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| 25th Biennial Conference of ICKL | |
| Escuela
Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea, Mexico July 29 (Arrival Day) - August 5 (Departure Day) 2007 |
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SESSIONS Workshop Developing Dance Literacy through Motif and Masterworks CURRAN, Tina - USA This session introduces the recent efforts of the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) to develop dance literacy as an element of the Blueprint for Dance Education in the public schools. A brief overview will provide an introduction to the Blueprint and the professional development activities establishing a context for the decision to introduce Language of Dance to dance specialists as an approach to “develop dance literacy” in student learning. Participants will experience an activity conducted with New York City dance specialists using the Language of Dance Movement Alphabet as a lens for viewing and analyzing an excerpt from a dance masterwork. Motif symbols will be used to represent key choreographic movement concepts and used as a creative tool for making dances based on the choreographic themes in the dance. Reflection and discussion will provide the opportunity for participants to gain insight and share personal experience. Theoretical Underpinning: This approach is supported by the educational theory of Jacqueline Smith-Autard that she identifies as the midway model - art of dance in education. In this, Smith-Autard promotes “resource-based teaching”, the use of professional dance works as a reference for artistic, aesthetic and cultural education in and through dance. This workshop presentation also illustrates the postmodern educational perspective to expand the definition of “literacy” beyond traditional reading and writing text to more globally encompass multimodal sign and symbol systems as modes to interpret and convey meaning through multiple means. In this regard, ‘dance literacy’ is given meaning beyond reading and writing symbolic dance text to include the acquisition of skill, knowledge and understanding in dance through use of language, signs and symbols as part of doing, creating, performing and appreciating dance to promote new ways of seeing, of thinking and of knowing self and the world. Tina Curran, MFA, is a Language of Dance Certification Specialist and the Director of the Language of Dance® Center, USA. As an educator, she is currently focused on teacher education and the cultivation of dance literacy as a component of dance education. She is a professional development consultant and facilitator for the New York City Department of Education and Dance Education Laboratory. With Dr. Ann Hutchinson Guest, Curran is the co-author of the 2nd edition of the motif text Your Move: The Language of Dance Approach to the Study of Movement and Dance. She is a doctoral candidate at New York University in Dance Education.
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