Introducing choice in the Higher Education dance technique class

A presentation from the Arts and Humanities Annual Conference 2014

Haunted by the ‘ghost of technique classes past’ how do first year undergraduate dance students learn to alter their expectations of what the dance technique class is? How does the act of introducing choice in the dance technique class disrupt and destabilise students’ beliefs of what is required of them in this space? In a quest to encourage undergraduate dance students to develop a sense of autonomy this session will contemplate some of the challenges and benefits of opening up opportunities for students to make choices in relation to learning movement material delivered by the technique teacher.