Miriam G Giguere

Beginning Modern Dance introduces undergraduate and high school students to modern dance as a performing art through participation, appreciation, and academic study in the dance technique course. In the book, 50 photos with concise descriptions support students in learning beginning modern dance technique and in creating short choreographic or improvisational studies. For those new to modern dance, the book provides a friendly orientation on the structure of a modern dance technique class and includes information regarding class expectations, etiquette, and appropriate attire. Students also learn how to prepare mentally and physically for class, maintain proper nutrition and hydration, and avoid injury. Beginning Modern Dance supports students in understanding modern dance as a performing art and as a medium for artistic expression. The text presents the styles of modern dance artists Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and José Limón, Katherine Dunham, Lester Horton, and Merce Cunningham along with an introduction to eclectic modern dance style. Chapters help students begin to identify elements of modern dance as they learn, view, and respond to dance choreography and performance. Through modern dance, students learn new movement vocabularies and explore their unique and personal artistry in response to their world. Beginning Modern Dance supports your students in their experience of this unique and dynamic genre of dance. Beginning Modern Dance is a part of Human Kinetics’ Interactive Dance Series. The series supports introductory dance technique courses taught through dance, physical education, and fine arts departments. The Interactive Dance Series offers students a guide to learning, performing, and viewing dance.

The purpose of this study was to examine children's cognition within the creative process in dance. Through this study I examined the primary question: What is the nature of children's thinking during the creative process in dance? Research sub questions included: Are there specific thinking strategies or cognitive processes that can be identified from the children's experiences? Have these cognitive processes, or their role in the creative process ion dance, been identified elsewhere in the literature of cognitive psychology, creativity research or educational psychology? And what are the implications of these connections, if any, for dance in education? This site for this study was a public elementary school in Montgomery County Pennsylvania, where I conducted an artist in residence program in the spring of 2005. Data on children's thinking were gathered from the "core group" of the residency. The "core group" consisted of sixteen fifth grade students who had ten daily classes with me of 40 minutes duration. During the classes the sixteen students divided into four groups to create dances for performance at the concluding assembly of the school residency. The data analyzed from this study consisted of the children's daily self-reflective journal entries, videotapes of the choreographic process, and transcriptions of interviews with the choreographic groups and individual participants. I analyzed the data for emergent categories relating to the creative process. Both the inquiry and the data analysis were guided by a qualitative research approach in the tradition of phenomenography. Conclusions review how the findings of this study address ways of thinking and models of the creative process previously identified by educational and cognitive psychologists. While the findings align with several major theories, I conclude that none adequately describe the entirety of the creative process in children's dance. A graphic depiction of the creative process as seen in this study is presented in simple and expanded forms. The study conclusions characterize the cognitive process within dance creation as involving a core of cognitive strategies for making and organizing movement, affected by four influences: the pedagogical, aesthetic, emotional and social. Implications for curriculum integration and further research are described.