Competences in Dance Training
Competences in Dance Training
During the 20th century some quotes testified the importance of artists for the development of the future – and their ambiguity/ The Spanish poet Gabriel Celaya (1991-1991) said
A piece of art is a gun loaded with future
He e He meant this for poems, but given the vast role dance played in the development of the modern Spanish society he would probably include it, too.
The strongest myth about dance – there are many – is certainly the Indian one that Lord Shiva created the world out of his dance. The scientific relevance of this story - that energy might be prior to material – was acknowledged when in 2004, a 2m statue of “Nataraja” the dancing Shiva was unveiled in front of the CERN, the European Center for research in Particle Physics in Geneva. /
/ Certainly, in a dance course or a dance project participants learn more than a set of steps and some sense of self and partner equilibrium
Contemporary dance is a popular form of dance which developed during the middle portion of the twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominating performance genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S. and Europe. Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical, modern, and jazz styles, it tends to utilize both the strong and controlled legwork of ballet and modern dance's stress on the torso, and also employs contact-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation . As in abstract painting, it is assumed that an element (a movement, a sound, a change of light) is in and of itself expressive; what it communicates is in large part determined by the observer themselves. (wikipedia definition , see Cunningham)
/ The British Dancer, choreograph and Community Project Leader Roystone Maldoone – who is well known at Bremen by the wayof several projects he realized here - talks about things you learn in such a project.
In his book “Tanz um dein Leben” he underlines the word-less speech of dancing as a tool ofexpression for persons who could not well communicate via speech. He sees dance as a way to deal with aggression, which might be used in a constructive and “catharctic” way.
“Dance is beautiful even when it shows the ugly in us, our life and environment. For those who did not encounter much beauty in their life, dance might come as a revelation.”
Persons with low self-esteem could find through the “controlled and comfortable movements of contemporary dance in a secure environment” more freedom and self-esteem in expression and behavior.
Therefore dance is a factor of health but for a positive picture of the own body behavior, too. When only as a fitness training, the social, spiritual and emotional aspects are neglected.
He warns against too much “competition”. “Artistic activities without competition could in a very high amount promote understanding, tolerance and the readiness to look after self-development and own progress.” / “Contemporary dance is the kind of art with the greatest potential to induce positive individual development, to promote harmony and understanding in spite of borders of any kind. Traditional dances could have the same effects provided they do not support cultural-related inequalities between sexes or hierarchical structures. He votes for a combination of contemporary and expressive dance as the best way to give even less-trained persons a chance for self-expression.
Another famous dancer, Pierre Dulaine, himself a ball-room dancer not a ballet artist and choreograph like Maldoone built his own social engagement and projects (“Dancing Classrooms”) on the expectation that this kind of 1:1 partner dancing develops most of all the capacity to trust and to inspire trust. He used this concept for example in projects involving Palestinean and Jewish children in Israeli cities (“Dancing in Jaffa”, movie 2011). From this learning effect, positive energy should spread through the communities /
The question by our practical trainers is whether there is the tendency to suppress artistical effects for the benefit of social ones, meaning that one could do a successful community project which results in a lot of “bad” dancing.
Maldoone says: “No participant will look bad when he/she dances honorable – aufrichtig - , with concentration and discipline”.
The theoretical background to consider competences in the field of dancing might be found in the scheme of Howard Gardner about 8 forms of “multiple intelligence”.
A Bremen school in one of our suburb uses Gardners theory as framework for their concept that “every pupil is a gifted one”, contrasting a concept to support high-gifted pupils with special attention.
He says himself: /
According to Gardner, intelligence is:
1) The ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture,
2) a set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life, and
3) the potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge.
He described first 7, later 8 types (“naturalist intelligence” was added later and a 9th type, “moral” or “existencial intelligence” - meant to cover extraordinary people who are reference figures for whole communities or the world was not put “officially” in the frame) / Dance could be put under rhythmical intelligence but it is very typical for “body / kinesthetic intelligence
Scientific discussions since the 1980ies showed that is not possible to “prove” Gardner's MI proposals by neurological or psychological diagnosis and testing. Indeed, Gardner himself rejected the idea to develop testing moduls for his MIs. Many teachers and educators promoted the MI concept nevertheless as a way to look at their different pupils in a unprejudiced and fair way. “The goal of detecting distinctive human strengths, and the using them as a basis for engagement and learning, may prove to be worthwhile, irrespective of the scientific fate of the (MI) theory.”