Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

College level dance students commonly participate in faculty (or guest-led) choreographic processes and their culminating performances. As an applied and often required learning experience, it is thought to develop the essential skills needed as performers, choreographers and teachers. Pedagogically, however, many gaps exist in understanding and defining what is being taught and learned in this unique setting. Recent relevant literature problematizes the roles of and relationships between choreographer and student in this choreographic process (Butterworth, 2004), the effect of student perceptions about learning and rehearsal (Haines & Torres, 2016), as well as the ethic of care between the teacher-as-choreographer and the student (Gose & Siemietkowski, in press). Using these investigations as a starting point towards further understanding, this paper will overview a phenomenological investigation into the perceptions, experiences, beliefs, and objectives of teachers-as-choreographers in a postsecondary setting. Lines of inquiry include: What are the primary instructional practices used in this unique choreographic setting? What kinds of pedagogical thinking is a choreographer employing? What are the teacher-as-choreographer’s implicit perceptions or beliefs that help shape this process? How might choreographic and pedagogical goals intersect, collide, or coincide?