Welcome to the 2019 Dance Education in Practice Special Issue, “Choreography in Education.” Choreography holds an important place in the field of dance education. In many ways, it is the heart of the art form. It is the place where creative expression is developed, a key component of dance literacy, and the reason we need to develop technique. In fact, many of the codified technique systems of the twentieth century, like Horton or Graham, were developed to train dancers to perform in new styles of choreography. Choreography is the place where creative thinking, personal expression, and social commentary come together, and the place where dance meets the public. It is the way in which our art form presents embodiment to audiences: most people don't see a dance class in progress; instead, they see a performance of choreography.
Because of this public and central place choreography holds in dance, it is also the place where issues of equity, collaboration, and personal voice are scrutinized and questioned. What are the body types, gender identities, and ethnicities that we showcase in a piece of choreography? Whose voice is central in the creative process? Creating and teaching the art of composition and choreography in dance education therefore play an important part in making space for these vital contemporary conversations to take place between students and teachers. It is also the canvas for developing a host of life tools as well as dance skills. Leading or participating in choreographic process can build trust, empathy, and collaboration. It can promote risk taking and tolerance for ambiguity, all crucial social skills for twenty-first-century students learning to navigate a complex world. Cognitively, choreography necessitates reflection, revision, and articulating critical feedback, all valued academic competencies. These social and intellectual benefits of teaching choreographic process make for strong points in advocating for your dance program, assuming creative process is valued and highlighted in your setting.
Although the presence of choreography itself is ubiquitous in all dance education contexts, the teaching of choreographic process is not always highlighted. The creative and experienced educators who contributed to this issue, and the many authors whose contributions on this topic did not fit in this issue, but will be published in future issues of Dance Education in Practice, share their insights on how to centralize choreographic process in your dance education practice. They show us the benefits of focusing on creative process, rather than simply setting steps or movement phrases on your students. Whether your setting is pre-K–12, private sector, or postsecondary education, teaching choreographic process can enhance your curriculum.
The issue begins with two articles in the pre-K–12 setting. Karen Campbell Kuebler's creative “Choreographing with Big Cats” and Hetty King's “Strategies for Encouraging Originality in Dance Making in the Pre-K–12 Setting,” show how dance making in the early years of dance education can teach many of the critical dance basics, including Laban/Bartenieff Fundamentals and the Language of Dance. The next article, “Every Dance Needs a Chaperone: The Whys and Hows of a Mentored Choreography Festival,” by Chelsea Weidmann, provides a clear path for private-sector studios to offer significant choreographic opportunities for their students. The issue finishes with two views on teaching choreography in the higher education sector, one through a choreography project and one through composition class. Marin Leggat Roper takes us through a choreography project in which college dancers collaborated with professional classical Indian dancers in an autobiographical solo practice to examine faith and empathy in “Somatic-Based Choreographic Collaborations Between Dancers from the United States and India,” and Angela Yetzke delves into the challenges of teaching dance composition and creative process to today's college students in “Fueling the Creative Agency of Generation Z.” My thanks go out to these talented educators who are sharing their expertise and experiences through these articles to enhance all of our understanding of choreography in dance education.
Guest Editor