Scaffolding Language of Dance® and Laban Movement Analysis Concepts to Teach Dance Technique: A Workshop Handout

Scaffolding Language of Dance® and Laban Movement Analysis Concepts to Teach Dance Technique: A Workshop Handout
Submitted by Susan Gingrasso - November 16, 2009
 
At the ICKL 2007 conference in Mexico City, I presented a paper and workshop that focused on how scaffolding Language of Dance® and Laban Movement Analysis concepts greatly enhanced the teaching and learning process in a college freshman level modern dance technique course for dance majors.

Scaffolding is a pedagogical method of activities or process to help the learner progress fluidly by incremental steps through the learning event to achieve mastery and become an independent learner. It originated in Lev Vygotsky’s (social cultural theory and concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, which is the distance between what learners can do by themselves and the next stage they can achieve with expert assistance: a teacher, a mentor, or a more advanced peer.
Scaffolds (1) help the learner bridge distance between her/his current capability and future potential; (2) enable learners to
become self-directed problem solvers; and (3) engage learners in developing their metacognitive capabilities.

As I developed a pedagogical approach to teach modern dance technique using the Language of Dance Movement Alphabet through Motif Notated scores layered with LMA principles, I discovered I could easily scaffold the instructional process because I could see how the multiple layers of content, normally invisible in a dance technique class, fit together. This handout that I created for the ICKL 2007 participants summarizes the essential aspects of educational scaffolds and their relationship to teaching technique. For more information about scaffolding and/or Language of Dance, contact Susan Gingrasso at susanlodc@yahoo.com.

Note: This material is copyrighted. Please contact me for permission prior to using any part of it.