As my work is related to the development of drama education in Hong Kong, interviewing dance educators and dance troupes has been to me a journey of exploration and revisit. The first decade after the millennium was a period in which new ideas and practices were introduced into the education system, when art education became one of the eight ‘Key Learning Areas’. Drama (pedagogy), dance, and media art were included and discussed in the curriculum guidelines for primary and secondary schools. Since then, many ‘pilot’, ‘seed’, and ‘arts-in-education’ programmes have been launched, overseas research tours organised, igniting researches and discussions of art education. During this period, I have come into contact with dance education in some of the seminars. Coming from a different profession, I was nevertheless reminded of many ‘familiar’ moments by the observations of the field’s situation and opinions offered by the interviewees here, which prompted me to unearth documents of art education curriculum, research reports and lesson plans collected over a dozen years ago, those to be reviewed for piecing together the exodus of the exploration of dance education.

 

The interviewees are Catherine Yau, Mimi Lo, Julianna Ho, and from Unlock Dancing Plaza (hereinafter referred to as Unlock): Ong Yonglock (Artistic Director), Joseph Lee (Associate Artistic Director), Michael Li (Project Manager) and Tiffany Ko (Outreach Officer). Some of them have worked as dance instructors in tertiary, secondary, primary education institutes, and kindergarten for many years, possessing rich teaching experience. Catherine started teaching a bachelor’s course in dance, culture, and creativity a decade ago; Julianna and Mimi teach at the School of Dance of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; while the Unlock team has been developing ‘Bodynamics’, a series of creative dance lessons since 2018, inspired by Japanese dance educator Chiyoe Matsumoto’s pedagogy.

 

In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, many dance courses or projects had to proceed in other forms. Online learning became a popular option. The interviewees admitted that they had been thinking more about the relationship between media application and dance instruction, such as the use of video shots and continuity, reduction of lesson participants, more meticulously tailored syllabus, the use of household items as creative materials, etc. Yet they all agreed that these were just expedient measures in the segregated environment of the pandemic. Taking advantage of the opportunity, they tried some things they did not normally do. For example, Catherine participated in a group project of the City Contemporary Dance Company, researching digital sharing platforms related to art education; by her own initiative, Julianna invited guests from different sectors to online sharing sessions to broaden horizons. Her guests came from the fields of drama education, dance therapy, Japanese dance education, etc. While digitisation and mediatisation are the future trends, the interviewees opined that whether these ideas inspired during the pandemic would develop further depended on the combined effort of the industry. The pandemic seems to have brought the world to a halt, allowing people to reflect on the past, connect the present, and develop the future. With the contemplation inspired by the pandemic, the interviewees examined the progress and development of dance education. The art education concept and research implemented in local schools at the beginning of the millennium will serve as the analytical framework of this essay, main purpose of which is not to discuss dance education in schools but to revisit the framework for the exploration and study of drama and dance education through the progress of art education since the education reform, so as to analyse the possibilities of the local development of dance education.

 

Dance Education and Creative Dance

This discussion is specifically focused on creative dance, the main reason being none of the interviewees emphasise the teaching of techniques in dance education, a direction which is student-oriented. There are relevant curriculum indicators for reference from other regions. Instead of the training and presentation of professional dance techniques, creative dance centres on exploration, encouraging students to respond corporeally to external stimuli such as sound, visual, speech, physical imitation, etc., based on individual characteristics and experiences, often involving group interaction. The process is not purely imaginative, but about the absorption, application, selection, and organisation of knowledge.[1] This encouragement of the exploration of dance in the form of physical autonomy instead of training according to the skill sets of different genres, is similar to the education reform policy which has been proposed in Hong Kong since the 1990s: The shift of focus from instructor- to student-oriented, activity-based or experiential education. The objective is to cultivate creativity, communication and collaboration, and multi-perspective thinking, with the emphasis on the individuality of students and the ability to collaborate and communicate with different people when they look towards the society and the world. This diverse, inclusive, and individualistic take on education ran parallel to the world trend. In 2002, Hui Ming-fai Margaret, then Deputy Dean of School of Foundations in Education of the ​​School of Continuing and Professional Education, published, with her research team, Enhancing Education Quality Through the Arts: An Investigation of Effective Models of Arts Program for Hong Kong Schools, commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Introduced in the report was the implementation of education reform policy and art-based principle in the area of dance education:

 

The famous dance educator Geraldine Dimondstein points out that dance education in schools must be conceived from the concept and perspective of the arts, instead of stopping short at the improvement of dance techniques or treating dance as a contest. Dance within the entire education system can cultivate students’ coordination of body movements, sense of rhythm and graceful body postures, and promote understanding and appreciation of themselves and others, as well as the cultural uniqueness in dance, integrating dance and the other art forms in the melody, rhythm, and physicality of dance…[2]

 

However, all interviewees expressed that they had encountered many difficulties in the local implementation of this kind of open and autonomous dance education. 

 

Difficulties and Limitations

Constrained by the popular conception of dance which focuses on technique, precision of arrangement, and costume design, the expectation for dance education is to accomplish, through adherence to the dance instructor’s choreography and instructions, with rehearsal or drilling, the completion of a work of dance. It does not necessarily involve discussion with students about creative ideas or structure; as long as it is aesthetically and technically challenging, students are happy to take it all in. In creative dance, there is neither distinction between genres nor standard footwork. Instead, the instructor guides the students to explore and create with their bodies. For many, this abstract ‘dance genre’ may be difficult to comprehend. The Unlock team and Catherine revealed that many people knew nothing about and had never heard of creative dance. Also, many dance courses have performances and contests in view, ‘delivering’ whatever is needed for performance. As the demand for creative dance is relatively low, there is less room for development, making it difficult for practitioners to establish a long-term curriculum framework.

 

The interviewees concurred that professionally trained dancers did not necessarily possess a pedagogic mindset and methodology. Dance education used to be an elective course at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; and dance instructors often taught in the conventional way of their past dance training through demonstration or footwork practice. Mimi and Julianna recalled being introduced to creative dance at the Academy, but they thought it was a way to elevate dance techniques like the way exercises did. They only gradually realised, after graduation, that the essence of creative dance was not the enhancement of technique. In addition, creative dance requires the instructor to develop students’ use of the body and exploration of movement through guidance, which involves the practice of a pedagogy that does not happen overnight. Some dancers work as instructors for a livelihood without a particular passion for education and may not invest that much time on the concepts and techniques of teaching.

 

When asked what they expected of creative dance instructors, the interviewees agreed unanimously that they have to believe in the idea behind creative dance. To the Unlock team, instructors do not have to be dance practitioners; while having the ability to use the body flexibly is one requirement, it is more important that the instructors embrace an open and exploratory teaching method. They regard it more crucial for the instructors to hold this belief and be able to practice it. That is why some instructors may have other professional qualifications in, for example, social work, drama, etc.

 

Mimi and Julianna used to be instructors of the Hong Kong programme of Cloud Gate Dance School. They complimented its rich resources and talents, the systematic development of courses and the clear and precise teaching plans. The teaching and research team included professionals from education, physical education, psychology, and art, etc., and the curriculum was evaluated and revised regularly. Before acting as instructors, Mimi and Julianna attended workshops and learned from their Taiwanese peers, who also observed their lessons and provided feedback. Comparing these to her prior teaching experience, Mimi found that the content of the teaching plan and feedback from the peers provided her with concepts and frameworks to deconstruct and digest the course material, which was helpful for reflecting on what she had learned. She and Julianna lamented that this kind of pre-service and on-the-job support were too far behind in Hong Kong.

 

Capture Every Little Thing and Look for Change

There are limited exchange opportunities among the dance education practitioners. The interviewees said that most of the course contents were taught and designed individually. Catherine has experience in designing school syllabus. When she first came into this, things were still in the exploratory stage; there was no available teaching materials for reference, and dancers had little knowledge in designing and planning teaching materials, forcing her into the tight corner of ‘going there alone’. As some dance troupes would provide tips to the instructors teaching at schools for the first time, she hoped that experienced dance troupes could provide more pre-service training. For programmes involving different schools and different instructors, Mimi hoped that the dance troupes would communicate with the instructors about the progress and teaching condition in the initial, middle and closing stages of the programmes so that instructors could better understand and improve communication. The interviewees have attempted different ways to open up exchange. Unlock’s classes were taught by two instructors. This not only allowed them to demonstrate the diversity of creative movements to students, but also for their exchange of observations and ideas before and after class, albeit the cost of having two instructors would be higher and coordination necessary, as sometimes differences in ideas of teaching would arise. In Julianna’s studio, instructors were paid for joining pre-employment training workshops. The aim, in addition to protection of the livelihood of her colleagues, was to generate greater motivation for learning. The Unlock team invited colleagues to share and discuss their teaching experiences, but different goals and orientations might have hindered further discussions. It wished to organise another round of the ‘Children Creative Movement Forum: A Case Sharing on Hong Kong, Japan & Canada’, which was held online in January 2021, to focus on specific topics based on the experience gained from this round.

 

In addition to enhance the mindset and skill of teaching, the effort of the interviewees has also allowed the public and even the dance field to further imagine the potential of dance. In the courses offered by the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts, The Education University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University, Catherine shared with students the diversity of dance, such as the aesthetics of Butoh, dance and disability, community dance, allowing them to create under different themes. As for professional dancers or dance instructors, she believed that imaginations of dance and teaching could be linked together. For example, there is a similarity between the use of space and the way of guiding dancers in choreography and the teaching methods used in dance education. They differ only in their approaches. Linking dance knowledge with concepts of education might create a resonance among dancers. In recent years, Julianna has integrated dance as a teaching method in general school subjects and experimented with a set of learning experiences concerning ‘learning, experiencing, performing, discovering’, exposing teachers and students more to dance. The Unlock team reflected on the individual-oriented dance, defining dance in terms of the uniqueness of the body, liberating learners from institutionalised dance aesthetics. The public participatory project ‘#danceless’ promoted and deepened the diversity of dance. Mimi's contact improvisation project presented different aesthetics to the public and the dance field. She hoped that more recurring performance and sharing would unravel the established concepts of dance or community dance.

 

Gather the Fragments and Recreate Meaning

With a background in drama education, as I listened to the interviewees’ narration and reminiscence, I felt familiar and was reminded of the twenty-year journey of integrating drama education into Hong Kong, when occasionally I encountered elements of dance. Conceptually speaking, creative dance is similar to drama education. Both are open, active, and exploratory learning. Drama education also calls for bodily expression and creation. Whenever I hear the difficulties and limitations faced by the interviewees, I cannot but wonder how these past encounters might be gathered, whether any meaning remained of all the art education researches and experiments done during the education reform.

 

The opinion of the interviewees is that openness and self-exploration, in concept and in teaching practice, is uncommon in the dance field. In addition, performance- and contest-oriented dance lessons and the serious lack of teaching materials have hindered the exploration of teaching and development of a holistic curriculum. This is similar to the initial development of the integration of drama education into school curricula. Back then, some schools wanted to experiment with the open and exploratory learning of drama pedagogy to replace the direct teaching model of the past. At different developmental stage of the education reform, I carried out projects on specific subjects or themes at primary, secondary schools and kindergartens, such as teachers’ workshops, lesson preparation with individual teachers, classroom demonstration/co-teaching/class observation, after-class feedback, and evaluation. This type of support programmes transferred the knowledge and techniques of drama education (pedagogy) to teachers, directed at both voluntary and mandatory participants from schools of different cultures and orientations, the hybrid nature of which indeed increased the difficulty of transformation. Without available materials, drama practitioners could only look for overseas curricula or refer to the framework of the Education Bureau. Such experiences informed me that it took time for transformation. It is the art educators’ responsibility to study the materials, put them into a communicable ‘language’, and learn as much as possible about the system and culture of the teaching site. With this in mind, I searched for materials of local dance education, hoping to find new perspectives and possibilities for study.

 

Since the beginning of the educational reform in the millennium, artists have cooperated with schoolteachers and principals to foster mutual understanding and collision of ideas. I have also participated in some of the planning and training work. At the beginning of the millennium, there was a lot of curricula researches and framework building in the area of dance education, such as the collaboration between the Physical Education Section, Curriculum Development Institute, Education Bureau and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (now the Education University of Hong Kong) on research on dance education, conducted by a team headed by Dr. Chow Pui-yu Lina to counter the lack of dance teaching materials. According to the Collected Transcripts of Dance Education Conference 2001, the ‘Integrated Dance Curriculum Development Project’, begun in 2000, included teaching materials for creative dance, social dance, street dance, etc. The project, from preparation to fruition, took more than two years, and involved sixteen secondary and primary schools. Part of the research results was published in printed and digital formats and are available for online viewing and download. The following are excerpts of the examples from the same teaching materials, to illustrate the ideas of teaching content and methods provided by these materials.

 

Dance Learning and Teaching Package: Creative Dance, pp.9-11 (excerpt of exact wording from the source)

Example 1: Space – Aerial Pathways and Shapes
Learning objectives:

Upon completion of the lesson, students should be able to:

• Express body shape or level of contrast for each movement

• Express control over effort

• Demonstrate different movement pathways

• Demonstrate clear starting and ending poses

 

Learning level: Primary school (Level 1)

Number of lessons: 4

Life source / Creation concept: Paper airplane

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