Somatic Pedagogies for Creativity in Dance Education and Research

• In Event: Moving Toward Liberation: Somatic, Decolonial, and Queer Pedagogies in Dance Education

Abstract

Authoritarian teaching methods have been standard in most Western concert dance training which has spurred calls for pedagogical reform for almost two decades. Implementing teaching methods, such as somatic pedagogies, has been slow to unfold within dance education. In a qualitative study, I examine how somatic pedagogies foster creativity in dance education, with the objectives of 1) expanding on the current research on the benefits of somatic dance education, focusing on the ways in which educators integrate somatic training into dance pedagogy, 2) identifying contemporary approaches to creativity research in dance, and 3) examining how somatic dance improvisation informs embodied creative expression. The findings indicate that embodiment, creativity, and the joy of discovering one’s self through movement can be transformational.

Author

• Traci Klein, McGill University