We are currently experiencing unprecedented population aging worldwide, with people over 65 proje... more We are currently experiencing unprecedented population aging worldwide, with people over 65 projected to outnumber youth for the first time in human history. As such, the need to support this demographic’s health and wellbeing has never been more acute. There is a growing recognition that engagement with dance and arts provides numerous benefits for the health of older people, with existing research existing primarily within a biomedical model of efficacy. Driven by the primary research question “how does dance affect the health and wellbeing of older adults”, we reflect on the potential insights gained by returning to the root of research aims and methodologies. Sitting in conversation with dance and health scholarship and leaning into critical gerontology debate, this article broadens discourse to consider not only how evidence is articulated, but as importantly, how it is being asked. Through a series of exploratory “how” questions that critically engage with literature from ...
This chapter discusses how dance fostered relationships between fathers and sons within a dance r... more This chapter discusses how dance fostered relationships between fathers and sons within a dance research project in Finland. From 2013 to 2016, Isto Turpeinen (Finland) led workshops, rehearsals and performances based on his teaching methodology “raw-board-working.” In this chapter, Ralph Buck (NZ) and Isto consider the efficacy of raw-board-working as a means for valuing everyday “raw” movement and ideas, and in so doing, valuing fathers and sons’ diversity. Focusing on a small number of father and son relationships, we reflect on the emergent theme of love that surfaced through dance workshop and performance processes. A multi-modal research design scaffolds the collection of qualitative data through artistic processes, interviews, and observations. The study found that as fathers and sons danced with each other within a “safe” and open workshop process they re-constructed their relationships both consciously and incidentally. Diverse meanings of masculinity were found to both neg...
The arts, inclusive of the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts have been included ... more The arts, inclusive of the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts have been included within the formal New Zealand school curriculum for over seventeen years. These disciplines have valuable intrinsic aesthetic and educational value and the rationale for including arts disciplines in formal education is well articulated. (Abbs, 1987; Bamford, 2006; Eisner, 1998). Current research (Buck, 2003; Fraser, Aitken & Whyte, 2013; McDonald & Melchior, 2007; Snook, 2012) reveals however, that the teaching of the arts in New Zealand schools remains sporadic with a government focus on literacy and numeracy. We propose that the arts may be valued for their instrumental roles in enhancing teaching and learning across other disciplines in the New Zealand curriculum. Our research is directed by the question: how can the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts better support teaching and learning in the New Zealand curriculum? This article argues that through an introduction o...
We are currently experiencing unprecedented population aging worldwide, with people over 65 proje... more We are currently experiencing unprecedented population aging worldwide, with people over 65 projected to outnumber youth for the first time in human history. As such, the need to support this demographic’s health and wellbeing has never been more acute. There is a growing recognition that engagement with dance and arts provides numerous benefits for the health of older people, with existing research existing primarily within a biomedical model of efficacy. Driven by the primary research question “how does dance affect the health and wellbeing of older adults”, we reflect on the potential insights gained by returning to the root of research aims and methodologies. Sitting in conversation with dance and health scholarship and leaning into critical gerontology debate, this article broadens discourse to consider not only how evidence is articulated, but as importantly, how it is being asked. Through a series of exploratory “how” questions that critically engage with literature from ...
This chapter discusses how dance fostered relationships between fathers and sons within a dance r... more This chapter discusses how dance fostered relationships between fathers and sons within a dance research project in Finland. From 2013 to 2016, Isto Turpeinen (Finland) led workshops, rehearsals and performances based on his teaching methodology “raw-board-working.” In this chapter, Ralph Buck (NZ) and Isto consider the efficacy of raw-board-working as a means for valuing everyday “raw” movement and ideas, and in so doing, valuing fathers and sons’ diversity. Focusing on a small number of father and son relationships, we reflect on the emergent theme of love that surfaced through dance workshop and performance processes. A multi-modal research design scaffolds the collection of qualitative data through artistic processes, interviews, and observations. The study found that as fathers and sons danced with each other within a “safe” and open workshop process they re-constructed their relationships both consciously and incidentally. Diverse meanings of masculinity were found to both neg...
The arts, inclusive of the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts have been included ... more The arts, inclusive of the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts have been included within the formal New Zealand school curriculum for over seventeen years. These disciplines have valuable intrinsic aesthetic and educational value and the rationale for including arts disciplines in formal education is well articulated. (Abbs, 1987; Bamford, 2006; Eisner, 1998). Current research (Buck, 2003; Fraser, Aitken & Whyte, 2013; McDonald & Melchior, 2007; Snook, 2012) reveals however, that the teaching of the arts in New Zealand schools remains sporadic with a government focus on literacy and numeracy. We propose that the arts may be valued for their instrumental roles in enhancing teaching and learning across other disciplines in the New Zealand curriculum. Our research is directed by the question: how can the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts better support teaching and learning in the New Zealand curriculum? This article argues that through an introduction o...
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