Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Dance Pedagogy with Young Adolescents at Ballet Hispánico

• In Event: Multidisciplinary Research Perspectives on Arts Education for Middle Level Learners

Abstract

Objectives and Theoretical Framing
This purpose of this study was to investigate culturally responsive-sustaining dance pedagogical practices for working with Latinx young adolescents as observed at Ballet Hispánico in New York City. Despite the growing population of Latinx youth, currently representing more than one-fourth of the US student population (Public School Enrollment, by Race/Ethnicity 2022), xenophobia, anti-migration, and racist sentiments continue to rise in the United States. Pedagogical practices incorporating diverse Latinx identities and cultural experiences are crucial for middle level students in US public schools who grapple daily with these negative sentiments and stereotypes. Drawing on theories and practices from therapy, bilingual education, and dance education, I define culturally responsive-sustaining dance pedagogy (CRSDP) for Latinx populations that incorporates six facilitating strategies from culturally responsive therapy while placing heritage and contemporary cultural practices at the forefront of learning (Añez et al., 2008; Arredondo & Santiago-Rivera, 2000; McCarthy-Brown & Amin, 2017).

Methods and Data Sources
The research accompanying this paper shares the experiences of three Latinx adolescents enrolled in Ballet Hispánico’s pre-professional dance school through their middle level years. My guiding research question was: What are the experiences of three Latina young adolescents enrolled in a culturally responsive-sustaining dance program at BH? This study incorporated narrative inquiry and testimonio methodologies for data collection, analysis, and reporting. Data sources included in-class dance observations and individual semi-structured interviews with each participant. I began analysis with holistic content analysis (Lieblich et al, 1998), then coded data in Nvivo using Riessman’s (2008) thematic analysis, and later analyzed the data based on theme repetition, theorizing about relationships between participant experiences and the literature.

Results
Findings suggest that culturally responsive-sustaining dance teaching practices specific to Latinx populations were instrumental for three Latinas attending Ballet Hispánico’s (BH) programs in developing self-esteem during their young adolescence through identity affirmation and interpersonal relationship building. Hebé, Maru, and Nilda expressed that the centering of Latinx identity at BH contributed to their initial choices to enroll. Nilda described BH as a “good fit because of the Hispanic culture and community.” Hebé connected speaking Spanish at home with language switching at BH, saying, “This is the way that I was raised, and the way I am.” Maru described growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood where “you don’t see people like me sharing culture and specifically even dancing with each other so when we found Ballet Hispanico, it really sparked interest.” These findings also support a call for diverse representation of Latinx identities in the classroom during young adolescence to foster belonging and comunidad (community) within Latinx communities.

Scholarly Significance
While this study focused on a Latinx dance organization that shared identity with their Latinx community, non-Latinx arts educators could use the six themes in CRSDP to incorporate Latinx identity in the classroom and recognize the growing US Latinx population. CRSDP themes could also be a lens to consider other cultural identities through the arts and education broadly, particularly migrant populations with nondominant linguistic orientations seeking to preserve heritage cultural practices.

Author

• Michelle Parkins, University of Wisconsin - Madison