A Question of Fun: Adolescent Engagement in Dance Education (1997)

Abstract

This interpretive inquiry explores questions of engagement in dance among middle school dance students. The researcher conducted field research at three different schools in classes taught by three teachers. Primary analysis for this paper has focused on data from interviews with the 52 students who close to participate and returned signed consent forms. The words most frequently used by the students to describe their dance classes as well as particular experiences within them was fun, although they used the term to refer to very different kinds of experiences. In addition to the conventional meaning (“playing around” with no goals), students specifically referred to the social, creative, novel, and physical aspects of dance as fun; many also referred to learning as fun, and noted the role of the teacher in making it so. Not all students found dance fun; almost all who did not were located at the only one of the three schools where there were many students, almost all of them African–American, not participating on a regular basis. Students who did not participate fully sometimes blamed the (white) teacher, or the choice of activity or music, but often the reason came from within themselves: Either they were tired or not feeling well, or “just [didn’t] feel like it.” Other values some students found in dance included stress release, focus and concentration, self-expression, self-esteem, freedom, and transcendence.

In interpreting the findings, the researcher draws from a triangular model proposed by Hirschman (1983) to better understand the different kinds of experiences reported by the students. She also probes and problematizes her own contradictory feelings about fun and draws implications for teaching dance to young people.

Appendices

Appendix 1

1.1 Sample Questions from Interview

• How old are you? How long have you gone to this school?

• Did you choose to take this class or get put in it? If you chose it, why?

• Had you taken dance before? Where?

• If yes: How is this class like and different from other dance classes you have taken?

• Describe a favorite experience from this class. Describe a least favorite experience.

• Talk to me about how this class is like and different from other classes you take at school.

• (At Lewisburg only): I’ve noticed that some kids get into dance, and some don’t. Some get into it at some times but not others. What do you think makes a difference in terms of people getting into it?

• Can you describe how it feels to really get into it, to really dance?

• Do you live with your parents? How do they (or whoever else serves as guardians) feel about your taking dance at school? Tell me about your family.

• How do your friends respond to your taking dance at school?

• If a new student wanted to know whether or not to take dance at school, how would you describe it for them?

• Have you learned anything? If yes, what have you learned? Is that important?

• Should dance be required for everyone in middle school?

Appendix 2

2.1 Students Interviewed, by Grade Level, Race, and Gender

	wf	bf	wm	bm	om
Johnston school
6th grade	5	0	3	0	1
8th grade	4	1	1	1	0
Greenway School
5th grade	4	0	4	1	0
6th grade	2	0	2	0	0
7th grade	3	0	0	0	0
8th grade	1	0	0	0	0
Lewisburg School
7th grade	2	4	1	1	0
8th grade	4	6	0	1	0
TOTALS	25	11	11	4	1

1. wf white females, bf black females, wm white males, bm black males, om other males

Commentary

I recall a moment of despair at the end of my first round of analysis of the data collected for this study, when I thought, “I’ve done all this work, and all they said was that dance is fun?” Indeed, one of the reviewers for the journal that published this paper was concerned that the theme of fun (so prominent in the title) simply played into stereotypes that so many people have about dance. But problematizing this stereotype is certainly the emphasis of the analysis and discussion, and it was published anyway. As indicated in the autobiographical comments at the beginning of the Discussion, the issues raised in this research were very important to me personally, and remained so, eventually culminating in the next chapter in this volume, highlighting student experience of effort and achievement in dance.

When I look back at this work now, I recognize another dilemma faced by dance education researchers, and indeed all arts education researchers. I used data from students studying one kind of art form, and this piece was published in a journal devoted to research in that art, in hopes that dance educators and scholars would read it. Such choices likely have meant that it has been read by very few outside of dance, even though the significance of the findings extends so much further. I expect that most of the language used by these dance students could be spoken by students in other art forms, especially performing arts. And, as the Discussion section makes clear, the issues raised are relevant for all arts educators, and indeed all those concerned with how we educate young people in schools.