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A Characterization of Dance Teacher Behaviors in Technique and Choreography Classes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Extract

Very little is known about the process of teaching dance as it naturally occurs in daily classes at university level (Lunt, 1974). In the actual context of research on teaching, the identification of significant variables necessitates the systematic description of teaching activities as they naturally occur in class. The present study is a systematic observation of two types of dance classes: choreography and technique. It seeks to characterize the behaviors of two experienced teachers observed in their regular classes at the university level. This characterization is made in terms of (a) the proportion of verbal and nonverbal behaviors (b) the directness or indirectness of the instructional approach, and (c) the dominant teaching patterns. The study is regarded as a first attempt to gather valid descriptive data to be used as basis for identifying significant issues in the teaching of dance and eventually in dance teacher education.

Observational studies conducted in movement classes reveal that few systems specifically designed to objectively describe movement classes (Anderson and Barrette, 1978; Costello and Laubach, 1978; Fishman and Tobey, 1978) have satisfied standards of research objectivity and reliability. They show, on the other hand, that numerous valid observational instruments have been developed by adapting systems designed for academic settings to make them compatible with the particularities of the movement setting.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1981

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