“How seeing helps doing, and doing allows to see more”: the process of imitation in the dance class

Abstract

Our field research in five contemporary dance technique classes, observing and describing the complexity and diversity involved in the traditional “demonstration-reproduction” pedagogical relationship, has led us to reconsider the role of modeling behaviour in the dance teaching context. We have also outlined recent neuroscientific findings concerning imitation processes, which tend to point to a biological basis for interactions based on movement observation. A theoretical framework drawing on concepts from the fields of Activity Analysis and Communication allowed us to develop an original methodology in order to observe, describe and analyse human interaction in the dance class. We have identified some of the constructive aspects, as well as the weaknesses, inherent to the conventional pedagogical configuration. The present research develops a number of analytical tools which may be applied to research in dance pedagogy and stimulates further reflection on teaching-learning activities in the dance context.

Keywords:

• contemporary dance
• teaching
• activity analysis
• communication
• imitation
• resonance

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my colleague and translator, Catherine Ferri, for her ongoing support and efficiency. Many thanks as well to Samantha Haas, for corrections, and to the reviewers for their constructive remarks, which helped to clarify the article. Thanks to the Dance Department of UQAM for its financial support to write this paper.

Notes

1. All French quotations are translated by us.

2. A possible translation of the title: “Teaching dance, and then what?”

3. The author refers to a predominating ideological conception of the dancer’s body as “anatomic-organic”, an object to be trained, and considers the dance technique class organisation to be conducive to the imposition of this conception.

4. Gallese (2005) defines this pre-reflexive level as “a basic functional mechanism of our brain” which is “not necessarily the result of a willed and conscious cognitive effort” (41) andTheureau (2005)) specifies that the “pre-reflexive level is meaningful for the actor, that is to say, “presentable, repeatable and commentable by him at every moment of the course of the action to an observer under favourable conditions” (282).

5. Translated by us: “Le terme ‘imitation’ comporte de nombreuses acceptions; il convient donc de préciser que, dans ce numéro, l’accent a été mis sur les comportements et les pratiques (politiques, culturelles et sociales) qui délibérément cherchent à reproduire des gestes, des paroles, des apparences et des actions d’autres individus pris comme modèles. Autrement dit, l’imitation est, dans ces comportements et pratiques, un acte intentionnel, présupposant un effort conscient de la part des individus en tant qu’agents.”

6. Centre de Recherche sur la Formation du Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.

7. Theureau’s definition of “structural coupling”: “Dynamic relationships of a living system with its environment”.

8. The term “ostensive” refers to “a behaviour whose intention is to render something manifest to someone” (Sperber and Wilson 1989, 80–81). The term “inferential” refers to “the best the receiver can do is to form a hypothesis based on information provided by the ostensive behavior of the communicator” (103).

9. Dora’s initial training is ballet, but she has trained in contemporary dance since she was 18 years old. The other four teachers initially trained in contemporary dance but have had complementary training in ballet.

10. The self-confrontation interview is defined by Theureau (2002) as “an indirect way to know about the introspective activity or the immediate understanding of one actor’s actual experience at each moment of his activity” .

11. This expression refers to “situated action theory” developed by Suchman (1987): “This term underscores the view that every course of action depends in essential ways upon materials and social circumstances. Rather than attempting to abstract action away from its circumstances and represent it at a rational plan, the approach is to study how people use their circumstances to achieve intelligent actions. Rather than build a theory of action out of a theory of plans, the aim is to investigate how people produce and find evidence for plans in the course of situated actions” (50).

12. Filliettaz (2002) defines the “minimal praxeological unit” as “the smallest identifiable unit at a strategic level, that is cognitive aim or intention guided, such as it can be potentially spotted by a co-agent” (147).

13. Translated by us: “rapports de place”.

14. References Barbier 2006, 3.

15. We collected 20 testimonies from nine students about a “resonance” type observing, learning and understanding movement.

16. An interesting connection can be made between this testimonial and an article by Jacob and Jeannerod (1999): Quand voir, c’est faire; unpublished working paper, Institut des Sciences Cognitives de Lyon.

17. We collected 20 testimonies from nine students about a “resonance” type learning of movement.

18. An interesting connection can be made between this testimonial and an article by Jacob and Jeannerod (1999): Quand voir, c’est faire; unpublished working paper, Institut des Sciences Cognitives de Lyon.

19. Translated by us “transmission matricielle”.

20. Translated by us: “enjeu réducteur et aliénant”.