Traditional dance, pedagogy and technology: an overview of the WebDANCE project

Abstract

With few exceptions, dance, and traditional dance in particular, has received little attention regarding the development of technological tools that can support teaching. The WebDANCE project was a pilot study with a European scope that aimed to experiment with the development of a web‐based learning environment for traditional dances. The final tool included teaching units and 3D animation for two dances, Karsilamas from Greece and Valentine Morris from England, and was evaluated before (front‐end), during (formative) and towards the end of the project (summative evaluation).

Experience from the WebDANCE project has shown that (1) the same conceptualisation schema can potentially be used to document different European traditional dances, (2) web‐based tools can be used to create attractive and functional dance resources, and (3) these tools can support the teaching of traditional dances to young people. As the interest from teachers/trainers and traditional dance experts for such tools is growing, further work is required in order to increase the flexibility and functionality of these tools, and make them more easily accessible to teachers and students in school environments.

Keywords:

• traditional dance
• WebDANCE project
• e‐learning
• 3D animation

Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper has been partly supported by the commission of the European Union under the SOCRATES‐MINERVA programme. The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of the members of the WebDANCE and OpenDANCE consortiums.

Notes

1. WebDANCE: Web Dance for All using Advanced E‐learning Tools. Project No: 101338‐CP‐1‐2002‐1‐GR‐MINERVA‐M. The Project was completed in January 2005.