Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-mzsfj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-24T10:53:52.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why Dance Students Pursue Dance: Studies of Dance Students from 1953 to 1993

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Judith B. Alter
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Those of us who have made a lifetime commitment to professional careers in dance have come to know the intrinsic rewards and difficulties of this field. Do dance students perceive these same factors, and if so, how are they influenced by them? This article considers these questions through a review of studies of dance students from 1953 to 1993. The research first presented in 1988, “An Interpretive Study of Meaning in Dance: Voices of Young Women Dance Students,” by Sue Stinson, Donald Blumenfeld-Jones and Jan Van Dyke, was the stimulus for this new dance student study and review of recent literature. In the Stinson, et.al. (1990) study the dance students' attitudes toward their future in dance were fairly pessimistic (1). In spite of their deep love of dance and their identity as dancers they felt powerless in a highly competitive field, thought they would never be good enough to be professional, battled constantly with bodies they considered inadequate, and regarded teaching as an activity only for failed performers. This article places Stinson's work in the context of previous studies of dance students' attitudes in a comparative overview of research conducted from 1953 to 1993. This paper also presents the results of a recent study of dance students conducted in nine colleges and universities in southern California.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , Fall 1997 , pp. 70 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Alexander, Jane. “Changing the Dance for the NEA Dollars.” Dance/USA Journal 12/1 (1994): 12–13.Google Scholar
Allen, Beverly J., Editor. Dance Directory, 1990. Reston, VA.: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 1990.Google Scholar
Alter, Judith B. “Creativity Profile of University and Conservatory Dance Students.” Journal of Personality Assessment 48/2 (1984): 153–158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alter, Judith B. “Dance Student Study: ‘I dance because I love it!’” Proceedings of Wudao'94: International Dance Conference, Beijing International Dance Event. Edited by the Conference Papers and Abstracts Editorial Committee of the Dance Research Institute under China National Arts Academy. Beijing: People's Music Publishing House, 1994, 179–189.Google Scholar
Alter, Judith B. “Dancers Write of Themselves and Dance Education.” Artists in the Making. Edited by Barron, Frank. New York: Seminar Press, 1972, 85–112.Google Scholar
Alter, Judith B. “Voices of Dance Students: 1953–1988.” Proceedings of the Second Annual Dance Education Forum, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990.Google Scholar
Brooks, Bonnie. “State of the Field Report: 1996.” Dance /USA Journal 14/1 (1996): 10.Google Scholar
Clemente, Karen and Kahlich, Luke C., Editors. Dance Directory 1992. Reston, VA.: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 1992.Google Scholar
Hamburger, Millicent. “Modern Dance in Acalanes High School.” Dance in Education Issue, Impulse 1953. Edited by Tuyl, Marion Van. San Francisco; Impulse Publications. (1953): 23–27.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Ellen and Jonas, Christopher. Dance in New York: An Indispensable Companion to the Dance Capital of the World. New York: Quick Fox, 1980.Google Scholar
Kraus, Richard and Chapman, Sara. History of the Dance in Art and Education. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981.Google Scholar
Levine, Mindy N.Widening the Circle: Towards a New Vision For Dance Education. A Report of the National Task Force on Dance Education. Washington, D.C.: Dance/USA, 1994.Google Scholar
McMillan, James H. and Schumacher, Sally. Research in Education: A Conceptual Introduction. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984.Google Scholar
Mirault, Don. Dancing…For a Living. Toluca Lake, CA: Rafter Publishing, 1993.Google Scholar
O'Connor, Kyrie. “The Socialization of Professional Dancers.” Senior thesis, Tufts University, 1977.Google Scholar
Reyser, Carol Pierson. “The Student Dancer.” The Arts and Society. Edited by Wilson, Robert N.. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1964.Google Scholar
Seid, Roberta Pollack. Never too Thin: Why Women are at War with their Bodies. New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Stinson, Susan W. “Meaning and Value: Reflections on What Students Say About School.” The Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 8/3 (1993): 216–238.Google Scholar
Stinson, Sue, Blumenfeld-Jones, Donald, Dyke, Jan Van. “An Interpretive Study of Meaning in Dance: Voices of Young Women Dance Students.” Dance Research Journal 22/2 (Fall 1990): 13–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Wallace. “Videodance—It May be a Whole New Art Form.” The New York Times (January 18, 1976): D–10.Google Scholar