Teaching to the Whole Dancer: Synthesizing Pedagogy, Anatomy, and Psychology

Copyright © 2009 International Association for Dance Medicine & Science • www.iadms.org The approach to technique training in both dance and music reflects the educational models of previous centuries in which the teacher was an experienced professional and the student an apprentice, learning at the feet of the master. Traditionally, dance has been taught from this hierarchical, teacher-centered perspective.1 In this traditional model, the teacher is perceived as the primary source of knowledge; students learn through imitation and adherence to external instructions. Physical mastery is achieved through repetition, with minimal conceptual foundation. Technical goals are defined in terms of ideal physical accomplishments (e.g., 180 degrees of turnout). This approach relies heavily on innate natural talent and physical facility relative to the demands being placed on the body, with few accommodations made for individual limitations. While there is no doubt that many exquisite dancers have emerged from this training system, it contains some serious drawbacks. The teacher-centered environment encourages students to equate learning with the acquisition of skills, placed within a right/wrong dance context that focuses on external product and results. Students trained in this model are generally motivated by their desire for external approval; they often become passive learners who excel at following instructions but lack internal awareness and motivation. Cognitively, they lack a conceptual foundation (anatomical, mechanical, somatic, etc.) to support their technical development. There is often a physical toll associated with this approach to training. By ignoring individual physical limitations, a Darwinian system of professional preparation has evolved in which those with bodies well-suited to the field’s demands thrive. Those with less than ideal physical instruments or whose bodies cannot tolerate the physical stress of improper mechanics may drop out of the field prematurely. An artistic toll is taken as well. Mature artistry requires self-awareness and the capacity for creative collaboration. The emphasis on obedience, imitation, and submission to external authority, in combination with the early age of entry into the profession, have led to fragile self-esteem, stunted emotional development, and a culture of infantilization of professional artists.2 Lacking tools for selfempowerment and self-direction, many dancers do not fulfill their artistic potential.