Facilitating dance making from a teacher’s perspective within a community integrated dance class

Abstract

Integrated dance has featured in several publications from the mid‐1990's onwards, particularly from the standpoints of equity of access, and contesting perceptions of dominant conventional notions of what dance is and who can dance including issues of embodiment and representation. Other publications and manuals focus primarily on how to teach integrated dance. Drawing on my own teacher's reflective journal maintained over a series of integrated dance classes, I describe the class structure, content and participant responses in a community integrated dance class for a dance company's education programme in a large, provincial urban centre in New Zealand. In effect, I am seeking an explanation of what works within dance making practices with these integrated classes, to foster a performance of possibilities giving voice to all participants. Journal entries are analysed and the findings discussed and reflected on in relation to current pedagogical thinking within community contexts and my own journey as a teacher of dance in community settings.