Student Development and Diversity in Dance Education

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Theater Studies, Dance, grade: 1, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, course: Introduction to Teaching University, language: English, abstract: The main challenge is that many students come into the field of dance in higher education thinking it will further their professional careers, either as a performer, choreographer or dance teacher, however the reality is a university degree is not a standard that these areas tend to call for when hiring new applicants. So why do dancers still attend college programs? Why is there an upward trend of increasing dance programs in post-secondary studies and why are more teacher training track programs including dance and performance in their repertoires? The purpose of my survey in this field is two-fold (much like the degree track I am in requires levels of comprehension, being an educator who teachers future educators how to educate students in dance); first, we must look at the training programs which exist for dance educators and how they align with (or stray from) dance programs which are not on the education track. There is a divide between each of these ideals, and they are creating some interesting and obvious diversions in the field of dance that can I will address a little later on.