Dance Education: A Pedagogy for Empowerment

Abstract

          This paper investigates pedagogical approaches to teaching dance, beyond the traditional delivery of codified dance techniques. The paper reports on the system of dance education being employed at the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage Malaysia, which has produced graduates of exceptional ability whose success is benchmarked against national and international awards and scholarships. For the most part, students in the program come from underprivileged and disenfranchised backgrounds. Framed by two influential pedagogical theories, Paolo Friere’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and Howard Gardner’s theory of “multiple intelligences,” the following approach and case studies of two students who have benefitted from it reveal the transformative and empowering potential of dance education.