Moving Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Dance

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-12 - Paulo Freire: Philosophy and Pedagogy, Critique and Possibilities

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to translate Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy into the embodied practice of dance education. It draws on Freire's body of work as well as dance scholarship to examine possibilities for a critical pedagogy of dance. Following the dialectic structure of Freire's notion of praxis –which involves the two components of reflection and action, or theory and practice – this paper engages both a theoretical discussion of dance education as well as a practical framework for envisioning a critical dance pedagogy. It aims to establish a dialogue between methodological discourses on dance education and the philosophy of critical pedagogy espoused by Paulo Freire in order to reveal possibilities for a critical pedagogy of dance.
The first part of this paper re-orients Freire's ideas within an understanding of embodied knowledge, or a way of valuing the body as a source of knowledge in itself and a way of knowing the world. From this place of embodied consciousness, I use a Freirean analysis to critique traditional Western forms of dance education, which use what Freire would call a "banking" method of teaching that objectifies the dancing body. Following this critique, I argue for alternative forms of dance instruction based on principles of critical pedagogy. This kind of critical dance pedagogy acknowledges the dancer as a Subject in his/her own right and enables the dancer to both read the world and speak to the world through dance. The second part of this paper uses Freirean concepts as well as insights from dance scholars in order to outline several key principles of a critical dance pedagogy as well as to provide a description of three transformative dimensions of this practice related to body, form, and space. This paper is significant for both dance education as well as critical pedagogy, as it opens a space of dialogue between these seemingly disparate fields of education. When Freire's philosophy is translated onto the body and into the context of dance education, it becomes possible to conceive of a transformative dance pedagogy that is empowering, critical, reflective, and political.

Author

• Pria Patroni, University of Toronto - OISE