Author: Canadian Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation

Publication Year: 1977

Media Type: Report

Summary:

In July 1978, after two years of intensive planning, the first International Conference on Dance and the Child, finally came into being. In July 1979, the steering committee of Dance and the Child: International will convene in London, England. Hopefully the committee will determine the year and place of the second International Conference on Dance and the Child: and that much of the unfinished business of the first conference will be an important aspect of the second.

Abstract:

In July 1978, after two years of intensive planning, the first International Conference on Dance and the Child, finally came into being. In July 1979, the steering committee of Dance and the Child: International will convene in London, England. Hopefully the committee will determine the year and place of the second International Conference on Dance and the Child: and that much of the unfinished business of the first conference will be an important aspect of the second.

The Keynote addresses and the two philosophy papers compiled in this first publication of the conference direct our attention towards the future and the issues that will concern us. (Preface)

Conference Objectives: Rationale. - Although we live in an age when the concept of childhood holds a unique identity in the Western World, there are many facets of children's lives which still go unrecognized. The role of dance in a child's life is without doubt one of these unrecognized facets. In dealing with any area of lack or impoverishment, it is essential to promote:

1. Awareness at local, provincial, national and international levels of the state of the field.
2. Identify the immediate and long-range action that must take place in order that improvement may be brought about.
3. Activate the essential agents of change.

Objectives: In order to achieve the above, three vital areas of children's dance have been identified and objectives have been identified in each area.

The child as spectator: In the following description of objectives, the term dance literature will be used. This term means performances, films, video-tapes, artifacts, which provide the education in visual and aesthetic awareness in dance essential to the child's growing understanding of the art form. An obvious analogy is the classical and contemporary literature in the form of books which are available for the education of children.

Objectives: To promote an awareness of the need for building a dance literature for children through:

1. Commissioned choreographic work for a child audience (from performing companies).
2. The creation of a literature of film for the purpose of the dance education of the child.
3. Historical documentation of the dance in forms appropriate for children.

Outcomes: The desired outcomes from a two-year focus on the above should be the presentation at the Conference of an International exchange of research, ideas, performances and films with the intent to establish An International Literature of Dance for the Child. (p. 1)

CONTENTS
Conference objectives.
Keynote addresses: 
     The child as creator, performer, spectator by Betty Redfern. 
     The child as spectator by Peter Brinson.
     The child as performer by Roderyk Lange.
     The children of Terezin by Allan Cunningham.
Philosophical papers:
     The importance of dance experiences and concepts in the development of children
     by Rose Hill.
     Dance to learn - why teach dance to children and why let them see it? by Graham
     McFee. 
History of the dance committee of CAHPER. 
CAHPER dance committee advisory board.
Conference personnel.
Acknowledgments.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education