Negotiating the rules of engagement: exploring perceptions of dance technique learning through Bourdieu’s concept of ‘doxa’

Abstract

This article presents the findings from a focus group discussion conducted with first year undergraduate dance students in March 2015. The focus group concluded a cycle of action research during which the researcher explored the use of enquirybased learning approaches to teaching dance technique in higher education. Grounded in transformative and constructivist learning perspectives, such approaches attempted to develop students' reflective thinking skills, with a view to enabling them to become active agents of their learning in dance technique. The focus group aimed to explore students' responses to the teaching approaches used. The author examines the data by drawing on Bourdieu's (1977) concept of 'doxa' to discuss how perceptions and expectations of dance technique may be constructed, both on the part of the students and the teacher. The notion of doxa is used as a lens to reflect on some of the challenges around attempting to deconstruct such expectations.

Dance-Related Research In Tertiary Education : A Systematic Literature Review

“…A tánccal kapcsolatos kutatások leginkább olyan esettanulmányokról és akciókutatásokról szólnak, amelyekben az oktatók reflektálnak a táncórák jó gyakorlataira (Baran, 2020;Petsilas et al, 2019;Rimmer, 2017;Roe, 2017;Stevens et al, 2020), és alulreprezentáltak a kvantitatív kutatási paradigmát követő empirikus tanulmányok, amelyek egyébként elsősorban táncjelírással (Dilek és Muhsin, 2017) vagy a táncosok egészségével kapcsolatosak (DiPasquale et al, 2021).…”

An exploration of reciprocity among teacher and students in female pre-professional ballet education: a shared reality theory perspective

“…A recent published scoping review on mental health in dance identified cultural stressors, "such as cultural hegemony, set physical ideals, narrow minded identity ideals, cult-like behavior expectations, traditional gender roles, and hierarchical and top-down organizations" as the most cited stressor in dance (Dwarika and Haraldsen, 2023, p. 7). This cultural backdrop is likely to discourage the ballet students from participating in dialogues during classes (e.g., sharing inner states), which, in turn, might diminish the relational motive (Johnson, 2011;Rimmer, 2017;Higgins, 2019). This tendency was evident in the current study in the way Stella and Leah appeared to reject the teacher's attempts for a more studentcentered teaching, caring approaches, and building a personal relationship.…”

“…Yet, evidence from research on dance students' and dancers' health and wellbeing underpin many occupational hazards and ethical challenges, questioning the fulfillment of these trends in practice (Hill et al, 2016;Mainwaring and Finney, 2017;Kolokythas et al, 2021). For the student, the teacher is often seen as an authority figure and gatekeeper, someone who might evoke various, even contradictory feelings in the student (Van Rossum, 2004;Aalten, 2005;Rimmer, 2017). Particularly within the highly physical ballet culture, students have reported experiencing objectification and control (Gray and Kunkel, 2001;Aalten, 2005;Nordin-Bates, 2014).…”

“…Hence, the asymmetric power-relations and the high level of discipline that frames the relational interaction in the learning practices in the conservatoire context of ballet poses a potential challenge (Aalten, 2005;Gaunt, 2011). Research from conservatoire settings has shown that the students rarely discuss explicitly their opinion on the relationship or reveal learning difficulties to their teachers (Gaunt, 2011), which might indicate potential issues with trust and a subjectively perceived shared reality that is unconditional, balanced and shared by both the teacher and the student (Gaunt, 2011;Rimmer, 2017).…”

Pedagogical Competency of Dance Instructors in The Training of Malay Court Dance Skills Among Upper Secondary Students at Johor National Art School

“…The suitability of this curriculum implies the way instructors could improve students' thinking maturity and skills and how the university prepares teachers to teach at national art schools. The common problem faced at the university is the difficulty in managing the transfer of level for the first-year students, from their school to the university, due to the significant gap encountered in the previous learning of dance techniques (Rimmer, 2017). Students have also faced pressure in taking whichever chance they could to bridge the skills gap between what they have learned in schools and what is currently taught at the university (Cranmore et al, 2019).…”