Teaching of dance in the changing society

How do the practices in the teaching of dance change in the changing society from the point of view of sociology of education, social pedagogy and sociology of dance art? How are the changes embodied in the education and practice - For example when thinking of expectations of how studying should be. What is knowledge or a skill?

We have prepared a set of questions which we will open more with some examples at the beginning of the conversation.

SET OF QUESTIONS:

1. Pedagogy styles. How do I teach? Am I aware of my own pedagogical style and the  the values I have embodied? What is my way to understand a student as a human being, or the world to which the dancers/my students are going to work? What are my intentions as a teacher: to support, to nourish, to reflect, to confront, to give space?

2. Supermarket effect - students only pick what they want. Is it a good or a bad thing, why is it so?

3. What do I teach? Is it a clear package of something or is the teaching material an outcome of a dialogical process by me and the students? Interconnectedness of everything. How much space should there be for autonomy and communication in the curriculum (free time to explore, dance labs and co-research?)

4. What is the difference between a teacher and a facilitator and when are they both needed? To what extend people want or need to discover their own truths? How much students need to make new inventions and how much they need to learn from the old masters?

5. Selforganisation/co-operation. How much does the learning of dance happen in a group or in a dance studio? Is the live presence needed when teaching dance? Are you absent from the class or present elsewhere to study better?

6. What are the underlying study plans? As a teacher do I sometimes see to the future, or just think I do? How much confusion students can stand while waiting for to see the results of the longer processes? Especially when they don´t feel anything going on quite yet. How to find trust to the process?

7. How much is online teaching possible in my own teaching, using video/youtube, idocde, skype etc. We have all the information online nowadays. Why do people still go to workshops and classes?

8. Context, concept, content. What is appropriate and where? How do we take dance (teaching of dance) to different environments and contexts? What kinds of curriculums we can develop to different contexts (University and other educations, institutions, courses, workshops,  professional/non-professional, health, social sectors business etc.)

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Elina Ikonen is a director of ISLO Education in Dance and Somatics in Joensuu, Finland. She is a teacher/dance movement therapist/work supervisor/Trager practitioner and social welfare worker and combines these approaches in constructive pedagogy in adult education.

 Pia Lindy is a freelance dancer/choreographer/teacher and writer focusing on improvisation and process-oriented approaches to working, teaching and performing, and on operating in various environments/contexts.

 Both are teaching at ISLO Education in Dance and Somatics in Joensuu, Finland.

_________________________________________________________