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Dance Curriculum Through Lived Experience: A Semiotic Analysis

Nesbit, Marissa Beth
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1373892460

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Art Education.
This study investigates the curriculum practices of two experienced middle school dance educators. Drawing on literature in semiotics, curriculum theory, multicultural education, and dance education, this research situates the teachers as curriculum creators and investigates their lived experiences in dance education with particular attention to the ways they facilitate multimodal semiosis, or the process of meaning-making through multiple types of signs, in their classes. Using a qualitative case study approach, this dissertation addresses the question: How do dance teachers engage in and promote an embodied process of multimodal semiosis through their enactment of dance education curriculum? To artfully describe the lived experiences of dance educators, data is first presented in the form of narrative portraits depicting the dance teachers as educators and artists within their curriculum work. Interpretations and analysis of their work are then offered, addressing themes such as the overall structure and sequence of their curricula, the influences on their processes of creating curriculum, and the role of particular types of signs in their curriculum, including language, music, movement, costumes, and props. Particular attention is given to the ways that the “elements of dance,” commonly listed as body, space, time, and energy in formal curriculum documents, are referenced and incorporated into the different curricula. Discussion of themes in the data first addresses common attributes that make a good dance education curriculum: it is locally responsive; fosters a serious appreciation for the art form and work being done by students; is built on the individual teacher’s experience as a significant source of body, cultural, and academic knowledge; and includes a variety of semiotic resources through which learners and teachers can construct meaning. Following this, areas that are problematic within the dance education field are addressed; in particular, I focus on the issue of content frameworks— commonly described as the elements of dance—within formal curriculum. It is argued that this conception of dance content, while useful across many teaching contexts, represents a particular value system and orientation toward knowledge construction that is not appropriate or applicable across all dance education contexts and does not capture the range of sign types that dance educators use to promote meaning-making. A conception of an alternative framework, based on the idea of an emerging lexicon, is presented, and possible applications of this to future formal curriculum projects are discussed.
Deborah Smith-Shank, PhD (Advisor)
Christine Ballengee Morris, PhD (Committee Member)
Clayton Funk, PhD (Committee Member)
457 p.
Art Education; Curricula; Dance
semiotics; dance education; curriculum; Laban Movement Analysis; multicultural education

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nesbit, M. B. (2013). Dance Curriculum Through Lived Experience: A Semiotic Analysis [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1373892460

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nesbit, Marissa. Dance Curriculum Through Lived Experience: A Semiotic Analysis. 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1373892460.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nesbit, Marissa. "Dance Curriculum Through Lived Experience: A Semiotic Analysis." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1373892460

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1373892460
1,424
© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.