Facilitating dance making from a teacher’s perspective within a community integrated dance class

Issues and Challenges around the fostering of a productive respectful community ethos within an integrated/inclusive class context.

“…My use of the term 'integrated dance' does not attempt to disguise that the term 'disability' is deeply contested (Benjamin, 2002Cheesman, 2011aKuppers, 2006Kuppers, , 2014Whatley, 2007). It is not my intention to recap the tensions, binaries and complexities around language usage.…”

“…I am a person who likes to talk through the body: I move from being still into dance Communicating through movement My body bends, twists and rolls cutting through space leaving traces My limbs reach out and I am dancing from within I have previously described my class structure for integrated dance contexts as consisting of introductory activities; improvisational tasks around a given idea; development, variation and repetition of movement sequences; scores; circle, pair and group improvisations; viewing and responding; and social time (Cheesman, 2011a). Within this class structure, some common features of my classes involve greetings and 'checking in' with dancers, frequent sharing and responding to each other moving, use of a buddy system and building on learning from previous classes (Cheesman, 2011a). I have argued that "rituals of practice, which are set up from the outset, create a learning culture that values all contributions" (Cheesman, 2011a, p. 39).…”

“…It is a process in flux in which there is not one fixed set of answers but rather a series of dispositions/ways of operating that build agency (Carr & Claxton, 2008). My aim is to offer a meaningful and respectful moving reflection while marking multiple privileges, and opening up the spaces of vulnerability (Cheesman, 2011a) with regard to fostering a productive respectful community ethos/learning environment within an integrated class context.…”

“…Unpacking this overarching question from a critical standpoint (Cheesman, 2011a) prompted the following more specific questions: How are the differing needs of a class managed in order to foster a respectful productive learning environment? How is a sense of agency cultivated?…”

“…However, an increasing body of work in relation to dance has arisen around issues of equity of access, contesting dominant and/or conventional notions of what dance is and who can dance, and challenging notions of representation and embodiment (Albright, 1997;Benjamin, 2008;Dandeker, 2007;Kuppers, 2007Kuppers, , 2014; Sandahl & Auslander, 2005;Whatley 2007). Others have written about how to teach integrated dance in a variety of settings with useful information on the practicalities of teaching and specific content for a range of dance learning experiences (Cheesman, 2011a(Cheesman, , 2011bCone & Cone, 2011, Zitomer, 2013. Dunphy and Scott (2003), Hills (2003), Kaufmann (2006), and Levete (1993) weave theory and practice side by side in their books that focus mainly on practical exploratory, improvisational and creative dance activities supplemented with useful teaching strategies and accessible ways of working.…”