Teaching creative dance in school – a case study from physical education in Norway

Abstract

In this qualitative case study, the authors examine teacher students’ experiences from teaching creative dance in their practicum in physical education (PE) in Norwegian schools. From a phenomenological perspective, and taking concepts such as participatory sense-making, embodied affectivity and embodied interaffectivity as a point of departure, the authors ask: How do the students experience their interaction with their pupils? How do the students’ interact with their pupils in their creative dance teaching? How can these experiences contribute to – and illuminate – teaching creative dance in PE more general? The data material consists of interviews and reflection notes, carried out and written between August 2011 and December 2012. The results show how students starting from instructing set movements and facilitating expressive exploration, evolved toward a teaching practice that encompassed the connections between movements, emotions and language for teaching and learning. The authors conclude that there is a need for further research both on what creative dance as a subject in a school context can become, and on how teaching creative dance can be practiced. The authors suggest further research is needed on how awareness of intercorporeal and interaffective experiences can be relevant concepts for understanding teaching and learning creative dance.