CREATING LIBERATORY POSSIBILITIES TOGETHER: RECULTURING DANCE TEACHER CERTIFICATION THROUGH EMERGENT STRATEGY

Alexia Buono & Crystal U. Davis
Journal of Dance Education (2022)

In this article we analyze the landscape of dance teacher certification programs in the United States for the potential of anti-racist transformation in the field of dance education. We look at higher educational programming as a main place for revolutionary change in the future of dance education because the socio-political culture within curricula, pedagogies, policies, and practices of dance education in higher education maps to that of P-12 educational settings. This article enlists the aid of the work of Tema Okun and adrienne maree brown to envision the re-culturing of dance teacher certification programs through somatic social justice and Emergent Strategy. The article includes somatic reflective practices for the readers to engage in throughout the article to provide a lived, enacted experience of the long-term, sustainable change we propose for the future of dance education.