in footings of accomplishment or organic structure form ) prevarication outside the person, within the constructed ideals of the dance community itself and as expected by its audiences ( Jackson, 2005 ) . The ideals are socially constructed, doing the organic structure a site of interplay between cultural and societal influences: whilst the organic structure is so in the universe, the societal universe is itself in that organic structure ( Bourdieu, 1978, 1984, 1986 ) . Dancers are about ever conceptualised as female and lithe ; that in itself has
the possible to promote pupils who do non fall into that class to self-exclude from dance surveies on prepossession entirely.
Second, that the same bodily focal point besides alienates more academically inclined pupils: dance has long been perceived as an illiterate art signifier, unable to vie in the academic universe of words. The development of dance surveies as an academic subject demands people who can readily utilize notation and develop grasp and reading from written tonss instead than entirely in the minute of the public presentation. The more dance notation becomes as easy recognised, every bit familiar as its musical opposite number, the more likely it is that dance tonss will besides go one of
manner of appreciating this art. Whilst still being a medium of dance, instead than being a manner of composing about dance, notation should non be removed from the dance scrutiny course of study. On the contrary, it should be introduced much earlier to promote pupil acquaintance. It is besides an accountable facet of dance, but one that needs to be read, score in manus, so that it is a trial of literacy, non of memorization and proficient public presentation. The power of theatrical dance lies in the lithe, executing organic structure ; the power of dance in instruction should non trust so to a great extent on that normalised, skilled public presentation. Yet there is a quandary here: dance is physical, is public presentation, and the organic structure can non be removed from the topic if it is to stay dance instead than go dance grasp. But by enabling terpsichoreans and bookmans likewise to appreciate a work for itself, literacy in notation can dispute the laterality of the docile organic structure in jointing the power of dance in the course of study. This would open up more chances for inclusion, which would joint with authorities marks of promoting kids to put up good wonts of diet and exercising that last a life-time. To put dance literacy in all its signifiers more centrally in its course of study, dance in instruction could go a more acceptable and academic portion of the scheme to battle childhood – and adult – fleshiness. The current discourse of dance in instruction, caught at the intersection of female incarnation and illiteracy, together with
the disciplinary engineerings that support it, constructs a normalised perceptual experience of dance surveies as the nonreader provincial in the hierarchal academic course of study. It is clip for a new cultural ‘offering ‘ instead than the ‘norm ‘ , a new ‘knowledge bundle ‘ in the course of study, for Foucault ‘s negative looks of power to give manner to the positive, to allow the productive nature of power enable dance to go a literate subject, and therefore to transform its discourse through more inclusive
engagement in world.
