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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

ethnography of dance pedagogy traditions, Chinese dance culture, eruocentric dance

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Department

Dance

Abstract

This project’s purpose was to analyze the traditions, customs and philosophies of professors at the College of Dance at Beijing Mingzu University during Brigham Young University’s China dance study abroad. Recording and analyzing their pedagogical practices informed our own theories on the optimal balance between nurturing artistic development while preserving technical traditions. The globalization of the world’s dance community has revolutionized teaching philosophies. The international standard for dance pedagogy and technique for professional dancers continues to defy preceding theories as pedagogical practices are shared and incorporated into various training systems. China has consistently produced some of the world’s best technicians after adopting the Soviet training system over 50 years ago and has since surpassed Russia’s standard for technical superiority. During our multicultural exchange we were able to observe a Chinese traditional training system in comparison to a Eurocentric training system. Through this exchange and research we identified, for personal pedagogical practices, what contributed to such superior technical achievement and what hindered the creative development of their dancers through an undergraduate perspective.

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