A Mini-History of Dance: Teaching Creatively for Asychronous Students

 

John Dewey: America's philosopher of democracy and his importance to education

 

John Dewey on Music Education

 

In Dewey’s model, art isn’t a thing, it’s an experience (though a thing might be the catalyst for the experience.) The work of art isn’t so much the painting or string quartet as it is the experience of the painting or string quartet. That experience depends completely on the social context both of the work’s creation and of its audience. We shouldn’t ask, “what is art?” but rather “when is art?”

Dewey saw art not as something existing separately from everyday life, but as existing on a continuum with mundane pleasures. The Stanford Encyclopedia:

Dewey then argues that we must begin with the aesthetic “in the raw” in order to understand the aesthetic “refined.” To do this we must turn to the events and scenes that interest the man-in-the-street such as the sounds and sights of rushing fire-engines, the grace of a baseball player, and the satisfactions of a housewife. We find then that the aesthetic begins in happy absorption in activity, for example in our fascination with a fire in a hearth as we poke it. Similarly, Dewey holds that an intelligent mechanic who does his work with care is “artistically engaged.” If his product is not aesthetically appealing this probably has more to do with market conditions that encourage low-quality work than with his abilities.

 

 Natural Rhythms and Dances by Gertrude Colby

 

Dramatic Games & Dances For Little Children.

The Dance In Education, Second Edition, By Agnes L. Marsh And Lucile Marsh

 Margaret H’Doubler

 

Eurhythmics, Art and Education by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze

 

Dalcroze Society of America

 

 Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, LIMS (New York City)

 

Creative Rhythmic Movement for Children by Gladys Andrews

By Geraldine Dimondstein and Mary Joyce 

Step by Step: A Complete Movement Education Curriculum from Preschool to 6th Grade Paperback – April 1, 1982by Sheila Kogan

LINK 

Beyond Creating: The Place for Art in America's Schools. Getty Center for Education in the Arts, Los Angeles, CA.

LINK

The DBAE Handbook: An Overview of Discipline-based Art Education by Stephen M. Dobbs, ‎Stephen Mark Dobbs 

 

Anne Green-Gilbert
 

Stinson. Sue is Undergraduate Coordinator and is coordinator/advisor for the MA in Dance Education. She has taught dance to students from pre-school through senior adults, and was selected as a Dance Movement Specialist (Master Teacher) by the National Endowment for the Arts Artist in Schools Program.

 

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 LINK

 A Mini History of Dance Education

 

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Questions

After reading the article A Mini History of Dance Education and the materials presented in this post, answer the following questions:

1.  According to John Dewey, what was the importance of art in education?

2.  What was Gertrude Colby's goal when she developed the natural dances?

3. What was the drawback of Caroline Crawford's dramatic games & dances for little children?

4. What did  Margaret H’Doubler believe about dance education?