Dance Professional Readings

Developing Dance Literacy in the Postmodern: An Approach to Curriculum

Tina Hong
Paper presented at Dancing in the Millennium: an International conference held in Washington DC July, 2000

Over the past half a century a major conceptual shift in how we think about, perceive and value ourselves and our relationship to the world has occurred. In the wake of unprecedented change wrought by the information and communication revolution we have witnessed the technological transformation of the work place, the emergence of the global economy, the dissolution and re-mapping of nation states, and the gradual ascendance of 'other' political and cultural ideologies. The world is not as it once was. We live, we are told as 'global citizens' in a 'global village within a interconnected and dynamic web of transformational change, the speed of which, has moved us from modern to postmodern times.

While a generic definition of 'postmodernism' remains contested, (Usher & Edwards 1994, Featherstone 1991, Jencks 1992) the themes of postmodernity, the social condition in which we find ourselves, are however, becoming increasingly well rehearsed and apparent in our daily lives. In the aestheticised, commodified hybridized, globalised, and e-mediated conditions of daily life we are linked by new technologies into an instantaneous, twenty-four hour information world. As consumers we are able to log-on, tune in, hook-up and plug-in to the 'soap operas' of local and international world affairs. We can conduct our businesses via e-mail, e-marketing, and e-commerce, enrol at e-university, and participate in the spread of global consciousness through televised and simulcast global events such as the Millennium 2000 telecasts and the internet-linked Net-Aid. Geographical boundaries have become distinctly more permeable and the globe is easily traversed both literally and virtually. The world has been miniaturized and compressed both spatially and temporally.

The globalization of cultural and social relations has also witnessed the increasing ascendancy of different and diverse ways of knowing and communicating. In contemporary life, a bricolage of still and moving 3-D and time-based images, sonic and hybridized communication forms proliferate our everyday environments. The use of multimedia, and the multi-layering of signs and symbols have become characteristic of the messages that are to be found in consumer advertising, virtual reality games, the Web, television, CD-ROMs, DVD films and the such like. Representational forms evident in the visual, audio and kinesthetic signs and symbols of these communications media are therefore playing increasingly significant roles in our daily literacy practices. Traditional perspectives based on print-based alphabetic literacy are therefore being challenged and redefined. As a consequence the term 'literacy' has become subjected to a broadened interpretation and is becoming more expansively defined. Literacy has increasingly become conceived not as a narrow set of skills and practices pertaining to reading and writing the printed word, but more as a social practice that takes many forms, each with its specific purposes and contexts. (Morris & Tchudi 1996, Flood, Heath & Lapp, 1996).

Taking this broader and more socially constructed view of literacy, Giroux (1992), for example, argues that literacy is crucial to how we think about the construction of the political subject in a critical democracy. In this sense literacy is incompatible therefore with traditional definitions that reduce it to learning in terms of functional reading and writing or to learning the rules and codes of a narrowly defined cultural context. Giroux contends that we ought to view the world as a text. Literacy, given this view of the world, means that we engage not only with what is contained in the library (conventional notions of reading), but also with what is in the art gallery (the making and interpretation of art) and the street (popular culture and student experience). Being literate in the contemporary sense of the word requires therefore that we engage with the full range of readings made possible through the different forms of representation which pervade life and living. Literacy involves the progressive development of our abilities to both interpret and convey meaning through multiple sign and symbol systems, which includes therefore kinesthetic, visual and aural modes of communication.

Supporting this contemporary view of literacy is the work of The New London Group, a group of leading educators from United States, Great Britain, and Australia. The Group have articulated a case for a broader conception of literacy to meet the demands of the multiplicity of communication channels and increasing range of cultural and linguistic diversity in contemporary society and have coined the term 'multiliteracies' (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000). Multiliteracies refer to a new approach to literacy pedagogy that broadens the understanding of literacy and teaching and learning to include the negotiation a multiplicity of discourses and integration of significant multi-modal ways of meaning-making.

Given this broadened conception of literacies the implications in terms of education and schooling are significant. Leading American arts educator Elliot Eisner, (1998) in re-envisioning the role of schools in contemporary times contends that:

What we ought to be developing in our schools is not simply a narrow array of literacy skills limited to a restrictive range of meaning systems, but a spectrum of literacies that will enable students to participate and enjoy, and find meaning in the major forms through which meaning has been constituted. We need a conception of multiple literacies to serve as a vision of what our schools should seek to achieve. (Eisner, 1998:12)

Literacy, as Eisner defines it, is "a way of conveying meaning through and recovering meaning from the form of representation in which it appears."(p.52). The notion of multiple literacies therefore, includes the different arts as forms of representation because each art form has the capacity to provide unique forms of meaning which contribute to the education of the young. The respective art forms are different ways of knowing. They are distinct media through which we represent what we think, and each has an impact on how we think and what we think about. The art forms as forms of representation, are distinct and discrete from the other. As Eisner asks, "If different forms of representation performed identical cognitive functions, then there would be no need to dance, compute or draw. Why would we want to write poetry, history, fiction, drama or factual accounts of what we have experienced?"(p.44). Dance, drama, musical and the visual arts as different and distinct forms of representation or sign and symbols systems are vital to the development of the whole person because they are each particular forms of experience and of understanding.

The Dance Literacy Model

Given that we accept that dance is a form of representation (Carroll & Banes, 1996) and therefore, in Eisner's terms, dance as a literacy. How might a literacy model for K-12 dance education be conceptualized? The rationale for a dance literacy model emerges from the assumption that in general education we ought to be developing multiliteracies, or multiple literacies that provide students with access to diverse modes or forms of representation and meaning-making. Dance as a distinct mode of representation, and conceptualized as a literacy contributes to this call for the development of multiliteracies. Dance in K-12 education offers students a unique way of knowing and making meaning that is vital to both the development of individual selfhood and to the individual's developing relationship and understanding of other people, places and traditions. Dance is a multidimensional and multi-layered way of knowing in, through, and about which individuals, communities and cultures past and present come to establish, maintain, re-new, challenge and affirm their sense of identity and place within the global village.

Dance as a literacy therefore is an entitlement that is inclusive of all students not only the gifted and talented. As such, the development of dance literacy in K-12 education stresses the discourse of participation over the discourse of performance. Performance discourse is orientated towards professional ends and treats the body as object, being analogous to a machine. Implicit within performance discourse is the language of training, competition, elitism, hierarchy, technique, artistry. The discourse of participation by comparison orientates the body as subject and is orientated towards life-long learning and involvement. Implicit within the discourse of participation is the language of education, involvement, community, personal development, and identity. The development of dance literacy promotes students as participants in learning experiences that focus on the development of the skills, knowledge and understandings of dance as a way of knowing and as an evolving body of knowledge. Students learn to share and perform dance, create dance works and perceive, interpret and derive meaning from dance works and understand the contexts in which dance, dancers, and dance works have emerged. The study of dance cultivates kinesthetic sensibility and elicits a range of cognitive, artistic, aesthetic and emotional understandings in ways that are very different to other scientific or theoretical constructs. The student dance-maker, whether as choreographer, performer, or viewer engages fully in the heuristic process in which the exploration of ideas and the discovery of new ideas has primacy. Using movement as an expressive symbol system students engage in a process of meaning-making which opens doors to new ways of seeing, new ways of thinking and therefore new ways of knowing the world.

Metaphorically the notion of literacy then works on multiple levels. Firstly, as a literacy, dance serves the interests of education in developing the critical, creative and intellectual capacities of young people as a literacy within a developing conception of multiliteracies. Secondly, from the point of view of securing a place for dance within 21st Century curriculum, the idea of dance literacy resonates acutely with associations to traditional literacy. Given that dance in the majority of English-speaking countries, remains a largely marginalized and 'misunderstood' subject (McKechnie, 1997, Bonbright, 1999), I venture the suggestion that the dance literacy metaphor serves the utilitarian purpose of keying the education sector into a way of thinking about dance education that will prove productive. Ironically, of course the use of the word 'literacy' conjures up the 3R's, back to the basics movement, and indeed I might well be accused of jumping on the 'literacy bandwagon'. I believe however, that the case for a utilitarian rationale for dance education supports rather than diminishes other rationales for dance education. Policy makers and administrators will support dance education if they understand how it helps students in schools to develop the skills for life and work.

Given the struggling profile that dance has maintained in the past, I contend that we need to present rationales for dance that appeal and 'make sense' to the broader populace in more pragmatic terms. This is not to deny what we as educators know about the value of dance, nor to abnegate the validity of other rationales. Dance is multidimensional and it has much to offer, but let's remind ourselves that we are not preaching to the converted. If the literacy metaphor successfully 'keys' the uninitiated teacher, parent, and school administrator into understanding dance as a subject that is in essence about inscribing and making meaning, and therefore significant in helping students to develop 'minds of their own' (Eisner, 1998), then I believe that the use of the literacy metaphor will have succeeded where past attempts have failed. The use of the literacy metaphor and its associations with learning vocabulary, exploring syntactical relationships, drafting and refining text and critically engaging with the works of others, provides an accessible conduit through which we may begin to unravel and demystify dance as a subject. Furthermore, dance literacy serves two essential and complementary purposes: (a) the development of literacy in and about dance, and (b) the development of learning through dance, where dance may be used as a vehicle to enhance learning in other curriculum areas, including traditional literacy. The dance literacy model is informed by the emerging postmodern understandings. It is imbued and substantiated by a postmodern vision of curriculum that is transformative, open, interconnected and pluralistic in nature (Doll, 1993, Slattery, 1995). The literacy approach to curriculum takes the postmodern vision of curriculum as transformation. Curriculum therefore within the dance literacy model is conceptualized not as 'a course to be run' but rather as 'currere' (Pinar et al, 1995) 'to run the course'.

Students engage in iterative processes of action and reflection as they learn to problematize and engage in inquiry using multiple frames of reference. They attune to the 'stories' of others and in turn tell their own 'stories' and so develop their own autobiographies. Students develop dance literacy as they investigate dance contexts: explore dance languages, develop dance ideas into dance works, and communicate and interpret dance texts. Learning in each of these areas of literacy practice is inter-related and overlapping. None are discrete. Dance literacy is underpinned therefore by the conceptualization that learning in K-12 dance education is not to be undertaken in terms of a set of decontextualized skills and competencies to be 'mastered'. Rather it should be understood as an open ended and evolving confluence of knowledge, skills, understandings and dispositions that are socially constructed and contextualized within social events and practices. This assumes that particular attention is given to the way various people use dance and the way in which meaning is made in relation to the dance text as a culturally shaped product. This conception, of dance as a set of cultural practices views as central therefore the integral nature of the social cultural milieu in which the dance as social text has evolved and the people's beliefs and understandings inherent within the text. Dance like print based language does not happen in a vacuum. Learning dances, learning to dance, creating dances and viewing and responding to dances happens within social cultural contexts and it follows therefore that any attempt to develop understanding of dance requires that we come to appreciate the context from, and in which, dance is made, presented and valued.

Dance as a way of thinking, influences how we think in other ways, what we know and the ways we communicate. It provides opportunities in, through and about which students develop literacies for communicating, receiving and interpreting meaning using the particular kinesthetic signs and symbols of particular dance languages. Central to the concept of literacies is an understanding therefore of the notion of dance as language, or more specifically, that dance may be conceptualized as being language-like. Tishman and Perkins (1997) write that,

Language about thinking is mostly language in the familiar sense of words and sentences. But certainly people think in many other languages, of mathematics, or music, or visual images, if one can call these languages in a metaphorically extended sense. More properly, people think in many symbolic vehicles. (p.374)

The capacity to become literate in various forms is made possible through engagement with the various domains within the various symbolic vehicles or 'languages' of dance. Dance is not a universal language but rather comprises a plurality of 'languages' each constituting different forms of representation, expression, and discourse. Each language engages us in 'reading' and 'writing' the different signs and symbols specific to each dance form. The languages of dance are distinctively defined in relation to their respective discourse communities and are expressions of specific and culturally determined ways of knowing and thinking. The languages inherent within the different dance forms of Maori haka, romantic ballet, and tango are each distinct. Dance languages are therefore understood as social practices that are inextricably and purposefully embedded within broader social life and cultural practices and are therefore contextually situated. It would follow therefore, that literacy in one 'language' would not imply literacy in another.

Dance literacy is therefore, neither a singular, uniform or homogenous concept; rather it is pluralistic and involves the development of overlapping and integrated domains. Just as the ability to read, write, and speak a particular language is vital to the development of traditional alphabetic literacy, so the ability to perform, choreograph, interpret and make informed responses about dance is vital to the development of dance literacy. The development of dance literacy is as important to dance audiences as well as to dance performers and choreographers. Just as the dancer enriches his or her performance of a dance work by bringing his or her background knowledge, skills and understandings to bear on the interpretation and communication of the dance work. Similarly, the more informed and literate the dance viewer, the more he or she will be able to interpret the work in an acute, perceptive and ultimately meaningful way.

The 'reading and writing' of dance languages takes place within artistic processes fundamental to which is the construction, communication and interpretation of the dance as 'text'. Central to this notion is an understanding of dance text, where 'text' as defined by Lewis and Simon (1996) refers to 'a particular concrete manifestation of practices organized within a particular discourse.'(p. 254). In dance the 'writing' of the text refers to the choreographing of the dance text either by an individual or via collaborative processes. The dance text is then mediated by the dancer(s) through performance and thus communicated to others. The audience member or 'reader' then 'reads' and actively interprets and constructs meanings through an interactive encounter or engagement with the dance text. The development of dance literacy involves the 'encoding' or expression and 'decoding' or interpretation of symbolic forms and requires therefore that students come to know and use semantic and syntactical processes akin to those required for alphabetic literacy.

Dance literacy requires the development of skills, knowledge and understandings in at least three interconnected domains: the kinesthetic, choreographic and critical. Just as the acquisition of traditional alphabetical literacy requires the careful development of skills, knowledge and understandings in reading, writing and speaking, so the equivalent developments is assumed in the development of dance literacy. Given the development of literacy across the three domains, students should be able to develop the capacity to think in the symbolic vehicle of dance, to make meaning, to interpret and make informed responses to dance as a form of communication.

Developing literacy in the kinesthetic domain refers to the individual's ability to engage in dance experiences and develop practical knowledge of the vocabulary, structures, syntax and relevant technologies of various dance languages. The ability to participate in and perform dance relative to the style, and genre develops student knowledge of the various characteristics and factors of that dance form, style and genre. Through improvisational experiences students explore and discover their own movement preferences and develop awareness of the different ways in which their bodies can move through space, in time and with differing dynamics in relation to others, objects and environments. Learning in the kinesthetic domain engages students in exploring and using the human body as a medium of expressive communication. Students develop confidence and competence in exploring and using the properties of the medium of the human body as they build personal movement vocabularies and experience the vocabularies and dance practices of others.

Learning in the choreographic domain develops students' literacy in relation to the individual's ability to 'write' dance by engaging in the creative processes of dance making. They conceptualize, problem-solve, define, refine and give form to dance ideas and learn to use the various processes, methods and devices appropriate to the craft of choreography. In the process of choreography students also view, read, discuss, and perform dance and become aware of the styles and conventions which characterize the works studied as model exemplars of choreographic work. Developing literacy in the choreographic domain develops the students' abilities to think in the medium and expands ways in which they can make public their ideas, feelings, beliefs and values. Through the individual and collaborative group choreography students practice the skills, develop the dispositions and understandings that have become increasingly important in contemporary life. Through choreographic problem-solving students become adept in the art of creating and choosing, not just memorizing and following. They learn to initiate ideas, to develop perseverance and tolerance in the face of chaos and uncertainty. They learn to view complex situations from multiple perspectives, to analyze, structure and work both independently and collaboratively to develop multiple solutions to problems.

The critical domain is integral to the development of dance literacy and involves the ability to engage in active meaning-making in relation to interpreting dance text from the perspective of both performer and viewer. Critical literacy is therefore concerned with constructing meaning and 'talking back' to the dance work as text in process and as performance product. Underlying the notions of interpreting and making sense of dance text are the understandings that meaning in text is not fixed and that texts are infused with myriad intertextual references evoked in the process of reading. Interpretation is, as Worton (1999) remarks, 'a function of identity and no two readers will 'read' exactly the same text' (p.x). Thus, the development of critical domain in dance literacy involves the ability to not only to transact personal meaning, but also to interrogate, question, compare, contrast, analyze, and reflect upon individual and shared readings of dance text. Students therefore move beyond being passive agents who accept as given the possible meanings of dance text and become active constructors of meaning. In justifying their own readings of dance works and identifying intertextual references they not only demonstrate the skills of critical thinkers but also engage in an act of self-definition.

The other key learning in the critical domain develops student awareness that dance works as texts are a product of the social and historical time and place in which they were made. Taking a critical stance means that students examine the values placed on dance by other cultures and examine the issues and challenges confronting dance, dancers and works in different places and times. They learn to question and to examine the traditions and basic assumptions of dance from different perspectives. Students come to know that all dance practices are culturally constructed and like all cultural phenomena are rooted in the past. To understand contemporary dance practices therefore it is necessary to inquire into, question, and document ways in which dance is historically situated. Such practices lead them to understand that different dances and dancers are part of the ideology of specific cultures and that dance traditions far from being static are as fluid, dynamic and changing as the lives and societies of which they are a part. Students come to know that dance texts emerge out of, and innovate upon the traditions of the past. They can for example, probe and source the influences and traditions contributing to the emerging hybridized and technologized forms of new dance. By interrogating the various traditions of dance both personally and socially and from perspectives that include an understanding of the social, cultural and historical contexts of dance students become more aware of their own relatedness to dance and as a consequence to their own cultures.

Dance education within a literacy model considers dance as part of a web of education that seeks to educate the whole person. Dance, the arts, the sciences, and the other subjects that comprise the school curriculum are not single, independent isolated branches of learning but are inter-connected, and inter-related within an integrated web of learning. The dance literacy model supports the socio-ecological view of education that stresses the importance of the environment and the holistic, non-separatist learning and an emphasis on human interaction. Dance education contributes therefore to the broader view of education and as such is linked and interconnected to other forms of learning and of representation. Concomitant with this view is the metaphor of the 'lattice'(Efland, 1995) as a representation of curriculum process. The 'lattice', also redolent of the postmodern notion of 'double-coding'(Jencks, 1994) advances the notion that the more exposure students have to a number of overlapping and inter-connected ideas the greater the likelihood of facilitating deep learning. The lattice suggests an optimal pattern that curriculum content might assume where domains and subjects on multiple occasions intersect, thereby creating multiple and diverse routes of intellectual travel which facilitate deep and connected learning. Given these suppositions opportunities for teaching and learning experiences that allow for the cross-fertilization of ideas and inter-connections between and across disciplines should therefore be seen as opportunities rather than as threats to disciplinary integrity.

Postmodern theory postulates that each of us has multiple identities, different standpoints in different contexts and at different times in our lives. Critical reflection enables us to examine how personal meanings and identities relate to social-political-economic relationships and issues. From a pluralistic perspective therefore the dance literacy approach deliberately seeks to broaden the content of dance curriculum. The tendency, in K-12 dance education has been to develop curricula based on a dance as art or discipline-based model with the consequent content for teaching being drawn predominantly from Eurocentric and western theatre art dance forms. The dance literacy model however, promotes the concept of cultural democracy and works toward a more equitable representation that affirms the significance of dance of other cultures and traditions both past and present. As Greene(1995) observes,

The art world is a constructed world, and therefore we must remember to view it as contingent and always open to critique. We must regard it as always open to expansion and revision. The canon once defined by a certain number of men in time past, must always be skeptically conceived and kept open so that we no longer ignore the new and different as they appear …. Today we must allow the voices we realize were long silenced to sound: the voices of women, of ethnic minorities, of poets, musicians recognized outside the Western world, and we must make way for the untried and the unexpected.(p.136).

Given the increasingly multicultural nature of our communities and classrooms, it is important that we provide significant and inclusive opportunities that allow the stories and traditions of all students to be heard. The facilitation of practical dance experiences over a range of dance forms, styles and genres that is inclusive of the traditions in particular of the students within the local class populations is therefore significant. As we seek to develop multiliteracies we should also seek to develop student capabilities in respect to multicultural literacy.

Similarly, legitimacy must be given to the dances of popular and youth culture inclusive of dance as it is portrayed in various multimedia forms. The dances of youth culture are significant as markers of various sub-cultures and as such are integral to the development of individual and group identity. If dance education is to connect meaningfully with our students, we must move to break the misconception that dance is about that 'stuff that no-one understands.'. We must facilitate dance literacy learning that moves 'beyond the proscenium arch' and work with our students to facilitate learning experiences that probe, question and critically talk about dance that is happening in their lives. Dance not only happens 'out there' to other people, in other times and places but most essentially it is a significant part of youth culture and any study of dance must therefore look to examine it as such. Regardless of their age, our students must be encouraged to identify who and why people dance in their local groups and communities. When, where, what and how do they dance? With whom and for what reasons? We must connect dance to the students' lived-lives and have it resonate with their own sense of time, place and value. As drama educator Cecily O'Neill contends,

The arts represent a different way of knowing and responding to the world. Among the qualities that make them special is their ability to give a voice to students, to allow students to locate their own experience in relationship to the art form and its heritage, and to give validity to the kinds of knowledge and experience the students bring with them to the classroom. These qualities alone will make it vital to retain vigorous, creative and effective art teaching in our schools.(p.24).

Developing dance literacy through K-12 education engages students and teachers working together in constructivist and generative approaches to dance learning and teaching. Students explore, construct, communicate, interpret and negotiate their own and group meaning as they learn to think in the medium and investigate dance as socially constructed texts, which represent diverse social realities. Integral to the process is the construction of their own autobiographies and development of their own minds. Reconceptualised as a literacy, dance as a way of knowing and as a way thinking and making meaning, emerges out of the margins and into the lattice-like structure of curriculum and connects both intrinsically and instrumentally to student's lived-lives. In developing dance literacy through K-12 education students are invited to pursue various modes of dance inquiry, navigate diverse routes, and critically write, read and interpret the world through the multiple frames made possible through dance as a form of representation and symbolic vehicle. Dance is a literacy among multiple literacies through which students come to construct meaning out of the fragmented experiences of schooling and life.

References

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