Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This artistic research dissertation employs the principles and practices of contact improvisation in a literary performative to describe and demonstrate this somatic form’s potential as a complex system of embodied knowing. For strategic and thematic purposes, chapters in this dissertation are referred to as Streams. The First Stream motivates the methodological approaches and emergent strategies employed in the researcher’s simultaneous practices of teaching, researching and writing about contact improvisation. The Second Stream is offered as an oral testimony of the researcher’s attempt to find practical solutions for the increasing complexity apparent in her work environment during the last two decades. It is written primarily as a first-person narrative with references by other somatic and contact improvisation practitioners embedded in the body of the narrative and presented as personal subconscious/collective unconscious interjections. The Third Stream uses a locally-emergent artistic research strategy termed Secondary Primacy to critically and creatively engage with existing literature. The observations of theorists and practitioners from the researcher’s own context (theatre and drama), as well as from a diversity of interrelated disciplines (including psychology, sociology, evolutionary biology, quantum physics, pedagogy and visual art) are presented in an autonomous authorial voice employing the performative strategy of what if. This strategy serves to demonstrate the researcher’s experience of the link between personal subconscious and collective unconscious motivations for action and exposes the transdisciplinary ground upon which many of the ideas and observations voiced in other Streams, in particular about contact improvisation as a complex system of embodied knowing, are implicitly dependent. The Fourth Stream discusses contact improvisation as a complex system foregrounding the particular characteristics of nonlinearity, paradox, emergence and additional capacity introduced in the Second and Third Streams. The Fifth Stream demonstrates convergences and overlaps between contemporary theories about agency, embodiment and transformation as they may apply to educators in tertiary educational performing arts contexts. This discussion is interspersed with accounts of the researcher’s own attempts – through her performing arts educational practice - to understand agency and transformation as workable elements. The Sixth Stream is offered as a personal philosophy of action. The implicit values and strategies of the researcher that were exposed in previous Streams are here distilled and presented as affirmations and Actions motivating the sustained use, by the researcher within her localized educational context, of contact improvisation as a foundational somatic approach for performers. In keeping with the positioning of this dissertation as artistic research, the literary framing devices of a Foreword and Afterword are used to draw a reader’s attention to the practicebased nature of the subject under discussion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie artistieke navorsingsverhandeling gebruik die beginsels en praktyke van kontakimprovisasie in ‘n literêre performatief om hierdie somatiese vorm se potensiaal as ‘n komplekse sisteem van verpersoonlikte kundigheid te beskryf en te demonstreer. Vir strategiese en tematiese doeleindes word daar in hierdie verhandeling na hoofstukke as Strome verwys. Die Eerste Stroom motiveer die metodologiese benaderinge en voortspruitende strategieë wat aangewend word in die navorser se gelyktydige onderrig van, en navorsing en skrywe oor, kontakimprovisasie. Die Tweede Stroom word aangebied as ‘n mondelinge betuiging van die navorser se poging om praktiese oplossings te vind vir die toenemende kompleksiteit in haar omgewing oor die laaste twee dekades. Hierdie Stroom word primêr as ‘n eerste persoon narratief aangebied met behulp van verwysings deur ander somatiese en kontakimprovisasie praktisyns wat in die narratief geanker en aangebied word as persoonlike onbewustelike/kollektiewe onbewuste tussenwerpsels. In die Derde Stroom word ‘n plaaslik ontwikkelde artistieke navorsingstrategie, naamlik Sekondêre Voorrang, gebruik om die konvensionele literatuurstudie op kreatiewe wyse te herinterpreteer. Die waarnemings van teoretici en praktisyns uit die navorsers se eie studieveld (teater en drama), sowel as uit ‘n verskeidenheid van interafhanklike studievelde (onder andere psigologie, sosiologie, evolusionêre biologie, kwantum fisika, pedagogie en visuele kuns) word aangebied as ‘n outonome outeursbedoelde stem en maak gebruik van ‘n performatiewe what if. Díe strategie dien as ‘n metode om die navorsers se ervaring van die implisiete afhanklikhied tussen persoonlike onderbewussyn en kollektiewe onbewustheid motiverings vir aksie te demonstreer, en die transdisiplinêre grond van idees en waarnemings, in die besonder oor kontakimprovisasie as ‘n komplekse sisteem van verpersoonlikte kennis, te ontgin en bloot te lê. In die Vierde Stroom word kontakimprovisasie as ‘n komplekse sisteem bespreek en die eienskappe van nie-liniariteit, paradoks, ontluiking en addisionele kapasiteit wat in die Tweede en Derde Strome bespreek is, is verder op die voorgrond geplaas. Die Vyfde Stroom toon die sameloop en ooreenkomste aan tussen teorieë oor tussenkoms, verpersoonliking en transformasie soos van toepassing mag wees op opvoeders in ‘n tersiêre opvoedkundige performance konteks. Hierdie bespreking is afgewissel met vertellings van die navorser se eie pogings - deur haar uitvoerende kunste opvoedkundige praktyk – om agentskap en transformasie as werkbare elemente te verstaan. Die Sesde Stroom word aangebied as ‘n persoonlike filosofie van handeling. Die implisiete waardes en strategieë van die navorser, soos bloot gelê in die vorige Strome, word hier gesuiwer en aangebied as bekragtiging en Aksies vir die volgehoue gebruik, deur die navorser in haar eie gelokaliseerde opvoedkundige konteks, van kontakimprovisasie as ‘n grondleggende somatieke benadering vir performers. As deel van hierdie verhandeling se posisionering as artistieke navorsing word ‘n Voorwoord en Slotwoord gebruik om die leser se aandag te vestig op die verpersoonlikte aard van die onderwerp onder bespreking.

Student stories are a potentially rich natural resource running through the veins of our schools, but this resource sometimes goes untapped. One strategy teachers can use to take advantage of this resource is to formally introduce oral storytelling into the classroom--to explicitly teach students how to choose and craft stories from their lives and then allow them to publicly perform those stories. The Story Shop Community Education Program (a pseudonym) in New York City is a non-profit devoted to bringing the art and craft of oral storytelling to populations that might not otherwise have access to it through series of free workshops. This research project took place over sixteen weeks of one such workshop at a Title I public high school in East New York, Brooklyn. It addresses the following question: How does an oral storytelling unit affect both individual students and their classroom relationships? More specifically, (1) How do individual students engage with an oral storytelling unit? (2) What is the perceived impact of an oral storytelling unit on classroom relationships? (3) How do students perceive the impact of an oral storytelling unit both on their understanding of themselves as individuals and on their relationships with each other? and (4) How does the teacher perceive the impact of an oral storytelling unit on her individual students and her classroom relationships? Drawing on an interpretivist/social network approach and grounded in the tenets of narrative qualitative research, this project utilizes mixed methods to investigate whether an oral storytelling unit provided students with opportunities for growth in identity development and deepening of their classroom relationships. This investigation documents how granting students the time and space to bear witness to each other's lives and `go public' with stories that could otherwise go unheard might improve classroom community and therefore student motivation.

Many high school communities across the United States grapple with issues of bullying, harassment and other forms of student conflict that are often the result of intolerance and misunderstandings across and among social identities (Griffin et. al., 2012). In an effort to rebuild tone and community, however, schools have focused predominantly on (1) addressing only antagonistic student behavior and (2) tolerance-based approaches that result in the superficial “choreography of civil speech” (Mayo. 2004). Both methods, in different ways, have struggled to meaningfully address many of the underlying issues responsible for intergroup and interpersonal conflict and the deterioration of community in schools (Dessel, 2010; Poteat & DiGiovanni, 2010). This qualitative case study examines the impact of an innovative arts-based curriculum designed to center the construction and performance of student “creative authoethnographies” in the classroom as a way of proactively working toward dialogue about identity and social analysis. Conducted over the course of a single school year at a high school in New York City, this research looks carefully at the experiences of seven students. Through close analysis of student interviews, archived student writing, curriculum documents, student surveys and other qualitative data, this work strives to articulate what courses such as these offer students, and how their presence in schools holds the potential to directly address issues of bullying and conflict across difference. Responding to the critical multiculturalist call (Banks, 1995, Morrell, 2007; Camangian, 2010) for a pedagogy that combines the successful but historically separate practices of autoethnography and the teaching of dialogue skills, this study introduces “cultural ruptures” and a “pedagogy of disruption” as part of a new approach to engaging young people in an of education that is explicit in it’s efforts to critique society and interrogate one’s own identity (Freire & Macedo, 1987). This research also advocates strongly on behalf of English classrooms (and English teachers specifically) as among the most important “actors” in the work of humanizing education, and offers tangible recommendations and strategies for practitioners toward that end.

Classical music performance has long been perceived as the domain of people with talent. This pervasive way of thinking can inhibit individuals from reaching their true musical potential. I argue that this problem has to do with the habitual performing and teaching practices based upon the body-mind dualism, which ignores intrinsically connected qualities of the performing body and mind. In this project, I aimed to understand the intrinsic malleable capacity, or my terms, the malleable inner self, as the intrinsic measurement for lifelong learning and growth in the context of musical performance and its pedagogy. Through autoethnographic narrative inquiry with the life story interview method as a methodological lens, I used the Korean cellist Ms. Lim’s 30- year transformative journey as an essential testimony. This project arises from a way of knowing I have turned to, the move from practice to theory, which I came to believe opens up a mode of inquiry that offers continuous growth, as did Ms. Lim’s lifelong transformative journey. In my reimagination of Ms. Lim’s narrative—in which I redefine her transformative journey as a musical pilgrimage—the self is the “capacity within.” I cultivated the idea of the entirety of the musical self, underlying a sense of wholeness or a sense of the self as a musical whole, the pinnacle of the restored capacity that comes with the body-mind/self- music unity. In this sense, the malleable inner self or the malleable capacity within is the foundational condition to be restored to experience the entirety of the musical self or a sense of the self as a musical whole. I further reimagined, from the transformative learning perspective, how this restored self/capacity can reflect understanding of an essential pedagogy, breaking out of the extrinsic measurement-oriented pedagogical structure in the context of musical performance. I conclude that every individual musician at all levels retains an inherent, malleable musical capacity, which can be restored from the unified, liberated mind-body as the ultimate musical entity. With the capacity-building perspective, my study demonstrates that students and teachers can open their own doors for ultimate lifelong transformation and growth by restoring the malleable inner self, turning away from the long-standing perspectives in classical music performance and its pedagogy.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study monitored the conceptualisation, implementation and evaluation of criterion-referenced assessment for Modern Dance by two teachers specifically chosen because they represented the two most usual stances in current teaching i.e. one valuing dance as part of a wider, more general education, the other as a performance art. The Review of Literature investigated the derivation of these differences and identified the kinds of assessment criteria which would be relevant in each context. It then questioned both the timing of the application of the criteria and the benefits and limitations inherent in using a pre-active or re-active model. Lastly it examined the philosophy of criterion-referenced assessment and thereafter formulated the main hypothesis, i. e. "That criterion-referenced assessment is an appropriate and realistic method for Modern Dance in schools". Both the main and sub-hypotheses were tested by the use of Case Study/Collaborative Action research. In this chosen method of investigation the teachers' actions were the primary focus of study while the researcher played a supportive but ancillary role. The study has three sections. The first describes the process experienced by the teachers as they identified their criteria for assessment and put their new strategy into action. It shows the problems which arose and the steps which were taken to resolve them. It gives exemplars of the assessment instruments which were designed and evaluates their use. It highlights the differences in the two approaches to dance and the different competencies required by the teachers if their criterion-referenced strategy was adequately and validly to reflect the important features of their course. In the second section the focus moves from the teachers to the pupils. Given that the pupils have participated in different programmes of dance, the study investigates what criteria the pupils spontaneously use and what criteria they can be taught to use. It does this through the introduction of self-assessment in each course. In this way the pupils' observations and movement analyses were made explicit and through discussion, completing specially prepared leaflets and using video, they were recorded and compared. And finally, the research findings were circulated to a larger number of teachers to find to what extent their concerns and problems had been anticipated by the first two and to discover if they, without extensive support, could also mount a criterion-referenced assessment strategy with an acceptable amount of effort and within a realistic period of time. And given that they could, the final question concerned the evaluations of all those participants i.e. teachers, parents and pupils. Would this extended group similarly endorse the strategy and strengthen the claim that criterion-referenced assessment was a valid and beneficial way of assessing Modern Dance in Schools?

The career of Danny Daniels was significant for its contribution to dance choreography for the stage and screen, and his development of concept choreography. Danny's dedication to the art of dance, and the integrity of the artistic process was matched by his support and love for the dancers who performed his choreographic works.

This arts-based narrative research was an inquiry into how embodied dialogic spaces can provide access to dance learning reflections by students after graduating from a pre-professional dance program (DanceWorks, Berlin, and Palucca University, Dresden in Germany, and Duncan Center, Prague in the Czech Republic). Dialogic spaces, a term used by few contemporary scholars, were examined as vital spaces of openness and inclusiveness in learning. Data was collected through different modalities (textual, visual, and embodied), included surveys with alternative assessment tools, interviews, and somatic dance narratives (SDN), personal dance solos, for ‘inner’ listening and embodied exchanges between the researcher and participants. The SDNs served as vital data reporting and reflected the embodied version of all data collected within a dialogic space between the researcher and the individual participants with an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach. The phenomenon of former students’ reflection on their dance learning and the research design within a dialogic space equally informed the researcher’s perspective and interpretive reporting of this study. This research argued for the need for dialogic spaces—for non-judgmental spaces prioritizing ontological over instrumental learning, not only during an education but also for identifying lifelong learning skills after an education has been completed. It aimed to explore the transformative possibilities of dialogic spaces and their impact on individual growth.

Accompanist is the old term. Collaborative pianist is the new one. Accompanist implies a mostly subservient role, whereas collaborative pianist gestures toward a more equitable relationship between the soloist and pianist, no longer a mere follower. Degree programs that prepare collaborative piano skills are growing rapidly in higher education since their inception five decades ago, encouraging a wider range of pianists to pursue an intentional career path. Becoming a seasoned collaborative pianist takes time, however. Little empirical research has investigated the preparation process. What is it like for collaborative piano majors to accumulate collaborative skills and practical knowledge? How is collaboration defined and experienced, and how helpful do students find their programs? Without understanding student experiences, the artistic well-being of collaborative pianists is at stake, and so is the field’s own ability to do its work. This qualitative study examines lived experiences of collaborative piano students in conservatory and university degree programs. As researcher, I conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews exploring topics including, but not limited to, professional identity, attitudes and dispositions, competencies and skills, struggles and challenges, power dynamics as well as teamwork with four recent graduates in the United States. It seems that issues of professionalization, an unclear definition of “collaboration,” and a lack of student agency are central to all lived experiences. An examination of these phenomena would contribute to the growth of the field, empowering its ability to do its job more efficiently and sustainably.

Thesis (M.Mus)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since its inception, educators across the board in South Africa have struggled to implement the new curriculum. Initial problems with terminology and availability of learning materials have been addressed, but still the resistance to Outcomes Based Education (0BE) and Curriculum 2005 (C2005) continues. Some of the reasons for the resistance point to feelings of disempowerment experienced by generalist and specialist educators who now have to teach the new Learning Area Arts and Culture. This has been attributed to, amongst others, a lack of training, resulting in feelings of inadequacy, inappropriate training for large multicultural classes and the lack of teaching resources. Another reason for the resistance has been described as a resistance to change. Many educators have found it difficult to make the paradigm shift from the previous educational system to OBE and C2005. The aim of the study is to research and explore ways of empowering educators to teach Arts and Culture. The new educational system is geared to redressing the imbalances of the past and giving more expression to the diversity of cultures represented in South African schools. Whereas the previous system was founded on exclusively Eurocentric ideology, principles and values, the new system aims at a more inclusive Afrocentric approach. However, criticisms leveled at C2005 have suggested that it is still basically Western in terms of values, terminology and methodology. This study is therefore aimed at investigating a culturally diverse music/arts curriculum, which draws on the wealth of resources, methods and modes readily accessible in South Africa. A comprehensive literature review guides the study towards a greater understanding of how cultural identities are formed out of a need to belong and how important recognition is to individuals and groups, particularly in terms of their diverse cultural expressions. Music and the arts are understood as being vitally important channels for expression of this diversity. Yet, true to the Afrocentric principle of holism, unity is found in diversity. As much common ground exists between an integrated approach and an Afrocentric approach to music/arts education, these principles are explored to determine whether they can be adapted for use in contemporary South African classrooms. An integrated project mode, which provides a balance between the specific knowledge contexts of the various Learning Areas and collaborative learning aimed at developing the natural links between learning areas to create a vibrant whole, is suggested. The researcher conducted an integrated project at her school with the common theme of "District Six" linking four Learning Areas and their components. Participatory action research using qualitative methods such as questionnaires were used to determine the feasibility of an integrated project mode of learning as a means of empowering educators to teach Arts and Culture. Subsequently recommendations were made regarding implementation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert die instelling van die nuwe kurrikulum in Suid-Afrika het opvoeders gesukkel om dit te implementeer. Die aanvanklike probleme met terminologie en die gebrek aan geskikte bronne is aangespreek, maar die weerstand het nie verminder nie. Van die redes hiervoor verwys na gevoelens van ontmagtiging onder algemene en gespesialiseerde opvoeders wat die nuwe leergebied van Kuns en Kultuur moes aanbied. Die weerstand word toegeskryf aan, onder andere, gevoelens van ontoereikendheid, onvanpaste opleiding om met groot multi-kulturele klasse te werk en 'n gebrek aan onderrigbronne. 'n Ander rede is beskryf as teëstand teen verandering. Baie opvoeders het dit moeilik gevind om die paradigma-skuif te maak vanaf die vorige stelsel na Uitkoms Gebaseerde Onderwys (UG0) en Kurrikulum 2005 (K2005). Die doel van die studie is dus om navorsing te doen en ondersoek in te stel na maniere waarop opvoeders bemagtig kan word om Kuns en Kultuur aan te bied. Die nuwe opvoedingstelsel is gefokus op regstelling van die onewewigtighede van die verlede en op 'n groter uitdrukking van die kulturele diversiteit wat in Suid-Afrikaanse skole verteenwoordig is. Terwyl die vorige stelsel gebaseer was op 'n Eurosentriese ideologie, beginsels en waardes, is die nuwe gefokus op 'n Afrosentriese benadering. Tog is daar kritiek teen Kurrikulum 2005 juis omdat dit nog altyd gebaseer is op Westerse waardes, terminologie en metodes. Die studie gaan dus oor 'n kurrikulum vir musiek en die kunste wat inspirasie put uit die rykdom van Suid-Afrikaanse bronne, metodes en modusse. 'n Omvattende literatuur oorsig voer die studie tot die begrip dat kulturele identiteit gevorm word uit 'n behoefte om te behoort en deel te wees, hoe belangrik erkenning van individue en groepe is, veral om hul diverse kulturele identiteit uit te druk. Eie aan die Afrosenstriese beginsel van holisme kan eenheid binne diversiteit gevind word. Omdat daar baie gemeenskaplikheid bestaan tussen 'n geïntegreerde en 'n Afrosentriese benadering tot musiek/kuns opvoeding, word die beginsels verken om te bepaal of dit aangepas kon word vir gebruik in hedendaagse Suid- Afrikaanse klaskamers. 'n Geïntegreerde projek-modus word voorgestel, wat 'n balans skep tussen die spesifieke kontekste van kennis in verskeie Leerareas en koöperatiewe leer wat daarop gemik is om die natuurlike skakels tussen die verskillende Leerareas te ontwikkel sodat 'n groter geheel geskep word. Die navorser het by haar skool 'n geïntegreerde projek oor Distrik Ses geloods wat vier leergebiede, insluitend hul komponente, ingetrek het. Deelnemende aksie-navorsing soos vraelyste is gebruik om die uitvoerbaarheid van die geïntegreerde projek-metode te bepaal as 'n metode om opvoeders te bemagtig om Kuns en Kultuur by skole aan te bied. Dit sluit af met voorstelle wat gemaak is in verband met die implementering van die nuwe Kurrikulum.