Being Someone Else: Using dance in anti-oppressive teaching

Abstract

In this paper I explore the possibility of using physical movement, particularly dance, to contribute to anti-oppressive pedagogies in the physical education classroom. I argue that, despite the misgivings of some feminist scholars, a focus on the constructedness of masculinities can allude to, rather than prescribe, powerful pedagogical responses. I suggest that the potential of dance movement, as opposed to other movement forms, as a pedagogical tool lies in its capacity to problematise the taken-for-grantedness of bodies and embodiment (and in the case of the research I present in this paper, heterosexual male embodiment). And while it is certainly true that all forms of physical movement are inscribed and circum scribed by the gendered social contexts in which they occur, I argue that dance offers particular potential for disruptive and discomforting experiences, as well as pleasurable ones, for students within school and university physical education.